March 31, 2025
We have completed week 4 of the 9 weeks of the Florida Legislative Session. This past week saw the House Pre-K – 12 Budget Subcommittee and Senate Pre-K – 12 Appropriations Committee release their proposed budgets. You may find the proposed implementing bills SB 7030 and SB 2510 as well as HB 5101 and changes to FRS – House and Senate.
Many of you have reached out expressing concern over the House proposal to cut add-on weights by approximately 50%. Please work with your districts to identify potential impacts to your add-on weight courses in your districts and share those concerns with your delegation members as well as House Budget and Senate Appropriations committee members (Prek-12 Education committees and Budget/Appropriations committees) as well as their staff.
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:
- SB 296 Middle School and High School Start Times by Sen. Bradley 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. The bill passed the Senate floor unanimously.
- SB 1470 School Safety by Sen. Burgess works to address the concerns from the implementation of last year’s HB 1473 School Safety bill including providing some flexibility regarding the keeping of some doors/gates unlocked. The bill also would create and maintain a list of approved exemptions. The bill passed the Senate Pre-K – 12 Appropriations Committee along with the following amendments:
- Amendment 162312 mandates the Department of Education to create a centralized system to combine all panic alert systems and digital school maps.
- Amendment 698062 modifies the title of the bill to include the term “providing an appropriation” and allocates $460,000 in recurring funds from the General Revenue Fund for the implementation of requirements.
- SB 166 Administrative Efficiency for Public Schools by Sen. Simon continues the deregulation work started last year. This bill once again changes the graduation requirements to use the ELA assessment and Algebra I EOC to count for 30% of the total grade, permanently removes the cost per student station and makes adjustments to teacher evaluations. The bill was amended and passed the Fiscal Policy Committee, its last committee stop.
- HB 1267 Education by Rep. Busatta modifies the definition of “persistently low-performing school” and revises the requirements for Schools of Hope regarding the use of school district facilities and management. The bill would allow Schools of Hope to use school district facilities and eliminates a previous requirement for Schools of Hope to follow certain state requirements for educational facilities when using district facilities. The bill passed the House Education Administration Subcommittee.
- HB 443 Charter Schools by Rep. Snyder revises statutes relating to charter schools by prohibiting sponsors from imposing certain administrative deadlines on charter schools and setting enrollment limits below facility capacity. The bill also grants charter schools the right to develop their own student conduct codes and specifies new guidelines for the disposal of school district real property by ensuring charter schools have the right of first refusal. The bill passed the House Education Administration Subcommittee.
