By Patricia Levesque
This piece was originally published in Florida Politics.
Florida lawmakers have wrapped up another Legislative Session where priority education issues from accountability to school choice to workforce development took center stage.
Lawmakers built on past successes and covered a lot of ground, taking bold action to increase student success and maintain Florida’s status as the best state in the nation to learn, work, and live.
Each year following Florida’s Legislative Session, the Foundation for Florida’s Future ranks lawmakers on advancing key education issues and produces a report card much like teachers prepare grades for students and schools. These ratings provide a valuable tool for all Floridians to measure their lawmakers’ support for student-centered education policies, which are the Foundation’s priorities.
Lawmakers earn their grades for the year based on their votes and leadership on bills and amendments in committees and on the floor.
This year saw successful, bipartisan support for critically important education policies — but also opposition to proven, long-standing policies that have contributed to Florida’s education success over the years. As a result, fewer lawmakers earned top grades than in past years. For this Legislation Session, 95 of 160 lawmakers received ‘A’ grades on the Foundation’s 2024 report card.
