On July 1, Florida passed several laws on everything from dangerous crimes to data centers. These also included bills regarding children, schools and education.
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Here are five new laws to know before school gets back in session.
HB 1279 — Teacher funding and epinephrine delivery devices
One of the provisions in HB 1279 allows school districts to provide salary incentives to teachers to work in schools that have a grade of “D” or “F” or are persistently low-performing in order to try to increase performance.
It also “expands bonuses to teachers in Florida—ensuring that teachers delivering the Florida Advanced Courses are eligible for bonuses, just like those teaching Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB),” according to the governor’s office.
HB 1279 further allows authorizes public and private schools to purchase, maintain and administer FDA-approved epinephrine delivery devices—not just auto-injectors—for students who may be at risk of life-threatening allergic reactions.
To see more of the provisions included in this bill, go here.
HB 851 — Requires one autism-specific learning for professionals
House Bill 851 requires that each Florida school district provide at least one autism-specific professional learning opportunity for instructional personnel and school-based administrators.
That learning opportunity has to have been developed “in consultation with the district’s assigned Center for Autism and Related Disabilities and must include evidence-based practices for supporting students with autism spectrum disorder across all levels of need, including academic instruction, behavioral supports, communication strategies, and inclusive practices.”
SB 182: Requires cursive writing education, establishes teacher mentors and more
Washington and Lincoln will soon be watching over Florida students as they practice their cursive.
The wide-ranging education bill includes provisions requiring students to learn cursive writing and for school districts to post pictures of Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln at a “conspicuous place” in each public school.
Starting in third grade, students will learn to read and write in cursive and must be proficient by the fifth grade.
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Cursive writing was previously required in Florida schools, but it was dropped in 2010 when the state adopted Common Core standards. The DOE reinstated it as a requirement in 2014 as an agency rule, but the new bill will cement the cursive standard in law.
Other pieces of the measure establish the School Teacher Training and Mentoring Program within the Florida Department of Education, and make multiple changes to private and public schools, and added instruction requirements.
The teacher training program places retired teachers as mentors in schools rated “D” or “F.”
Mentors will receive a stipend of up to $3,000 and be paired with new classroom teachers; teachers who are rated as “needs improvement,” “developing,” or “unsatisfactory” in their performance reviews; and teachers struggling with behavior management, within the classroom.
For more on other provisions in the bill, go here.
HB 1201: Posters in schools to display seizure response protocol
This bill revises educational programs concerning epilepsy and revises requirements for a student’s individualized seizure action plan.
It specifies that each school must display a poster which describes the basic steps of responding to an individual having a seizure.
SB 124: Florida Virtual will no longer prioritize certain students
SB 124 will make it so that Florida Virtual School will no longer prioritize certain students, such as those who need to meet educational goals, for admission. These include: home school or students who lack access to higher-level courses; students trying to graduate high school at least one semester early; and students who are the children of an active duty member of the U.S. Armed Forces who is not stationed in Florida.
The goal is of this change, the bill states, is to reflect the FLVS’s capacity to serve all students.
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