The lawmaker behind a 2023 law requiring later school times that could get repealed this Session believes his original bill wasn’t a “fruitless exercise,” and supports efforts to overturn it.

Republican Sen. Danny Burgess sponsored the 2023 measure that requires middle schools to begin no earlier than 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. for high schools. The law gives school districts until July 1, 2026, to comply.

Burgess said Monday he had a “total love-hate relationship” with his bill and said he supports Sen. Jennifer Bradley’s proposal to give local districts control when they start.

Bradley said the law is forcing Superintendents to scramble across the state.

School districts need to buy more buses and hire bus drivers, which are hard to find, she said. She added that children as young as 6 years old could be stuck waiting outside for the bus in the dark at 6 a.m., and parents are worried about their adjusting their work schedules.

“A state mandate on school start times would present incredible challenges, financially and otherwise,” Bradley said as the Senate Committee on Education PreK-12 approved SB 296 with little debate Monday and a 6-1 vote.

Burgess said he “100% believed in the science, as we all do” about the importance of sleep for young people, but admitted his 2023 measure didn’t end up exactly how he wanted.

“What ultimately made me feel OK was that we had a three-year glide path,” the Zephyrhills Republican said at the meeting. “Because of that responsible approach, if it turned out that this would be a bridge too far, we could always pull back.”

Burgess argued his legislation “wasn’t just a fruitless exercise. I think it was responsible.”

As school districts began preparing to change their start times next year, some officials warned that the law is going to cause havoc on districts because of all the logistics of staggered bus times and challenges with elementary school start times, which weren’t included in the law.

“The transition is also difficult for parents’ work schedules. Many parents rely on older students to return from school first and supervise younger siblings,” said Bradley, a Fleming Island Republican. “These families would be forced to find and pay for child care. Later start times would also mean many parents in rural communities or those with longer commutes need to leave for work early.”

Bradley’s bill had support from several school districts, including Orange County Public Schools, which is the fourth-largest district in the state with more than 200,000 students.

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Sen. Shevrin Jones’ SMILES Act would expand dental care services for people on Medicaid.

“The impact our dental care legislation could make in our great state is the reason that I became a lawmaker in the first place,” Jones, a Democrat from Miami-Dade, said in a statement Monday. “Making lives better for Floridians of all backgrounds — in this case, helping them connect to health care to make sure they’re not living with preventable pain because of issues of affordability and access.”

The bill — known as the “Strengthening Medicaid in the Interest of Low-Income Economic Self-Sufficiency” — would also increase the reimbursement rates for covered services for Medicaid providers in a state falling behind compared to the rest of the country, Jones said.

“Florida ranks 49th in the nation for Medicaid dental reimbursement rates, paying only 42% of the average fees charged by dentists, according to the American Dental Association,” according to a press release put out by Jones and House Democrats who are sponsoring legislation to try and change that.

Currently, Medicaid only covers emergency dental work and services to prepare someone for dentures.

But under the new bill, those receiving Medicaid — particularly those with disabilities, the Democrats said — could access other expanded dental care.

“The minimum benefits provided by the Medicaid prepaid dental health program to recipients 21 years of age or older must include services necessary to prevent disease and promote oral health, restore oral structures to health and function, and treat emergency conditions, including routine diagnostic and preventive care, such as dental cleanings, exams, and X-rays; basic dental services, such as fillings and extractions; major dental services, such as root canals, crowns, dentures, and other dental prostheses; emergency dental care; and other necessary services related to dental and oral health,” the bill said.

Jones filed SB 1048, while Reps. Marie Woodson and Angie Nixon are filing the House companion HB 975.

“While Congress debates cutting Medicaid, this legislation strengthens the program in Florida for our most vulnerable residents,” Woodson said in a statement. “By codifying these basic dental services into our Medicaid program, the Florida Legislature is telling Floridians that we are making increased health outcomes a priority.”

If passed, the bill would take effect July 1.

The Legislature reconvenes on Tuesday.

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A Senate-led effort to create more local control in Florida’s public schools cleared its first committee.

