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A Florida Senate committee supported three bills Tuesday that would deregulate certain aspects of public education.
One bill would reduce the impact of tests needed for high schoolers to graduate and third graders to move on. Republican Corey Simon of Tallahassee sponsored the bill.
“We’re holding back a whole generation of kids that can enter the workforce that have no intention of going into our traditional post-secondary institutions.”
Nathan Hoffman is with the Foundation for Florida’s Future. He’s part of an organization linked to former Governor Jeb Bush. The bill would erase parts of Bush’s agenda that had been in place for over 20 years in Florida.
“Removing the passage requirement significantly waters down the value of the diploma.”
Before the meeting, language that would have ended the state’s school recess requirements was removed from Senate Bill 7004 after fierce backlash.
The bill received unanimous support from the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee.
Two other bills, which provide financial flexibility to school districts and require the State Board of Education to develop a strategy to address teacher shortages, were also supported unanimously.
