The Senate already passed this legislation, and the House will follow suit this week.

Get ready to make room for Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels next to the multiplication tables, as the Florida House has voted for Senate legislation requiring a history of communism to be taught in state schools.

SB 1264, previously passed by a 25-7 vote in the Senate, is similar enough to Chuck Brannan’s companion measure HB 1349 (“History and Instruction of Political and Socio-economic Systems”) to where the House sponsor had no problem using Senate language.

Both versions require students in traditional public and charter K-12 schools to receive instruction on the history of communism beginning in the 2026-27 academic year in what is billed as an age-appropriate and developmentally-appropriate way.

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida residents who object to books in local K-12 libraries could only challenge one title per month if they don’t have children attending school under a new policy introduced Tuesday by the Senate.

Part of a wide-ranging education bill, the regulations are a response to a flood of book challenges hitting school districts this year on the heels of a 2023 law tightening scrutiny around sexual content in K-12 libraries. This proposal is a stronger version of a previous policy backed by the House allowing schools to charge a $100 fee for some book objections, efforts that come as Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state needs to root out “bad actors” who are attempting to “hijack” the process.

The House and Senate still need to reach deals on higher education, criminal and civil justice, health care, agriculture and transportation and economic development.

Florida lawmakers continue to inch towards a budget agreement, reaching consensus on the PreK-12 education portion of the spending plan, but nearly every other sector of the budget is yet to be finalized.

Time is running out for the House and Senate to reach an agreement and end the Regular Session on time. The budget must be made public by Tuesday to allow for the 72-hour “cooling off” period mandated by the constitution to end Session on Friday, the scheduled last day of the 2024 Session.

Both chambers agreed to budget $4.3M to reward National Merit Scholars pursuing their education in-state.

Funding will be in place for Florida’s National Merit Scholars who pursue their college education in the state.

The House and Senate agreed to budget more than $4.3 million for the Benacquisto Scholarship program. Appropriations subcommittees in both the House and Senate had included the funding in their original budget proposals, and they have now officially closed out the item in negotiations between the chambers.

If passed, the measure would take effect July 1, 2024.

Legislation granting designated “patriotic organizations” more access to students in schools is one step closer to passage.

The Senate Fiscal Policy Committee approved HB 1317, which allows patriotic groups to speak with students and pass out materials during school hours or leave displays at schools.

The Senate agreed to spend $200M on dedicated teacher pay increases.

House and Senate budget negotiators took a big step toward reaching an agreement on K-12 school funding, as the Senate offered to spend $200.5 million on dedicated teacher pay increases.

The amount is just short of the nearly $202 million the House prefers, but a departure from the Senate’s original position of spending money on teacher pay in a way that would’ve given school districts more discretion on how to spend those funds.

The Senate Rules Committee on Monday approved a proposal that would authorize school districts to let volunteer chaplains provide services to students, setting up the bill for consideration by the full Senate.

Under the proposal (SB 1044), school districts could adopt policies that would allow chaplains to provide “supports, services and programs” for students, with certain requirements placed on such districts.

(The Center Square) — Florida lawmakers have advanced a bill this week that would allow young students and those who teach them the tools to be successful.

State Rep. John Snyder, R-Palm City, sponsors House Bill 1353. It would revise Florida's laws on the state's pre-kindergarten programs known as early learning coalitions and other specified early learning programs.

While introducing his bill to the House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee, bill sponsor Snyder said that the bill would better support children, providers and early learning coalitions.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to limit the ability of the public to challenge books in schools — an apparent acknowledgment that efforts to remove titles from schools have gone too far in some instances.

The state has been engulfed in a long-running controversy about books being pulled from schools. DeSantis backed laws targeting what type of content is appropriate in school books, sparking confusion and controversies around the state regarding book removals.

DeSantis continued to pushback Thursday against what he and his supporters have described as "false narratives" about book bans in Florida, saying some school districts have overreacted and are incorrectly interpreting state laws.

Over 30 public sector bargaining units in Florida have been decertified since October.

Thousands of public workers in Florida lost union representation last month, a result of anti-union legislation signed into law last year.

Public records show that in January alone, at least 30 public bargaining units for city, university and non-instructional school employees were decertified by the state.

