Florida schools seek to drop 3rd grade, high school exam requirements. What to know

Pensacola News Journal | By Brandon Girod | November, 14, 2023

Some Florida lawmakers are looking at nixing decades-old school regulations after the passage of HB 1, which expanded the state’s school voucher programs, invalidating the need for some of Florida’s accountability laws, according to conservative lawmakers.

Workshops were held last week by the Senate Education Pre-K-12 Committee and the House Education Quality Subcommittee to address deregulation efforts brought about after the passage of HB 1 where lawmakers discussed several recommendations they say will ensure school districts are using their time and money more wisely.

Private schools that take state vouchers do not have to give their students state tests or use test scores to make promotion and graduation decisions.

Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, said she wants to do away with what she calls “burdensome” public school regulations in a memo sent to senators on Nov. 3.

“Because traditional public schools should always be a strong option for Florida’s families, a huge component of implementing HB 1 is our effort to reduce outdated, unnecessary, and quite frankly, burdensome regulations public schools have to abide by,” Passidomo said.

Some of the recommendations lawmakers are looking into include:

• Changing the number of days certified mechanics inspect school buses from every 30 days to every 90 days.
• Providing financial flexibility to schools, such as raising the threshold at which districts are required to obtain the services of registered architects for renovation projects. The threshold is currently $50,000.
• Eliminating requirements that third graders pass the state reading test.
• Eliminating requirements that high school students pass language arts and algebra exams to graduate.

The last two regulations have been around for more than two decades and resulted in Florida’s fourth grade readers from averaging about 53% above basic on national reading tests to performing among the top 10 between 1998 and 2022, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

But last week’s workshop was just the tip of the iceberg as the Committee on Education Pre-K -12 looks to take up three more deregulation bills for discussion in a meeting on Wednesday.

Here’s a look at the newly proposed school rules:

Florida SPB 7000 — Deregulation of Public schools/instructional, administrative and support personnel

According to the bill’s summary, Florida SPB 7000 builds on the deregulation of public school provisions in HB 1 and provides to school districts additional authority related to teacher certification and training, instructor contracts and salary schedules, personnel evaluations and collective bargaining.

Specifically, the bill:

• Modifies school personnel’s initial and continuing requirements by:
  • Establishing a 10-year renewable professional certificate for teachers rated highly effective in 4 years of the five-year validity period of their professional certificate.
  • Providing an option for a reduction in the renewal requirements for highly effective teachers on their initial five-year professional certificate.
  • Authorizing school districts or consortiums to issue temporary certificates.
  • Providing an additional method for a teacher on a temporary certificate to demonstrate mastery of general knowledge.
  • Expanding eligibility requirements for the teacher apprenticeship program.
  • Specifying that a teacher certified in exceptional student education is considered in-field if he or she is teaching exceptional students in a self-contained classroom.
  • Allowing the Florida Institute for Charter School Innovation to develop a professional learning system.
  • Providing teachers with a valid professional certificate who taught at a private school and returned to the school district can extend the expiration date of their professional certificate, up to a maximum of the years.
  • Allowing prekindergarten instructors 30 days after hire to complete the required emergent literacy courses.
  • Providing authority to the district school boards to adopt requirements for school bus drivers and bus attendants.

• Modifies how school districts may recruit, hire, manage, pay and evaluate teachers by:
  • Removing restrictions related to comparable educator salary adjustments.
  • Creating a three-year instructional multiyear contract that may be awarded if certain criteria are met.
  • Requiring the State Board of Education to develop and publish strategies relating to critical teacher shortage areas.
  • Providing greater authority to district school boards in determining personnel evaluations, but requires that at least half of the evaluation must be based upon student performance.
  • Providing flexibility in the assignment of inexperienced teachers at schools in need of interventions and support.
  • Prohibiting the use of the value-added model as the sole determinant for any incentive pay for instructional personnel or school administrators.
  • Providing that specified policies for which collective bargaining may not preclude or limit school district activities.

The bill would take effect on July 1, 2024.

