Florida Legislative Highlights | Week of February 5-9, 2024

Senate Passes Comprehensive Reading & Math Supports, Including AI

The Florida Senate unanimously passed House Bill 1361, which provides multiple opportunities to support both students and teachers in addressing math and reading deficiencies. HB 1371 would: 

• Expand the New Worlds Reading Scholarship to students in the Voluntary Prekindergarten Program who exhibit a deficiency in either reading or math.
• Establish the New Worlds Tutoring program, administered by the University of Florida Lastinger Center for Learning, to provide evidence-aligned reading and math supports and grants to districts with students in kindergarten through grade 5 who exhibit reading or math deficiencies.
• Establish a grant program to provide districts with access to artificial intelligence (AI) platforms that provide professional learning for teachers and personalized tutoring for students.

The Senate modified the bill, providing for administration of the New Worlds Tutoring Program by the University of Florida Lastinger Center for Learning instead of a Scholarship Funding Organization.

House Bill 1361 will head back to the House for further consideration.

Budgets Prepared for Conference

Both the House and Senate passed their appropriation and conforming bills in preparation for budget conference. Key proposed differences between the two appropriations bills include:

* Portions of each budget where there currently is $0 indicated will be worked out during the budget conference process.

Social Media Regulations Move Forward

The Senate companion to House Bill 1, Senate Bill 1788 sponsored by Sen. Erin Grall, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee with an amendment. The Senate version deletes provisions related to requirements that social media companies post disclaimers and links to resources for account holders 16 and 17 years of age.

Key Task Forces Advance

Two proposals establishing task forces continued to move through the legislature:

• House Bill 917 (Rep. John Snyder) and Senate Bill 460 (Sen. Corey Simon) each passed another committee stop. The companion bills would, among other provisions, create a statewide career & technical education (CTE) task force to study district-level CTE outcomes for students and provide recommendations for program improvement.
• Senate Bill 1344, sponsored by Sen. Alexis Calatayud, passed another committee stop. The bill creates the Artificial Intelligence in Education Task Force. The task force would study and make recommendations for the safe and effective use of AI in education; further adoption of computer science education; and develop updated digital literacy standards for artificial intelligence.