Taylor Layner

🚨 BREAKING 🚨 SB 538 PASSES the Florida Senate. 38 - 0. UNANIMOUS. Let that sink in. Florida coaches have been heard. 1 vote left in the Florida House. 1 vote between years of sacrifice and historic change. This is not momentum. This is inevitability. #PayFLCoaches

🚨🚨 LEGISLATIVE UPDATE 🚨🚨 The House of Representatives Companion Bill has officially been filed. HB 731 is here. Thank you @ShaneAbbottFL and @AdamAndersonFL for standing up for our high school coaches in Florida. Why this matters: a companion bill means the same legislation is moving through BOTH the House and the Senate at the same time. That matters. It streamlines the process, speeds up negotiations, and increases the likelihood of meaningful legislation being implemented. This is how real change happens. What is in the bill: HB 731 includes language addressing student transfers, but more importantly, it directly engages the issue of coach compensation. This bill forces the conversation that has been avoided for decades. It acknowledges the time, labor, and responsibility coaches carry and pushes compensation into the legislative arena instead of being ignored at the local level. The bill also ensures that athletic directors are formally recognized as ADMINISTRATORS, reinforcing their professional standing and role within our school systems. What we are hearing: coaches across Florida are excited. Coaches outside of Florida have inquired about coming back home. Unions are quivering. But real questions remain. Many coaches are rightfully concerned about leaving compensation solely in the hands of school districts who, historically, when given a choice, have ignored coaches. That is why we will continue to advocate for guaranteed minimum wage for every single hour worked. Period. What happens next: committee hearings, amendments, negotiations, and public input. Presence matters. We will be back in Tallahassee in January and we will need as many coaches with us as possible. We will be releasing more information over the next few weeks, but now is the time to start making plans. This is our time to shine 🌟 And make no mistake, regardless of the final outcome of this bill, this is historic change that has NEVER been seen in Florida. We commend the legislators who listened, learned, and took the time to understand this issue. This will create historic, generational change and permanently change how coaches in Florida are treated and respected. @PayFLCoaches will continue to fight for every single coach in Florida until the coaching profession here becomes the standard for the rest of the United States. Florida does not follow. Florida leads. We are not chasing standards. We are defining them. Please like and share for expanded reach 👊 flhouse.gov/Sections/Bills… #PayFLCoaches

SB538 is moving forward. 🚀 The bill has officially been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Rules Committee, which means it is advancing through the formal committee process and getting closer to a full Senate vote. 🏛️ Judiciary looks at the legal impact, alignment with Florida law, and any potential legal challenges. Rules determines when and if the bill gets placed on the calendar for a full vote and what amendments need to be considered. Clearing both is required for this bill to move. This does not have to happen before January 9, but the earlier the bill clears committees, the stronger its chance of reaching a vote. ⏳ Next up: We wait on committee action and whether the House files a companion bill. A companion bill is simply the House version of the same bill. Both chambers must pass the identical final version before anything becomes law. And again, no bill survives the committee process without changes. That is normal. That is expected. And we expect those changes to strengthen the bill for ALL coaches in Florida. 💪 Now, coaches… let us be very clear. STAND BY! We are entering the part of the fight where your voice becomes the difference between progress and another fifty years of silence. If you have ever complained about low supplements, long hours, being undervalued, or being treated like a volunteer babysitter instead of a professional… This is the moment where you show up. This is the moment where you get loud. This is the moment where you stop letting other people write your story. We are not backing down. We are not quieting down. And we are not letting anyone water this down. Now… to the band and chorus crowd already chirping. 🎺🎶 Respectfully, we value music education. This is not an attack. But let us not pretend the workloads are the same. Band directors and chorus instructors teach a full day of THEIR classes. That is their primary job. Coaches teach a full day AND THEN take on a second job with practices, film, scouting, supervision, games, travel, safety responsibilities, parent management, athlete development, off season work, community engagement, and risk that never shuts off. 🏈⚾🏀 There is no school in Florida where kids take seven periods of football class. There is no “Basketball One, Volleyball Two, Baseball Three” all day. Coaches carry TWO jobs every single day. If someone truly believes a coach grinding sixty to eighty hours a week should be paid the same as someone working a standard teacher schedule… They are proving exactly why this bill is needed. 🚨 We are done being dismissed. We are done being compared to unrelated professions. We are done letting people who do not understand our workload dictate our value. To our elected officials 🏛️ We stand with the members of the Florida House and Senate who are fighting to fix a problem ignored for almost fifty years. They listened. They understood. They acted. That is leadership. Coaches, the next few months will define our future. ⚡️ What happens when coaches FINALLY realize their value? Change. The kind that sends shockwaves through every district office in Florida. ⚡️ #PayFLCoaches (Please like and share for reach).

I’ve spoken to @AndrewRamjit of the @PayFLCoaches multiple times over the last couple of weeks and his optimism about change happening for Florida high school coaches isn’t about if, it’s about when.

🚨 Perhaps the best interview yet on the #PayFLCoaches movement. 🎙️ @JeffGierke breaks down the Florida Coaches Coalition cause in a way every coach, parent, and legislator should hear. ⏱️ Take 8 minutes and watch — it’s worth every second!

So let me get this straight: Teddy Bridgewater — a volunteer not even a school employee — is being suspended for helping kids and doing good in his community? Bridgewater personally covered: • $14K for training camp • $9,500 for team pride sets • $2,200/week for pregame meals • $1,300/week for recovery • $700/week for Ubers …and more. And he’s being penalized for that? Absolutely shameful. These are the kind of servant leaders our communities need. What message does this send to the next Teddy Bridgewater? (📹 @305Sportss)

There have been 124 vacancies for Head Football Coach positions in the state of FL this off-season! This is ridiculous! That is approx. a 20% turnover rate for the last calendar year. It is even worse for other sports! #crisismode @PayFLCoaches