Florida students are returning to school with expanded safety measures and new curriculum requirements, thanks to laws passed by the legislature this year.
Gov. Ron DeSantis praised the progress made in education throughout his tenure as governor during a speech in Lee County Thursday.
“We have been ranked number one in education freedom four consecutive years, number one in education overall for the past three years, number one in parent power by the Center for Education Reform four years in a row, number one on state education freedom, and the only state to receive an A+ rating,” DeSantis said.
He also lauded improvements made to school safety.
“We’ve done more over this period of time to promote school safety and security than has ever been done in the history of the state of Florida, and rightfully so,” the governor said, adding that the state has invested more than $3 billion in protecting students, educators, and staff.
Among changes implemented this year is a new criminal offense for discharging a firearm or weapon within 1,000 feet of a school. It is now classified as a second degree felony under HB 757.
The bill also requires school district safety specialists to explain the purpose, importance, and proper execution of specified school safety training protocols and procedures.
Additionally, it expands the School Guardian Program to allow eligible employees and faculty members at colleges and universities to carry firearms on campus and directs sheriffs to establish training programs to support implementation at schools and post-secondary institutions.
As for curriculum changes, second graders through fifth graders will now receive cursive writing instruction including forming cursive letters, writing words and sentences under SB 182. It also requires each student to demonstrate proficiency in reading and writing cursive by the end of fifth grade through a written evaluation.
Charter schools now have stricter criteria when dismissing students and cannot dismiss a student based on academic performance while a school is implementing a school improvement plan or corrective action plan.
The history of communism is another curriculum change that public schools are required to include in their instruction. SB 1264 directs schools to teach age-appropriate lessons on the history of communism to include the history of communism in the U.S., atrocities committed in foreign countries under the guidance of communism, comparative discussion of political ideologies, mass killings and other events tied to communist movements, and more.
The bill also created the Institute for Freedom in the Americas at Miami Dade College “to preserve the ideals of a free society and promote democracy.”
