Our team at GrayRobinson is once again providing us with our bill tracker. All of the bills we are tracking are listed on the report in numerical order. Bills that align to our platform are highlighted in yellow. A few of the bills to highlight:
- HB 261 Middle School High School Start Times by Rep Gerwig which, as filed, would repeal the required implementation of 8 am start for middle school and 8:30 am for high school by July 1, 2026 was heard in its first committee. It was amended to include that if a district sends a report to DOE stating the ways in which it considered late start times and all of the implications that led to not adopting last start times, the district would be considered in compliance with the law. Its Senate companion bill, SB 296 was heard in its last committee and was amended to match the House version. Both bills passed unanimously.
- HB 1403 School Safety by Rep. Yeager works to address the concerns from the implementation of last year’s HB 1473 School Safety bill including providing some flexibility regarding the keeping unlocked of some doors/gates. The bill was amended to provide some the of the additional flexibilities of the Senate bill in its second committee stop and passed unanimously.
- SB 802 Term Limits for Members of the Boards of County Commissions and District School Boards by Sen. Ingoglia would place a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2026 to implement term limits for county commissioners and would move the school board members term limits to the constitution instead of being in statute. This bill was heard in its first committee. While there was much discussion regarding whether 8 years is long enough, the bill passed its first committee stop. HB 679, its House companion, also passed its first committee this year after discussion on whether a statewide ballot was unfair to small districts.