The Administrative Efficiency in Public Schools bill (SB 166) advanced from the Senate Pre-K-12 Education Committee on a unanimous vote.

“When working with parents, teachers, and school administrators to pass our historic universal school choice legislation, I made a commitment to our public schools that we wouldn’t leave them behind. Public schools should not be a default setting, they should be a strong, vibrant, and viable choice for families in communities across Florida,” said Sen. Corey Simon, the Tallahassee Republican who sponsored the legislation and chaired the Senate committee.

“This bill continues our work to make good on that promise through a further reduction of unnecessary regulations and requirements placed on public school districts. Under no circumstances will we reduce standards, but we are committed to empowering classroom teachers and local school districts to provide the educational experience that serves their students and communities best.”

Senate President Ben Albritton, a Wauchula Republican, characterized the bill as a continuation of efforts to deregulate public schools in last year’s Legislative Session. Now, this bill has been cued up a day before the start of a new Session.

“Last year, the Senate ran to the fight to support teachers, students, and parents who chose public education through a comprehensive legislative package aimed at cutting burdensome red tape and leveling the playing field for our public schools. However, I know there is still more we can do,” Albritton said. “Continuous improvement matters.”

The bill would address teacher shortages by creating a 10-year renewable professional certificate for teachers rated highly effective in four of the first five years of holding a valid certificate. It would also authorize school districts and education consortiums to issue temporary certificates, and it would expand eligibility for teacher apprenticeship programs.

It also would empower recruitment efforts by allowing a three-year-maximum instructional multi-year contract to be offered under certain conditions, provide authority to school boards in determining personnel evaluations so long as half of that is based on student performance and prohibit union contracts from barring salary bonuses in critical need areas. It also would define advanced degrees that would warrant a raise, allow former teachers to receive a bonus if schools earn incentive funds for student completion of career courses or industry certifications, and prohibit value-added models as the sole determinate in recruiting educators for turnaround schools.

“This legislation, sponsored by Senator Simon, marks a continuation of the Senate’s fight for those who choose our legacy neighborhood public schools, ensuring these schools remain a viable and competitive option for students and families in Florida’s school choice environment,” Albritton said. “Our public school teachers deserve to be freed of needless bureaucracy. Let them teach, let them compete, so our children win.”

Students would see a drop in certain expectations under the bill, which looks to reduce the high-stakes environment around testing. It also drops requirements to pass end-of-course exams for Algebra I and Grade 10 English in order to graduate high school. It also provides districts greater flexibility in student assessments, authorizes students to satisfy achievement requirements for progression to 4th Grade by the first or second administration of the progress monitoring assessment, and lets superintendents determine the timeframe for applications for extraordinary exemptions from assessments for students with disabilities.

On the funding side, the bill provides school districts more flexibility in use of Title I federal dollars and says charter schools will receive and respond to monitoring questions from the Department of Education regarding the charter school’s cost report. The legislation expands school board use of discretionary levy to include auxiliary facilities and vehicles besides school buses, while removing a requirement certain districts employ an internal auditor in favor of annual financial audits.

The bill as written provides districts with autonomy to plan facilities based on local need instead of following state timelines, and it removes cost-per-student station limitations on projects funded with state funds or discretionary millage.

Regarding school board administration processes, the legislation would simplify school board rulemaking and policy development procedures to follow a single process that focuses on open meetings with public input. The bill aims to provide flexibility for districts to decide whether to make up days lost because of a bona fide emergency.

The legislation also removes a reporting requirement related to class sizes and changes capacity determinations for controlled open enrollment from every 12 weeks to twice annually.

The bill also provides districts school boards additional authority for purchase of instructional materials and authorizes districts to determine when to begin certain interventions related to student absences, rather than wait for 90 days.

Senate staff said the bill aligns the timeframe for creation of an Individual Education Plan (IEP) under the Family Empowerment Scholarship with federal law, and specifies that monitoring public school Voluntary Prekindergarten programs would be the responsibility of the school district, not an early learning coalition, and authorizes a district to use its attendance process for VPK students.

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