State Actions Update: Three policy areas dominate legislative trends in January 2024 

For education advocates, January brings with it a flurry of student-focused state actions to kick off legislative sessions. Nearly a dozen governors have shared bold 2024 education priorities in their State of the State addresses. Policymakers across the country introduced, heard, debated and voted on dozens of student-centered education policies throughout the month. And 2024 is just getting started. 

Bills aiming to close learning gaps dominated January 2024 legislative trends. With bipartisan support, seven states—Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, South Carolina and Virginia—advanced early literacy measures, such as reading coaches, universal screeners, third-grade promotion, interventions for struggling readers, bans on harmful three-cueing reading instruction and requirements for curriculum to be aligned with the science of reading. Following dismal PISA results reported just two months ago, state legislators in four states—Florida, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee—are leading the way to improve mathematics performance in their states. 

January is highlighted by National School Choice Week each year. Seven states— Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire and South Carolina—prioritized expanding, funding and improving educational opportunity for students, from open enrollment and charter schools to private education choice programs. 

State leaders in 10 states are focused on helping students focus on learning, eliminate distractions and improve wellbeing and academic achievement by limiting smartphones in schools, restricting social media usage, and leverage the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) to supplement learning and support teachers with classroom instruction. Florida, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia are seeking to reduce kids’ use of smartphones in the classroom and/or social media in general. Two more states are poised to take action on cell phone use in schools: Iowa has one bill filed, and Oklahoma has two pre-filed. Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee made moves to study artificial intelligence’s utility in schools.  

Our Advocacy team tracks and reports on state education bill movement throughout the month. Below is a detailed, state-by-state recap of the policy proposals state legislators advanced in January. For those who would like to receive weekly State Action Updates, be sure to sign up for ExcelinEd in Action email updates here. 

Alabama 

• The Alabama State Board of Education announced its intent to adopt a new administrative code to update the standards for teaching reading and ensure educator preparation program coursework aligns to the science of reading. The new code would also ban three-cueing in educator preparation programs and K-12 public schools. The proposed code is now open for public comment.  

Arizona 

• Arizona Rep. Nancy Gutierrez’s HB 2563 received its second reading in the House. The bill would harm more than 72,000 families exercising school choice by restricting Arizona’s universal Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) and limiting how families may spend their ESA funds.  
• Arizona Rep. Steve Montenegro’s HB 2445 had its second reading and has been assigned to the House Education Committee. The bill would require the Department of Education to administer a K-3 reading program as well as require each school district and charter school to have at least one teacher trained in supporting students with dyslexia.  
• Arizona Rep. Barbara Pingerelli’s HB 2675 had its second reading and has been assigned to the House Education Committee. The bill would weaken school accountability by removing A-F letter-grading and replacing it with a not-yet-determined “performance classification.”  

Colorado 

• Colorado Rep. Karen McCormick introduced HB 1087, which would strengthen the pipeline for special education teachers by providing an additional pathway to obtain a teaching endorsement in special education and allowing licensed educators to receive a special education certification without needing to complete a higher education course or an additional student teaching placement.  
• Colorado Sen. Tony Exum introduced SB 24, which would establish the Colorado Workforce Demonstration Grants Pilot Program to expand workforce training programs throughout the state. 

