The big story: Florida lawmakers officially kick off their 2025 legislative session today with chamber leaders and the governor making speeches about their priorities over the next two months.
While education remains important to officials in both parties, the topic isn’t expected to be the hot-button issue that it has been in many past years. Gov. Ron DeSantis’s agenda faces headwinds that it hasn’t experienced previously, as the political dynamic in Tallahassee shifts.
Still, some school-related priorities have begun to bubble to the top. Those seen as most likely to move are efforts to roll back or refine measures that lawmakers approved in the past, only to hear from school officials that implementation wasn’t working as hoped.
The Senate Education PreK-12 Committee highlighted two such bills on Monday. Read more here.
Today in Tallahassee … The House Education Administration subcommittee will take up three bills when it meets at 1:30 p.m. • The House PreK-12 Budget subcommittee continues to discuss student funding formulas when it meets at 4 p.m. • The House Higher Education Budget subcommittee will hear audit reports on four state universities when it meets at 4 p.m.
Hot topics
Block scheduling: Pinellas County high school students voiced displeasure with plans to dump their eight-period rotating block schedule. School board members say they’re seeking solutions.
Book challenges: A federal judge has refused to dismiss a case against the Florida State Board of Education regarding its library book challenge rules, News Service of Florida reports. • A state lawmaker has filed legislation that would end protection of school books that include sexual content but are deemed to have artistic or literary merit, Florida’s Voice reports.
Cellphones: The Lee County school board is poised to implement a ban on student cellphone use during the school day, WGCU reports.
Crowding: The Duval County school board is contemplating new attendance zones for three middle schools to balance enrollment among them, the Florida Times-Union reports. • Manatee County school district officials plan to redraw school boundaries amid rising enrollment, campus crowding and booming growth, the Bradenton Herald reports.
Homelessness: Unaccompanied homeless students and youth in Sarasota County have a new source of housing assistance in a one-year pilot program funded by local philanthropists, the Herald-Tribune reports.
Immigration enforcement: Escambia County teachers are pressing the school district for written guidelines on how to deal with federal agents who come to schools seeking undocumented students, the Pensacola News-Journal reports.
School leadership: A Leon County middle school principal accused of financial misconduct resigned to avoid termination, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.
Volunteers: All Florida school volunteers now must undergo a Level 2 background check with fingerprinting, at an increased cost that some districts are passing on to the volunteers, Bay News 9 reports.
Don’t miss a story. Here’s a link to yesterday’s roundup.
Before you go … Who knew the bagpipes could sound like this?