Florida SPB 7002 — Deregulation of public schools/school district finance and budgets, facilities and administration and oversight

According to the bill’s summary, SPB 7002 removes “unnecessary and “burdensome” regulations on school districts to advance efficient administrative processes, enhance facilities management and simplify financial requirements.

The bill advances efficiency for school board administrative processes:

• Simplifies school board rulemaking and policy development procedures to follow a single process that focuses on open meetings with public input.
• Authorizes electronic notifications to parents and required advertisements regarding school board meetings to be posted on the district school board website.
• Provides flexibility for school districts to decide whether to make up days lost because of a bona fide emergency.
• Revises the requirements allowing students to carry essential medical supplies at school with simpler prescription and parent approval processes.
• Removes the obligation for school boards to provide surplus property for charter schools on the same basis as other public schools.
• Removes requirements for school boards to provide:
  • Parents with an economic security report.
  • An annual report on district guidance services.

The bill would take effect on July 1, 2024.

Florida SPB 7004 — Deregulation of public schools/assessment and accountability, instruction and education choice

Florida SPB 7004 builds on the deregulation of public schools provisions in HB 1, according to the bill’s summary, by providing school districts with additional authority related to prekindergarten programs, retention and graduation, assessments, school improvement, instructional materials, and reporting.

Specifically, the bill modifies the following:

• Relating to the Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) program, the bill:
  • Removes the requirement that each public school district offer the summer VPK program, modifies summer VPK funding and program attendance systems, and provides access to school district summer reading camps.
  • Removes early learning coalition monitoring of public school VPK programs.
• Relating to assessments, the bill:
  • Creates an additional good cause exemption from third-grade retention to specify that a parent may determine promotion to grade 4 is in the best interest of the student.
  • Eliminates the requirement for students to pass the Algebra 1 end-of-course and grade 10 English Language Arts assessment to earn a standard high school diploma.
  • Eliminates requirements relating to the uniform assessment calendar, and that school districts submit the district-wide assessment calendar to the Department of Education.
  • Authorizes district school superintendents to determine the timeframe for applications for extraordinary exemptions from assessments for students with disabilities.
  • Removes the requirement for administration of the common assessment for students in Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) prevention, residential or day treatment programs.
• Relating to public school accountability and improvement, the bill:
  • Specifies that changes made by the State Board of Education (SBE) to the school grades model or scale may not go into effect until the following school year.
  • Extends from two to four years the time for a school district to implement a district-managed turnaround plan. The bill provides a school exits district-managed turnaround with two consecutive grades of “C,” or a grade of “A” or “B.”
  • Expands school turnaround options to include conversion to a community partnership school
  • Prohibits the use of the value-added model (VAM) as the sole determinant in recruiting instructional personnel.
  • Removes the requirement that district school boards take action on a provider contract for DJJ educational programs that continue to underperform within six months after a monitoring plan.
• Relating to instructional materials, the bill:
  • Requires the Commissioner of Education, beginning in the 2026 adoption cycle, to publish the list of adopted instructional materials not later than July 31 of the year preceding the beginning of the adoption period.
  • Provides district school boards additional authority in the provision of adequate instructional materials and major tools of instruction for students in core subject areas.
  • Modifies dates for superintendent reporting regarding requisitioned instructional materials and alignment of materials to state standards.
  • Provides principals with the authority to determine the collection of funds for lost or damaged instructional materials.
• Regarding district programs, the bill:
  • Authorizes schools to schedule the 100 minutes of required recess over a week, rather than 20 consecutive minutes daily.
  • Changes district school board capacity determinations for controlled open enrollment and from every 12 weeks to twice annually.
  • Authorizes school district virtual instruction programs to provide equipment to all students, regardless of income status.
  • Repeals the Competency-Based Pilot Program and the single-gender program requirements.

The bill also repeals reporting relating to fine arts, charter technical career centers, middle grades career courses, academically high-performing school districts, Committee of Practitioners under the No Child Left Behind Act, and implementation of school improvement and accountability.

The bill would take effect on July 1, 2024.