Decertification means the bargaining unit is no longer recognized as valid, and any current contracts they’ve negotiated with employers — covering things such as grievance procedures and negotiated pay raises — are no longer enforceable.

A House subcommittee advanced a bill that would require K-12 students to learn about communism despite objections from Democrats and others against mandating instruction on the polarizing topic that’s become part of the GOP cultural war.

If passed, HB 1349 would require public schools to teach about the communism in grades K-12 starting in the 2026-27 school year. According to staff analysis, students would learn about the movement’s history, foreign atrocities committed by communists, cultural Marxism and more.

Rep. James Buchanan, the Republican from Sarasota County’s Osprey who co-sponsored the bill, said the idea came from a constituent, whom he did not name. Buchanan compared his bill’s framework to other bills done for Holocaust and Black history education.

Two years ago, when historian Marvin Dunn wanted to talk to a Pinecrest classroom about Black history, his visit didn’t require much planning. But when he returned last week to give a lecture on his personal experience with segregation, only Palmetto Middle School students with signed permission slips were able to attend.

The change is a stark example of how a state law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022 is impacting at least one school district in Florida — Miami Dade County Public Schools — as local school officials try to comply with broad state regulations that seek to give parents greater control over their children’s education.

The Center Square) — Florida school students will have more assistance with subjects such as reading and math after the Florida House passed two new bills this week.

House Bill 1403 is sponsored by state Rep. Josie Tomkow, R-Polk City. It would increase the growth rate of the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities scholarship program from 3% to 5%, then automatically by 1% based on demand.

Scholarship Funding Organizations would be required to deposit scholarship funds to applicants within seven business days of approval; report on performance metrics on applications and reimbursement requests; and get feedback from parents, private schools, and providers before making any significant changes to the scholarship funding organization's reimbursement process.

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — The Florida House overwhelmingly passed a bill Thursday aiming to expand and improve upon the state’s K-12 voucher programs on the heels of last year’s landmark universal school choice law.

The new legislation proposes several tweaks to how Florida administers scholarships through moves like installing guardrails around what parents can buy with the vouchers. It also creates new timelines and deadlines meant to get parents and students their money faster after many suffered from delays.

‘Let’s be consistent.’

A bill meant to fix a new Florida law allowing the use of cameras to penalize motorists who illegally pass public school buses is advancing, despite concerns over a cost-sharing provision some worry might incentivize ticketing.

If passed, the bill (SB 994) would let charter and private schools outfit their buses with cameras and expand the use of collected fees to pay for student transportation safety and bus driver-hiring initiatives.

Parents and municipalities could apply to convert a public school into a charter school, not just school districts, if a bill by a Pensacola House member becomes law.

The bill, by Republican state Rep. Alex Andrade, cleared the House Choice & Innovation Subcommittee Thursday morning along party lines. Ten Republicans voted yes, and there were five

The plan includes a $202M increase for teacher salaries.

Teachers could see a pay raise and PreK-12 schools would get more funds for exceptional students under a House budget plan released by the House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee.

The plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1, puts $28.4 billion towards PreK-12 schools, including $22.5 billion that’s part of the Florida Education Funding Program (FEFP), the main formula for funding schools. That would be an increase of $1.5 billion, or 7%, on the current year FEFP. It represents $8,936 per student, or $217.50 more than the current year.

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — The Florida House is on the cusp of passing legislation to update last year’s landmark universal school choice law, but the proposed changes are falling short for some parents who want different schooling options.

House Republicans are proposing several tweaks to Florida’s school choice programs, like installing guardrails around what parents can buy with the scholarships and creating new timelines and deadlines to help get parents and students their money faster. At the same time, the legislation aims to open the door for thousands of additional special needs students to access scholarships, building on a widely popular program that continues to exceed enrollment limits.

A bill that would give special access to what it terms “patriotic organizations” to pass out instructional materials in public schools is set to be discussed by a Florida Senate panel on Tuesday.

A bill entitled “Patriotic Organizations” (SB 1016/HB 1317), sponsored by Sen. Tom Wright, R-Port Orange, would allow “youth membership organizations” to “inform students of how the patriotic organization may further the students’ educational interests and civic involvement.”