Florida 

• Florida Speaker Paul Renner’s chief policy priority, HB 1, passed the House with a favorable bipartisan vote. This bill would protect students from the harmful effects of social media by preventing children under age 16 from creating their own social media accounts and requiring social media companies to educate minors about the harms of social media.   
• Florida Sen. Corey Simon’s SB 460 passed the Education PreK-12 Committee and awaits a hearing in the Appropriations Committee on Education. This workforce bill would expand vocational and technical education and allow high schoolers to earn credit through registered apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships. It also creates a career and technical education taskforce to establish goals and analyze data.   
• Florida Rep. Lisa Dunkley’s HB 553 passed its final committee. This bill would bolster career pathways by requiring school districts to inform parents about career-themed courses available to middle school students. The Senate companion bill, SB 1688, passed the Commerce and Tourism Committee. Florida Rep. John Snyder’s HB 917 passed its first committee stop. This career pathways bill would provide exemptions for minors (aged 16 or 17) to work in certain professions and would create a statewide career and technical education task force to establish goals and analyze program data for school districts.   
• Florida Rep. John Temple’s HB 1361 passed its last committee and now heads to the House floor. This bill would expand support for early learners by extending eligibility for New Worlds Scholarship Accounts to students enrolled in Florida’s voluntary pre-kindergarten program and by expanding its purpose to include math as well as reading. The Senate companion bill, SB 7038, passed its final committee unanimously.   
• Florida Sen. Linda Stewart’s SB 46 passed the Rules Committee, its final stop before heading to the Senate floor. This early literacy bill would expand the Reading Achievement Initiative for Scholastic Excellence (RAISE) program, which allows high school students to tutor students in grades K-3 during and after the school day. The House companion bill, Rep. Patricia Williams’ HB 315, passed its first committee stop. 
• Florida Rep. Dana Trabulsy’s HB 7025 passed its final committee stop and will be headed to the House floor. This bill incorporates Department of Education accountability recommendations to relieve public school districts of cumbersome reporting requirements.       
• Sen. Simon’s SB 7004, which would weaken high school graduation requirements, passed the Senate.    
• Florida Rep. Alex Rizo’s HB 7039 passed its final committee stop and is headed to the House floor. The bill would reduce public school regulations and give school boards more flexibility related to collective bargaining and teacher apprenticeships.   
• Sen. Alexis Calatayud’s SB 7000, which would provide extra authority to school districts for teacher certification and training, instructor contracts, salary schedules, evaluation and collective bargaining, passed the Senate.   
• Florida Sen. Colleen Burton’s SB 240 passed the Appropriations Committee on Education with unanimous support and awaits a hearing in its last committee stop. The bill would revise the requirements that the Department of Education calculate student scores for International Baccalaureate teachers’ bonuses.   
• Florida Rep. Josie Tomkow’s HB 1403 passed its last committee and now heads to the House floor. This school choice bill is designed to establish deadlines for Student Funding Organizations administering the state’s education scholarship accounts (ESAs). It also updates reporting requirements and merges the HOPE Scholarship Program with the largest-in-the-nation Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program.     
• Sen. Travis Hutson’s SB 7002, which repeals the requirement to make surplus facilities or property available for the use of charter schools and repeals certain required reports from school districts, passed the Senate. 
• Florida Rep. Alex Andrade’s HB 109 passed its first committee. The bill would authorize municipalities to submit an application to convert a public school to charter school status; it also strengthens charter school access to surplus public school district property.  
• Florida Sen. Alexis Calatayud’s SB 1344 passed its first committee stop. This bill would establish the Artificial Intelligence in Education Task Force and require the Department of Education to adopt a statewide plan for K-12 computer science education.    

Georgia 

• Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp released his proposed 2024-25 state budget. The governor requested $11 million to provide literacy coaches and implement the Georgia Early Literacy Act.   
• Georgia Sen. Jason Anavitarte’s SB 351, which would require age verification for social media accounts and also require local boards of education to adopt a social media policy for their schools, awaits a committee hearing.   
• Georgia Rep. Matthew Gambill’s HB 982, which would require the state to publish a high-demand career list and focus funding on programs that align with in-demand careers, had its first committee hearing.  
• Georgia Rep. Bethany Ballard filed HB 1027, which would require Georgia students to complete a half-credit computer science course to graduate, heads to its first committee.  
• Georgia Sen. John Albers filed SR 476, which would create an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Study Committee, heads to its first committee.    

Hawaii 

• Hawaii Rep. Justin Woodson’s HB 1655 heads to its first committee. The bill would require the Department of Education to create a public digital platform by the 2025-26 school year that shows how schools are adopting high-quality instructional materials for K-6 English Language Arts.  
• Hawaii Rep. Woodson’s HB 1657 heads to its first committee. The bill would require all public schools to screen all K-3 students for dyslexia to identify and support students who are at risk of dyslexia and other learning disabilities.   

Idaho 

• Idaho Rep. Judy Boyle’s HB 422 was passed by the legislature. The bill would improve Idaho’s charter school law by streamlining the authorization and reauthorization process for charter schools; establishing pilot charters using innovative models, such as hybrid learning environments; and providing a 12-year renewal term for high-performing charter schools. 

