Senate scraps ending recess mandate, but other reforms move ahead

The Florida Senate backed away Tuesday from plans to end the state’s recess requirement after objections from “recess moms” but moved ahead with proposals to scrap key, and controversial, parts of the Republican education agenda.

The Senate’s fiscal policy committee agreed by an 18-0 vote to end policies ushered in by former Gov. Jeb Bush more than 20 years ago. Those include requirements that high school students pass two exams to graduate and that third graders pass a reading test to move on to fourth grade.

Under the bill approved by the GOP-dominated committee, students would no longer have to pass an Algebra 1 and a language arts exam to earn high school diplomas. But the 10th-grade language arts exam would count as 30% of a student’s final grade in 10th-grade English classes, just as the algebra exam already counts as 30% of the final grade in Algebra 1 classes.

The bill also would allow third graders who failed the state reading test to be promoted to fourth grade, if that is what their parents thought was best.

Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, the sponsor of the bill (SB 7004), said the goal was to encourage schools to provide reading help to struggling youngsters well before third grade, give parents more say in their child’s education and make sure schools were not hurting teenagers’ futures by requiring the passing of high-stakes tests.

He rejected the idea that it was a move to lower standards.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said.

The proposals, however, have prompted objections from Bush, his influential education foundation and some other conservative groups, and it is not clear yet whether they will have the support of House leaders or Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The bill “reinstates the option for social promotion,” or the moving of students to the next grade because they are a year older, not because they met academic standards, said Nathan Hoffman, senior legislative director for the Foundation for Florida’s Future, Bush’s group.

It also “significantly waters down the value of the diploma,” he said.

Florida’s current laws, adopted as part of Bush’s A+ Plan for Education, have improved academics in Florida, as measured by test scores and graduation rates, Hoffman said. “This is why we can’t take our foot off the gas,” he added.

The conservative group Moms for Liberty also raised objections.

“It seems like we are removing accountability,” said member Jamie Merchant, adding that “removing standards” means schools will “continue to promote struggling students.”

But Republicans in the Senate have pushed and supported the measures, and two committees have now approved them.

Senate President Senate President Kathleen Passidomo introduced the proposals in a memo she sent to senators last month that was titled “Learn Local – Cutting Red Tape, Supporting Neighborhood Public Schools.”

The idea, she said, was that after the Legislature expanded school choice (HB 1) earlier this year, making many more children eligible for private school scholarships, it should look in its 2024 session to remove regulations on public schools, which serve the bulk of the state’s students.

In the memo, she called the ideas “bold,” “controversial” and, she conceded, ones that might “not make it across the finish line.”

Many of the Senate’s suggestions have broad support from school superintendents, administrators, teachers and parents. Representatives from the Broward, Orange and Seminole county school districts all showed their support Tuesday, for example.

Simon noted that Florida’s new standardized test, FAST, is a “progress-monitoring” exam given several times a year starting in pre-Kindergarten.

“We’re able to find those students much earlier on in the process,” he said, making the current third-grade rule unnecessary.

The state’s high-stakes high school exams can limit options for students who might want to enter the military after high school or enroll in technical programs but cannot without a diploma, Simon added. “We’re holding back a whole generation of kids,” he said.

But deleting the state’s requirement that elementary schools offer 20 minutes of recess a day made many parents unhappy, and they let Simon know it.

In response, last week Simon proposed an amendment to his bill that would leave the recess mandate unchanged. The fiscal policy committee approved that at its Tuesday meeting.

In 2017, state lawmakers passed a law requiring elementary schools to provide 20 consecutive minutes of “unstructured, free-play recess” a day.

Simon said he proposed altering that requirement to give school districts the flexibility to set their own recess rules.

But that prompted lots of objections from those who’d pushed for the state recess law because so many schools had done away with recess, even for their youngest students. Recess advocates, who called themselves “recess moms,” said young children need a chance to run around, and that recess benefits both their academics and mental health.

“It gives them that break they need and allows them to focus better,” said Angie Gallo, an Orange County School Board member who pushed for the recess mandate and urged the Senate not to undo what their colleagues adopted six years ago.

“We’re thrilled that Sen. Simon took the language out of the bill,” Gallo said. “We’re pleased he listened to the recess moms.”