New Florida law changing P.E. requirements for high school diploma goes into effect
News Channel 8 | By: Brianna Leonard | July 1, 2026
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A new bill that adjusts the requirements for earning a standard High School diploma in Florida went into effect on Wednesday.
Introduced in the House of Representatives in Nov. 2025, House Bill 453 targets both physical education and performing arts requirements and provides options for students with disabilities.
As part of the requirements for a standard high school diploma, the bill requires that physical education include the integration of health.
Students can satisfy the one-credit physical education requirement by participating in an interscholastic sport at the junior varsity or varsity level for two full seasons.
District school boards in Florida will not require ninth-grade students to complete a P.E. credit.
Under the bill, students can satisfy their P.E. and performing arts requirements by completing two years of marching band.
Students can also satisfy one-half P.E. credit and one-half performing arts credit by completing one semester in a marching band class, a physical activity class requiring marching band activities as an extracurricular, or a dance class.
The classes would have to be passed with a “C” or better.
Students can also satisfy the one-credit P.E. and performing arts requirements by completing two years in a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) class.
According to the bill text, students cannot use these classes to satisfy the personal fitness or adaptive physical education requirements under an Individual Education Plan (IEP) or a 504 plan.
The bill also outlines new options for students with disabilities to satisfy the standard high school diploma requirements.
If the IEP team has determined that the Florida Alternate Assessment is the most appropriate measure of the student’s skills, the student can complete a combination of course substitutions established by the State Board of Education Rule.
The student could also complete a portfolio of quantifiable evidence that documents their mastery of academic standards through rigorous metrics, also established by the Education Board.
This could include documentation of work experience, internships, community service and postsecondary credit.
The bill says a disabled student could also participate in the Special Olympics for one year as a course substitution for their physical education requirement.
HB 453 outlines different options if the IEP team determines that mastery of academic and employment competencies is the most appropriate way for a student to demonstrate their skills.
The student could share documented completion of the minimum high school graduation requirements; documented achievement of all annual goals and short-term objectives for academic and employment competencies; or documented successful employment for the number of hours per week specified in that student’s transition plan.
Students could also share documented mastery of the academic and employment competencies, which must identify the expected competencies, criteria determining and certifying mastery of the competencies, the work schedule and minimum number of hours to be worked weekly, and a description of the school district’s supervision.
