David Struhs is the Senior Legislative Director for Florida.
Florida leaders have long been committed to improving the state’s K-12 landscape and student outcomes. This year, lawmakers continued investing in strategies to support student achievement: improving early reading and math literacy requirements, strengthening the teacher pipeline and expanding educational opportunity.
More than two decades ago, Florida lawmakers embraced comprehensive policy solutions to ensure students are proficient readers by the end of third grade.
Sweeping literacy legislation this past session builds upon that solid foundation, strengthening the connections between educators and families and expanding supports for struggling young learners.
New policy requires screening so schools can better identify students struggling not only with reading but also with math. Notably, it improves transparency for parents of K-3 students showing signs of dyslexia and dyscalculia—learning disorders that make reading and math difficult to grasp.
It also incentivizes districts to prioritize placing highly effective reading teachers in K-2 classrooms to optimize reading instruction for Florida’s developing readers. To help students reach math proficiency, the state has created a math scholarship program, which will help families pay for tutoring, materials and other specialized tools.
After the COVID-19 pandemic that shook the K-12 education system, Florida is one of just a handful of states to address learning loss by adopting legislation that focuses on both numeracy and literacy.
Another major change lawmakers can be proud of is elimination of the flawed practice of “three cueing” — a reading technique that teaches kids to guess words rather than sound them out — from curriculum and instruction in K-12 schools, ensuring that reading instruction is now grounded in evidence-based best practices. Florida also became the first state to ban three-cueing in state-approved colleges of education. The state legislature invested nearly $160 million to help districts with the cost of implementing curriculum aligned with the science of reading.
Teacher shortages across the country are a growing concern for school leaders and families. Florida policymakers responded with innovations designed to draw more high-quality talent into the state’s classrooms.
Florida established a Teacher Apprenticeship Program that creates an alternative pathway to becoming a teacher. The program allows prospective educators to become fully certified teachers by serving as an apprentice to a mentor teacher over a multi-year training program.
Additionally, the state will offer sign-on bonuses to retired first responders and military veterans who become teachers, waive fees for qualified students in a teacher preparation program and give scholarships to prospective dual-enrollment teachers.
Florida also has joined nine other states in signing onto the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact, which increases educator mobility, allowing certified teachers to use their current certification to teach across state lines.
Florida lawmakers made history and headlines by creating universal education scholarship accounts that, for the first time, give all Florida families access to flexible-use funds to pay for the schooling environment that best fits their child’s needs, reducing economic barriers to private and customized learning options.
They also improved funding equity for public charter school students. Florida passed legislation that requires school districts to share local revenue fairly with charter schools. The state’s more than 700 schools will gain access to $56 million in local facilities funding this year as part of a revenue sharing formula that will grow to close to half a billion by year five.
The jobs of today require a prepared workforce equipped with specific skills and knowledge sets, but too many Florida high school graduates find themselves without the necessary training to succeed in college or the workforce.
Florida has been a pioneer in creating pathways for students to “learn on the job” as part of their K-12 experience. During the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers continued to invest in Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways.
Now, providing high school students access to work-based learning opportunities, such as apprenticeships, is mandatory for public school districts. State policymakers created a new funding weight for those programs, established incentives for schools that help students complete CTE classes and earn a certificate, and expanded access to work-based learning to middle schoolers.
Thank you to all lawmakers who joined in bipartisan support of strong policies, and special thanks to Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, House Speaker Paul Renner, Sen. Alexis Calatayud, Sen. Corey Simon, Rep. Dana Trabulsy and Rep. Kaylee Tuck for their focus on students this year.
