New and Pending Legislation:
Legislative Updates
Education Bills of Interest:
HB 1: School Choice
The bill expands eligibility for the Florida Tax Credit and Family Empowerment Scholarship to any student who is a resident of Florida and is eligible to enroll in kindergarten through grade 12 in a public school. Link to Bill.
HB 19 – Individual Education Plans
Individual Education Plans; Requires IEPs for certain students to contain information on legal rights & responsibilities that transfer to students at age 18; requires information to include ways in which student may provide informed consent to allow his or her parent to continue to participate in educational decisions. More about HB 19
HB 31 – Partisan Elections for Members of District School Board
Would ask voters if they want to switch from nonpartisan school board races to partisan contests starting in 2026. It’s a constitutional amendment that requires 60 percent approval from voters to take effect. Link to Bill.
SB 202: K-12 Education
Revising student eligibility and ineligibility requirements for the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program; revising obligations of eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organizations; revising student eligibility and ineligibility requirements for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program; authorizing public schools, including charter schools, to enroll certain students on a part-time basis; requiring the State Board of Education to provide recommendations by a specified date to the Governor and the Legislature for repeals and revisions of the Florida Early Learning-20 Education Code to be considered in the 2024 legislative session; authorizing vehicles other than buses to transport students; authorizing district school boards to use advanced degrees in setting salary schedules for instructional personnel or school administrators, etc. Link to bill.
HB 223 – Public School Student Progression for Students With Disabilities
Requires comprehensive plans for student progression to provide for specified students with disabilities to be retained in prekindergarten at discretion of student’s parent; authorizes certain prekindergarten students to receive instruction in early literacy skills, rather than intensive reading interventions; requires certain prekindergarten students to receive such instruction; & revises requirements for certain students with disabilities to receive good cause exemption from mandatory retention in grade 3. Link to bill.
SB 294 – Required Instruction in the History of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
Required Instruction in the History of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders; Requiring that the history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders be taught in the public schools; requiring that instructional materials used in teaching this subject area include specified information, etc. Link to bill
SB 308 – Interscholastic and Intrascholastic Activities
Providing for the approval of athletic associations that meet certain requirements; providing that private schools and traditional public schools are considered high schools for specified purposes; authorizing home education students, Florida Virtual School students, and private school students to participate in interscholastic and intrascholastic activities at certain schools; requiring certain athletic associations to adopt bylaws, policies, or procedures allowing opening remarks at specified events, etc. Link to SB 308
HB 477 – Term Limits for District School Board Members by Rizzo
This bill would limit School Board terms to two, four-year terms. Link to bill.
SB 478 – Early Childhood Music Education Incentive Program
Renaming the Early Childhood Music Education Incentive Pilot Program as the Early Childhood Music Education Incentive Program; revising criteria for a school district’s eligibility to participate in the program; deleting an obsolete provision requiring the University of Florida’s College of Education to conduct a specified evaluation, etc. Link to Bill
SB 636 – Individual Education Plans
Requiring individual education plans for certain students to contain information and instruction on certain legal rights and responsibilities that transfer to students at the age of 18; requiring such information to include ways in which a student may provide informed consent to allow his or her parent to continue to participate in his or her educational decisions, etc. Link to Bill.
SB 758 – Reading Strategies
Requiring that certain reading instructional and intervention programs exclude specified programs; requiring that certain instructional materials exclude specified materials; revising a requirement pertaining to school districts’ comprehensive reading plans; requiring that certain teacher training exclude specified training, etc. Link to Bill.
SB 766 – Photographic Enforcement of School Bus Safety
Authorizes school districts to install and operate side stop signal arm enforcement systems on school buses. Link to Bill.
SB 780 – Computer Science Instruction In K-12 Public Schools
Establishes requirements for computer science courses, Florida Virtual School computer science courses, and instruction. Link to Bill.
SB 794 Growing Teachers from Within Pilot Program
One of the many bills have been filed that improve teacher recruitment, retention and compensation, including Governor Ron DeSantis’ Conforming Bills for the Recruitment and Retention of Teachers and Teacher Salary Increase Allocation
The governor’s recruitment bill includes the creation of a teacher apprenticeship program. Sen. Harrell’s bill creates the Growing Teachers from Within Pilot Program to help alleviate the teacher shortage by supporting non-instructional public school employees gain their teaching certificate. There are also provisions in the governor’s and Sen. Simon’s bills to provide flexibility for individuals to meet certification requirements and extend the duration of a temporary teaching certificate from three to five years. Read SB 794 here.
HB 817 – Health Education Information
Requires school districts to ensure information on their website relating to reproductive health & disease education is accurate & up-to-date & send certain notifications to parents. Link to Bill.
SB 826 – Standard High School Diploma Award Requirements
Adding a new requirement for the award of a standard high school diploma to Academically Challenging Curriculum to Enhance Learning students; requiring students, beginning with those entering grade 9 in a specified school year, to submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid in order to be awarded a standard high school diploma, etc. Link to Bill.
HB 857 – Charter Schools admission & dismissal procedures
Provides clarifying language relating to admission & dismissal procedures; & provides that nonprofit entity designated as local education agency to report students for specified funding. Link to Bill.
HB 913 – Charter School Loans
Establishes Charter School Revolving Loan Program; providing requirements for program, DOE, & third-party administrator; provides appropriation. Link to Bill.
HB 985, Video Cameras in Certain Public School Classrooms
Would require video cameras to be placed in certain public and charter school classrooms. Teachers in the classrooms with cameras would have to wear microphones during the school day. Link to Bill.
SB 992, Compulsory School Attendance
Revising the required age for compulsory school attendance from 16 to 18 years of age; deleting a requirement that a student’s parent sign a declaration of intent to terminate school enrollment; deleting a requirement that the school district notify a student’s parent upon receipt of such declaration, etcwould raise the state’s compulsory age for school attendance – raise the cap by two years from 16 to 18. Link to Bill.
HB 1223 Public PreK-12 Educational Institution and Instruction Requirements
Revises and prohibits specific policies regarding instruction on sexual orientation & gender identity in schools; prohibits use of certain titles and pronouns. Link to Bill.
HB 1259 Education Funding
Education Funding; Revises calculation methodology for distribution of specified revenue to eligible charter schools; provides school district requirements for distribution of capital outlay funds to charter schools; provides appropriation. APPROPRIATION: $213,453,885. Link to Bill. Companion Bill: SB 1328
SB 1320/HB 1223 – Child Protection in Public Schools (AKA "Don't Say Gay" K-8)
Defining the term “sex”; prohibiting an employee, contractor, or student of a public school from being required to refer to a person using personal titles or pronouns that do not correspond with that person’s sex. Link to Bill.
SB 1328: Charter School Capital Outlay Funding
Revising the form of a resolution proposing a school capital outlay surtax regarding the sharing of surtax revenues with charter schools; revising the manner of determining charter school capital outlay funding; revising the calculation methodologies to be used by the Department of Education in determining the allocation of state funds to charter schools, etc. Link to Bill. Companion Bill: HB 1259
SB 1348 – Private Schools
Revising requirements that private schools participating in certain educational scholarship programs must meet. Link to Bill.
SB 1386 – Florida School for Competitive Academics
Revising the components of the delivery of public education within the Florida Early Learning-20 education system to include the Florida School for Competitive Academics. Link to Bill.
SESIR Rules Changes November 23, 2022:
https://www.flrules.org/gateway/readFile.asp?sid=0&tid=24861990&type=1&file=6A-1.0017.doc