Educators are challenging new rule requiring college syllabi to posted 45 days in advance

The Florida Education Association (FEA) and the United Faculty of Florida (UFF) are challenging a new state rule requiring college professors to submit a final syllabi 45 days before class starts.

Arguing the rule is overreaching, the unions called it an attack on academic freedom in a petition filed with the Administrative Hearing Division.

“The latest rule from the Florida Department of Education points to a continued attack on academic freedom from the state of Florida,” said Robert Cassanello, President of United Faculty of Florida.

“Through this rule, the Department of Education has overstepped its statutory legal authority and is forcing professors to comply with the use of a public-facing platform that serves to place a target on the backs of our professors and students. More than being an overreach, it is flat out dangerous.” 

The Florida Department of Education (FDOE) did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The unions argued some that adjunct professors don’t get hired until two weeks before class starts and that professors need the flexibility to change their initial class plans due to unforeseen events, such as school being canceled during hurricanes.

The FEA and UFF warned that FDOE could be using the new rule to be “an unregulated, and unchecked arm of the Executive Branch, operating at the whim of the Executive Branch while at the same time violating the Separation of Powers doctrine,” according to the petition.

The FEA and UFF argued the Legislature did not authorize the new rule, which the two groups said “is not currently found in any statute and is entirely manufactured by the Department of Education.”

“When an unelected board passes a rule to micromanage how professors teach a class, they not only demonstrate how little they understand the teaching profession, they demonstrate how little they respect it,” said Andrew Spar, President of the Florida Education Association.

“This is a continued pattern by the Florida Department of Education to undermine academic freedom in our higher education institutions. The law is clear: agencies cannot impose conditions on educators that the Legislature never authorized.”