Florida Legislative Highlights | Week of April 21-25, 2025

Legislature Will Head to Overtime

Senate President Ben Albritton and Speaker Danny Perez announced this week that the legislature will not finalize a budget by the scheduled May 2 Sine Die, which means legislators must either remain in Tallahassee or return prior to the new Fiscal Year beginning on July 1 to pass a budget.

At issue is a disagreement between the chambers about the type and extent of tax relief to provide to Floridians.

Senate Passes Charter School Conversion Legislation

This week, the Senate passed Sen. Don Gaetz’s Senate Bill 140, which will improve the charter school conversion process by requiring a successful vote of 50% of parents with children in an existing public school to trigger a conversion process.

The legislation will also allow municipalities to apply to convert an existing public school into a “job engine charter” school that must include career education opportunities for students.

Finally, the legislation includes an FFF priority, which will give charter schools access to the Workforce Capitalization Incentive Grant program to support the startup or expansion of work-based learning tied to credentials on the state’s high-value credential list. Similar legislation previously passed the House (House Bill 1145), and Sen. Corey Simon is carrying identical language in Senate Bill 742, which is ready for a Senate Floor vote.

House Passes Two Education Omnibus Bills

The House passed two education omnibus bills this week, which include FFF priorities.

Rep. Demi Busatta’s House Bill 1267 passed 86-27. Read our statement here. Among other provisions, the bill would:

• Expand the Schools of Hope charter school program by expanding the definition of a persistently low-performing school; require the Department of Education to create a standard mutual management agreement; and make it easier for Hope operators to access vacant, underutilized and surplus public-school facilities, including co-location.
• Expand access to interventions and supports for students struggling with reading and math, including students scoring at Level 1 on the state (FAST) assessments.
• Make changes to Florida’s school grading scale, unifying the grade scale and increasing the percentage of points needed to earn each letter grade, beginning in the 2026-2027 school year and each year thereafter until the 2032-2033 school year.

Rep. Dana Trabulsy’s House Bill 1255 passed 86-27. Read our statement here. Among other provisions, the bill would:

• Specify the type and amount of math content that educator preparation programs must provide to teacher candidates;
• Require competency-based alternative certification pathways to increase the amount of math content educator preparation programs provide to candidates;
• Require school districts to develop a comprehensive system of mathematics instruction as part of the creation of a reading instruction plan. The system of instruction may include additional time per day of evidence-based math instruction, the inclusion of math coaches and tutoring services; and,
• Create a mathematics endorsement pathway to be offered to teachers beginning in the 2027-2028 school year.

Education Preparation Overhaul Clears the House

Rep. Alex Rizo’s House Bill 875, which begins the process of overhauling Florida’s teacher preparation programs, passed the House 84-27. The legislation will align and standardize the requirements and content of the state’s various teacher preparation programs.

Specifically, the legislation repeals and replaces the existing competency-based certification pathways with a unified state-directed pathway, establishes a new uniform core curricula for all teacher preparation programs and creates the Florida Institute of Teaching Excellence at Miami-Dade College.

The Senate’s companion, Senate Bill 1590 sponsored by Sen. Danny Burgess, is ready for a Senate Floor vote.

Senate Passes Social Media Protections for Minors Legislation

The Senate overwhelmingly approved Sen. Blaise Ingoglia’s SB 868, which expands protections for minors (under 14 years old) on social media. Specifically, the legislation requires social media companies to:

Decrypt messages on a minor’s account currently secured through end-to-end encryption if presented by law enforcement with a warrant or subpoena;

Allow parents or a legal guardian to view all messages of a minor account holder; and,

Prohibit a minor from utilizing apps that are designed to have messages disappear after a certain period of time.

Last session, Florida passed sweeping legislation to protect minors from the harms of social media with the passage of House Bill 3. FFF strongly supported this legislation.