School start times, student testing lead Florida Senate education agenda

Tampa Bay Times | By Jeffrey S. Solochek | March 4, 2025

In a year with fewer education priorities, lawmakers lead with key concerns.

Florida senators took a step Monday toward reversing a 2023 mandate that public high schools in the state push their start times back to 8:30 a.m. or later.

The Education PreK-12 Committee also advanced a 107-page measure that would eliminate high school reading and algebra tests as graduation requirements, allow teachers to again have multi-year contracts and give districts more flexibility in how they build new schools, among other provisions.

Leaders touted the proposals as protecting public education as a viable option for students and parents.

“Our public school education system is a choice for our families,” committee chairperson Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, said as he sought support for the latter bill, which he is sponsoring. “It’s not a default setting.”

In a year when few education bills are expected to gain traction, with lawmakers largely focused on subjects such as protecting state parks and improving the insurance climate, the Senate set forth two of its key priorities for schools as the session start loomed less than 24 hours away.

The start times legislation (SB 296), sponsored by Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-Fleming Island, emerged after a groundswell of feedback from district officials that implementation was not proving a viable ask. Simon’s “administrative efficiency” measure (SB 166) is a sequel to his deregulation efforts a year ago, which made some progress but left several ideas unfulfilled.

They appear headed to join a small handful of school-related bills viewed as most likely to see their way to the governor’s desk. Those include revamping the state’s school funding formula to better account for the cost of a growing voucher program — an issue the House education budget subcommittee plans to take up for a third meeting on Tuesday ― and giving schools more flexibility in how they use door locks to maintain security.

While other education measures have been filed, lawmakers aren’t expected to pile on too much more, especially after earlier attempts to review bills were interrupted by a winter storm and special sessions.

Senate leadership showed strong support for Simon’s bill, sending out a news release announcing its initial bipartisan success less than an hour after the committee adjourned.

The measure won praise for most of its content, though some questions arose surrounding provisions regarding high school testing. There were also concerns about a proposal to change the rules for third graders to advance to fourth grade based on their reading test scores.

Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said he believes high expectations and rigorous standards helped push Florida to the forefront of academic success in the nation. He asked Simon to keep working on those portions of the bill, as did a representative from the education foundation established by former Gov. Jeb Bush, who helped usher in Florida’s test-based accountability system.

But as a former Okaloosa County superintendent and school board member, Gaetz said, he appreciated the effort to eliminate regulations that force schools to focus on filling out forms rather than helping students.

“This is not a good bill,” Gaetz said. “This is a great bill.”

Simon stressed his intent to shrink the state’s inches-thick education code with an eye toward helping students and their “real education, and not just their ability to pass a test.”

The school start times bill, which Bradley amended to mirror language proposed in the House (HB 261), found backing across party lines — including from the sponsor of the original legislation, Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills.

Burgess said he introduced the concept of later middle and high school start times to reflect the growing body of research on sleep and teens. He figured a three-year implementation window would give schools enough time to make it work.

“It was important to outline the why. But also, the how is really important,” he said, acknowledging the state cannot afford to provide the resources many districts would need to pull off the initiative.

Bradley’s bill still encourages districts to consider the benefits of changing their schedules. But it would return the decision to local forces.

“The original bill was well intentioned. I voted for it as well,” she said. But it became clear that a statewide mandate wasn’t the right fit. “No two counties are exactly the same. Let’s have the counties discuss and at the local level make the best decision.”

Several organizations, including the state superintendents association and school boards association, as well as the Florida Education Association and representatives from a variety of school districts, supported the proposal. It next heads to the appropriations subcommittee that Burgess chairs.