DeSantis signed a number of new school laws. Here's what you should know before August

After an onslaught of controversial Florida bills that were signed into law in 2023, parents and students might be apprehensive about what new laws might impact them in the 2024-2025 school year.

This year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a number of laws that deregulate public schools, expand school choice, attempts to beef up school safety and more.

Here are new education laws parents and students should know about before heading into the 2024-2025 school year.

HB 1285 — Education

HB 1285 revises provisions that relate to K-12 education, postsecondary education and the Education Practices Commission. It establishes the Purple Star School District Program, creates AA specialized transfer degrees and requires the State Board of Education to adopt rules for issuance of classical education teaching certificates.

Here is a more thorough summary:

• Requires that school districts and charter schools provide 11th and 12th grade students with the opportunity to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) Test and the ability to consult with a military recruiter.
• Ensures postsecondary institutions allow students to work their way through school.
• Protects from conflicts of interest between a postsecondary institution and its trustees.
• Empowers aspiring teachers to obtain a classical teaching certificate developed by the State Board of Education.
• Enables classical schools to prioritize enrollment for families moving from one classical school to another.
• Provides a clear and concise process for a struggling school to convert to a charter school.
• If a school receives either two straight Ds or an F on their school grade, it is deemed a “turnaround school.” If the district’s plan to turn the school around does not succeed, the pathway for the school to find new direction and leadership should be simple and efficient.
• These changes will eliminate lengthy and drawn-out negotiations between the incoming charter school and the school district, to ensure no student is trapped at a failing school in Florida.

• A charter school must give preference to kids in the previous school zone and must serve the same grade levels as the previous school.
• The charter school cannot be charged rent for the facility and the school district cannot charge an administrative fee.

• Ensures that book challenges are limited for individuals who do not have children with access to the school district’s materials.
• Unlimited objections remain for parents with children in the school district, which includes homeschooled students accessing district materials.
• Individuals without children in the district will be limited to one objection per month.
• Protects schools from activists trying to politicize and disrupt a district’s book review process.

• Continues to support military families with the Purple Star Schools of Distinction Program.

• Institutes Purple Star School Districts, which recognizes districts with Purple Star Schools making up 75% of schools in their district.
• Helps to ensure a seamless transition for military families moving into Florida by requiring schools to provide them with support and resources.
• For more information on the Purple Star Schools of Distinction program, click here.

HB 1473 — School safety

Florida’s HB 1473 aims to beef up school security. Here’s a summary of what the bill will do:

• Requires sheriff’s offices responsible for certifying school guardians to report the information to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
• Clarifies that private schools are responsible for the costs involved in the background screening and training for school guardians. Certification could waive those fees, however.
• Establishes new perimeter and door safety requirements that school districts and charter school governing boards must comply with. These changes include:
• Keeping entrances and exits securely closed and locked when students are on campus.
• Requiring that these routes be actively staffed when open or unlocked, unless a specific exception applies.

• Requires each school district to develop a progressive discipline policy for instructional and administrative personal who knowingly violate school safety requirements.
• Requires the Office of Safe Schools (OSS) develop and adopt a Florida school safety compliance inspection report to document compliance with safety requirements.
• School districts have to come up with a discipline policy for any staff who violates school safety requirements.
• Bans people from operating drones over public or private schools serving students in grades prekindergarten through 12.
• Allows FDLE to create a grant program that gives funds to law enforcement agencies to conduct security assessments for private schools.

HB 1509 — School safety (public records)

HB 1509 is a short bill regarding FDLE school guardian records. It establishes a public-record exemption for information held by FDLE, law enforcement agencies, school districts and charter schools that could identify a person who has been certified to serve as a school guardian.

HB 1361 — New Worlds education programs

HB 1361 expands who is eligible for the New Worlds Scholarship. It makes eligible students who are enrolled in a voluntary prekindergarten program, specifically aimed at VPK students who have shown learning deficiencies.

