Cursive may have fallen by the wayside, but Florida lawmakers want to bring it back — starting with a signature from Gov. Ron DeSantis.
A bill (HB 127) unanimously approved by the House Education and Employment Committee Thursday would require second to fifth graders at public and charter schools receive cursive writing instruction.
The measure co-sponsored by Rep. Dana Trabulsy, a Fort Pierce Republican, comes as multiple studies have shown that handwriting, especially cursive, is beginning to fade away in schools in favor of artificial intelligence and keyboards.
Trabulsy acknowledged that before she co-sponsored the bill, she presumed many people no longer wrote in cursive, a skill she said was important.
“We’re in a digital age right now,” Trabulsy said in a presentation to the committee. “We’ve really lost sight of our foundational skills that connect us to our history and sharpen our minds. If our students can’t read cursive, they can’t read the Declaration of Independence, they can’t read the U.S. Constitution or even a grandparent’s hand-written letter.”
The National Library of Medicine published an analysis in 2020 that found cursive writing is a fading skill, but asserted it “has been considered an essential precursor for further academic success.”
Trabulsy’s bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Toby Overdorf, a Stuart Republican, would specifically require students be taught cursive letter formation, proper spacing and alignment. At the end of fifth grade, students would be required to demonstrate proficiency in cursive.
HB 127 has now cleared all of its committees and is heading to the House floor while an identical bill is working its way through the Senate (SB 444). Last year, a similar measure garnered support in the House but failed to gain traction in the Senate.