Indiana 

• Indiana Sen. Jeff Raatz’s SB 6 passed its chamber this week. This bill expands literacy policy to identify and support students in grades 4-8 who are not proficient in reading.   
• Indiana Sen. Raatz’s SB 212, which would ban three-cueing in teacher preparation programs, passed the Senate.   
• Indiana Sen. Linda Rogers’ SB 1 passed its last committee stop and heads to the Senate. This early literacy bill would provide summer school intervention and supports for young struggling readers; require universal screening, parent notification, progress monitoring and reading instruction aligned to the science of reading for K-8 students; and strengthen the third-grade promotion gate.    
• Indiana Sen. Mike Young filed SB 165, which would require that the reading deficiency remediation plan of the State Board of Education include a review of reading skills of second grade students, including assessments, as well as implementation of remediation prior to third grade for students not proficient in reading. The bill is awaiting a hearing in the Senate Education and Career Development Committee.  
• Indiana Rep. Jake Teshka’s HB 1304, which would establish requirements regarding math instructional materials and provide optional screening and interventions for students struggling in math, passed the Ways and Means Committee and now heads to the House.  
• Three Hoosier lawmakers—Sen. Jean Leising, Rep. Julie McGuire and Sen. Raatz—filed bills at the start of legislative session to limit cell phones in schools. This week, the Senate passed Sen. Raatz’s SB 185, which would ban the use of cell phones in schools unless they are needed for instructional use or in case of emergency. 
• Indiana Rep. Chuck Goodrich filed HB 1001, which would clarify details for the newly established Career Scholarship Account (CSA) program; make costs associated with obtaining a driver’s license a qualified expense for participating students; and allow higher education scholarship funds to be used for postsecondary training by an intermediary, employer or labor organization for CSA students, passed the House Education Committee. 
• Indiana Rep. Bob Behning’s HB 1243 passed committee review and heads to the House. This bill would make changes to state assessments, establish new diploma requirements, add computer science as a graduation requirement and streamline Career Scholarships Accounts and work-based learning programs. 
• Indiana Sen. Rogers’ SB 270, which would streamline funding and operations for charter schools passed its first committee. 

Kentucky 

• Kentucky Rep. Josh Calloway’s HB 208 would amend the state’s constitution and remove constitutional hurdles for school choice by allowing state funding for students attending private school. The bill, which awaits a committee hearing, has an amendment pending that would expand the current language and allow all families in Kentucky to access the funds.   
• Kentucky Rep. Josh Bray’s HCR 38, which would create an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Study Task Force, passed the House and heads to the Senate.   
• Kentucky Rep. James Tipton’s HB 162 had its first committee hearing and awaits a vote. The bill would provide universal math screeners for students in grades 4-8 as well as math improvement plans. 

Mississippi 

• Mississippi Rep. William Tracy Arnold introduced HB 639, which would weaken the state’s accountability system by replacing the A-F school grading system with a 0-1000 numerical grading system.  
• Mississippi Rep. Fred Shanks introduced HB 679, which would extend the state’s Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs ESA program until 2027. The program is currently serving about 380 students in 104 schools.  
• Mississippi Sen. Chris Johnson introduced SB 2062, which awaits its first committee hearing. This bill would establish an Artificial Intelligence in Education Task Force to evaluate and develop policies that guide how artificial intelligence is used in K-12 education.    
• Mississippi Rep. Fred Shanks introduced HB 765, which would extend the state’s Critical Teacher Shortage Act until 2027, was referred to the House Education Committee. The law would help to recruit and retain teachers in school districts with teacher shortages.  

Missouri 

• Bills were filed in the Missouri Senate to allow taxpayers to claim a tax credit for qualified education expenses in private, home or virtual school.  
• Missouri Sen. Curtis Trent’s SB 804, which would strengthen school accountability by requiring the inclusion of “student growth” in the school accountability report cards of all school districts, public schools and public charter schools, received a hearing in the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee and awaits a committee vote.    
• The Missouri House Special Committee on Education Reform heard Rep. Brad Christ’s HB 1485, Rep. Justin Hicks’ HB 1764 and Rep. Cheri Toalson Reisch’s HB 1941. These bills would allow charter schools to be created in the St. Louis, St. Charles and Boone County school districts, respectively. They await a committee vote.   
• Missouri Sen. Andrew Koenig’s SB 727 passed the Senate Education Committee and awaits a reading in the Senate. The bill expands public and private school choice by allowing charter schools in St. Louis, St. Charles and Boone counties, and it expands the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts to serve more families.   
• Missouri Sen. Andrew Koenig’s SB 729, which would create a tax credit for qualified educational expenses for private or homeschooled students, awaits votes in the Senate Education Committee.   
• Missouri Rep. Brad Pollitt’s HB 1989 passed the House and now awaits a first reading in the Senate. The bill would expand school choice by establishing an open enrollment policy for public schools.  
• Missouri Sen. Andrew Koenig’s SB 728, which would establish a parents’ bill of rights, awaits a hearing in the Senate Rules Committee.   
• Missouri Sen. Jill Carter’s SB 814 passed its first committee. This bill would weaken school accountability by eliminating requirements for the Department of Education to produce accountability report cards for schools and to develop a statewide assessment. 