The law also establishes a New World Tutoring Program to help students in grades K-5 and allows the program to award grants for in-person tutors to help with reading and math.

The New Worlds Scholarship program provides reimbursements for certain educational expenses, which include things like instructional materials, tuition and fees for part-time tutors and more.

The bill also expands the use of artificial intelligence, allowing the University of Florida Lastinger Center for Learning (Center) to collaborate with school districts and award grants to eligible school districts.

These funds may be used for subscription fees and professional learning to support and accelerate learning for students in grades 6 through 12. The bill appropriates $2 million in recurring funds from the General Revenue Funds to the Center for the grant program.

HB 1403 — School choice expansion

HB 1403 expands eligibility for the Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES) and Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC) programs to the dependent children of an active duty member of the United States Armed Forces who has received permanent change of station orders to Florida or members whose home record or state of residence is listed as Florida at the time of renewal.

The bill increases the growth rate of the Family Empowerment Scholarship for students with disabilities (FES-UA) scholarship program cap from 3% to 5%, while providing an automatic increase of 1% based on demand.

Deadlines will be implemented for Scholarship Funding Organizations (SFO), giving students applying for renewal higher priority than new applicants.

It also updates the quarterly reporting requirements for SFOS to include information on applications received, application review timeframes, reimbursements received and reimbursement timeframes.

SB 7002 — Deregulation of public schools

SB 7002 is perhaps the most widely impacting bill. On paper, it is meant to remove certain regulations on school districts that lawmakers claim impede their efficiency. The result is that many of the procedures school districts must follow have been simplified.

Here’s an analysis of the changes, according to the Florida Senate:

• Simplifies school board rulemaking and policy development procedures to follow a single process that focuses on open meetings with public input.
• Authorizes required advertisements regarding school board meetings to be posted on the district school board website.
• Authorizes a school district and parent to agree on alternate notifications regarding suspensions and dropout prevention.
• Provides flexibility for school districts to decide whether to make up days lost because of a bona fide emergency.
• Removes the obligation for school boards to provide surplus property for charter schools on the same basis as other public schools.
• Removes requirements for school boards to provide:
• Parents with an economic security report.
• An annual report on district guidance services.

• Provides flexibility for school boards to use federal funds
• Specifies that school districts identified in State Board of Education rule as having a financial concern would be subject to monthly reporting. All others would be subject to less frequent reporting.
• Provides that charter schools are to receive and respond to monitoring questions from the Department of Education regarding the charter school’s cost report.
• Provides flexibility in the use of funds generated from civil penalties relating to school bus infraction detection systems.
• Supports flexible funding for all facets of the educational environment, from classrooms to transportation hubs by expanding the use of anticipated revenues to payments for auxiliary facilities and ancillary plants.
• Provides autonomy for school boards to plan for facilities in accordance with local long-term needs instead of state-specified assessments over 5-year, 10-year, and 20-year periods.
• Removes the requirement for each district school board to conduct an educational plant survey.
• Clarifies and expands construction flexibility under the state requirements for educational facilities.
• Modifies school district duties for emergency shelters from a requirement to staff such shelters, to instead provide access to shelters subject to local emergency management plans.
• Cost per student station limitations on projects funded with state funds or discretionary millage.
• The caps on the amount from the discretionary levy that school boards may use for school board vehicles and property insurance.

SB 7004 — Educational changes

SB 7004 makes a number of changes to testing and instructional materials, as well as allowing school districts to have more authority over VPK programs.

Here is a brief summary:

• School districts are no longer required to offer summer VPK programs.
• Reduced how often school districts have to offer assessments during VPKs.
• School districts don’t have to follow a universal testing calendar and instead submit their own testing calendar to the state.
• Department of Juvenile Justice prevention, residential and day treatment programs no longer have to undergo the common assessment.
• Gives principals the authority to determine how to collect funds for lost or damaged instructional materials.
• School districts are no longer required to offer virtual instruction.