Many of the bills that Governor Ron DeSantis has signed into law so far from this year’s session have to do with education, and can be broken down into a few distinct categories.
Public health laws will require schools to have glucagon, a drug that reverses diabetic emergencies, and AEDs, which can restart a person’s heart after a cardiac arrest, on hand to respond to student health emergencies, and to provide families with literature on diabetes.
School safety laws will allow childcare facilities to opt-into guardian programs, which use trained volunteers to act as a layer of school security. And they'll require schools to temporarily remove teachers accused of certain crimes.
Laws governing training for school personnel will require schools to teach staff how to respond to a severe allergic reaction or suspected human trafficking. But school counselors will no longer be required to be certified teachers.
Curriculum laws will require students to learn about disabilities, make it easier for private and homeschool students to join sports teams, and for inmates to earn a professional license.
Finally, school accountability laws will roll back recently-passed restrictions on school start times and allow student dropout programs to choose how they are assessed.
Here’s the full list of Florida’s new education laws:
- SB 472 - Education in Correctional Facilities for Professional Licensure: this is a law that allows inmates in Florida state prisons to use certain classes they take in FDC facilities to count toward a professional license
- SB 1470 - School Safety: this law opens up the school guardian program, and allows childcare facilities in the state to opt-into the program which trains volunteers to act as a level of school security at K-12 schools in the state
- SB 958 - Type 1 Diabetes Early Detection Program: this law will require schools and early childhood learning centers to provide information to parents and families about identifying Type 1 diabetes
- SB 1514 - Anaphylaxis in Public and Charter Schools: this law will require schools to provide teachers and staff with training to respond to a student’s severe allergic reaction, and schools must have an action plan in place for responding to a severe allergic reaction on campus
- HB 447 - Disability History and Awareness Instruction: this law will require schools to teach students about disabilities and disability history, including the experience of people living with a range of intellectual, physical and emotional disabilities
- SB 248 - Student Participation in Interscholastic and Interscholastic Extracurricular Sports: this law makes it easier for private and homeschool students to join and compete on public school sports teams, including on a Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) sport or team that they may not otherwise have access to
- SB 296 - Middle School and High School Start Times: this law repeals former restrictions on middle and high school start times in the state that would have taken effect in 2026. This new law allows districts and school boards to set their own school start times
- SB 1374 - School District Reporting Requirements: this law will require schools to remove teachers and staff who have been accused of certain crimes from the classroom and other school spaces
- SB 1402 - Students Enrolled in Dropout Retrieval Programs: this law will allow school dropout programs to choose to be ranked either by a school grade, which is how public schools in the state are ranked, or a school improvement rating
- HB 809 - School Social Workers: this law changes certification requirements for social workers. Moving forward, school social workers are no longer required to be certified teachers
- HB 1237 - Human Trafficking Awareness: this law will require schools to put human trafficking prevention training programs in place for teachers and staff, and to have an action plan for reporting suspected sex or labor trafficking
- HB 1607 - Cardiac Emergencies: this law requires all schools to have AEDs, which can restart someone’s heart, on campus to respond to sudden cardiac arrest and prevent student deaths
- HB 597 - Diabetes Management in Schools: this law requires schools to have glucagon, a medicine which can reverse diabetic shock, on hand to respond to a student’s diabetic emergency