Nebraska 

• Nebraska Sen. Lou Ann Linehan’s LB 985 awaits a vote in the unicameral legislature’s education committee. The bill would require educators endorsed for a specialized certification to teach in that area of specialty in order to receive a high-need teacher retention grant.   

New Hampshire 

• The New Hampshire House Education Committee held a hearing on Education Freedom Account (EFA) program expansion bills, including HB 1634 (universal EFA expansion) and HB 1665 (EFA expansion to 500% of the federal poverty level, from the current 350%). These bills now head to the House floor for consideration. 

Pennsylvania 

• The Pennsylvania Basic Education Funding Commission adopted a report making recommendations to the General Assembly to adjust the state’s basic education funding formula. Detailed information is available here.   

South Carolina 

• South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced his proposed 2024-25 state budget, which includes $30 million for the Education Scholarship Trust Fund Accounts.  
• South Carolina Rep. Weston Newton’s H 4700, which would require age verification for social media accounts, passed its first committee. The bill was amended to add a requirement for the Department of Education to create programs that would improve social media literacy in schools.  
• South Carolina Sen. Greg Hembree’s S 905 had its first committee hearing and awaits a vote. The bill would ban harmful three-cueing in reading curriculum and instruction, ensure students are administered a reading screener three times per year and expand summer reading camps to K-2 students. 

Tennessee  

• Tennessee Sen. Mark Pody’s SB 1643 and Rep. Patsy Hazlewood’s HB 1614, which would require age verification for social media accounts, await their first committee hearings.   
• Tennessee Rep. Scott Cepicky filed HB 1630, which would require local boards of education to create explicit rules and policies for using artificial intelligence (AI) in schools, passed its first subcommittee.    
• Tennessee Rep. Cepicky’s HB 1655 passed its first subcommittee. The bill would require the Tennessee Department of Education to approve a professional development course on math instruction to be available at no cost to educators in K-8 and also require an analysis of current math proficiency levels in the state. 

Virginia 

• Virginia Delegate Carrie Coyner’s HB 647, which would clarify several provisions of the Virginia Literacy Act and includes an explicit ban on three-cueing instruction, passed the full House unanimously and heads to the Senate. 
• Virginia Delegate Coyner’s HB 1083, which renames and retools the Virginia Longitudinal Data System as the Virginia Education and Workforce Longitudinal Data System to better reflect the link between education and workforce data in the Commonwealth, passed its first subcommittee unanimously. 
• Virginia Sen. Travis Hackworth introduced SB 563, which creates new dual enrollment opportunities and includes a return-on-investment analysis requirement to gather data on career and technical education participation, attainment and alignment with employer demand.    
• Virginia Sen. William Stanley’s SB 28, which would allow school boards to develop and implement policies relating to smartphone use during regular school hours, passed the Senate and heads to the House.    

West Virginia 

• West Virginia Delegate Sean Hornbuckle’s House Concurrent Resolution 24 advanced out of the House Education Committee and awaits a hearing in the House Rules Committee. The resolution requires a study on the school aid funding formula.    
• West Virginia Delegate Joe Ellington’s HB 4814 passed the House and heads to the Senate floor. This college and career pathways bill would extend the sunset date of the State Advisory Council on Postsecondary Attainment Goals, to December 31, 2027.   

Wisconsin 

• Wisconsin Rep. Barbara Dittrich’s AB 639, which would require the Department of Public Instruction to offer an alternative pathway to teacher licensure based on equivalency of training and experience, awaits committee discussion.