Florida high schoolers would not need to pass algebra or English final exams to graduate under a bill the Florida Senate unanimously passed Thursday.
That proposal is part of SB 166, which its sponsor, Sen. Cory Simon, a Republican representing 13 counties in the Panhandle and Big Bend, called public school “deregulation.”
The bill would remove a state requirement that students pass the Algebra I and 10th grade English finals. Students would still have to pass the classes notwithstanding a failing test score. (The test would count toward 30% of the course grade.)
“As we focus on providing parents with the choice in education, school districts must be given the chance to compete,” Simon said on the Senate floor Thursday.
Last year, under Speaker Paul Renner, the House rejected removing the testing requirements. ExcelinEd, former Gov. Jeb Bush’s education think tank, opposed the idea then and now. In office, Bush established the A+ Plan for education, which put in place school grades based on student test scores and the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.
Several school districts lobbied in support of the bill.
The bill would expand eligibility for teachers’ professional certificates, looks to enhance teacher recruitment, and would remove requirements for schools to have internal auditors.
Third-graders who score a 1 out of 5 on their third and final reading progress monitoring tests could advance to fourth grade if they scored a 2 on the first two progress-monitoring tests. A score of 3 is considered “on grade level.”
Reading scores among Florida’s fourth graders on the 2024 National Assessment of Education Progress dropped to the lowest mark since 2003, the Phoenix reported in February.
Students testing like ‘robots’
Simon said adding progress monitoring has allowed teachers to understand in real time how to shape instruction.
In 2024, 55% of third graders could read at grade level. In 2023, that level was 50%.
“A few years ago, when we passed the universal school choice bill, we made an obligation to parents that we were going to fund students and we were going to fund their choice to choose the school that is best suited for them. Well, 75-to-80% of our parents are choosing our public schools, and it is part of the choice. It’s not the default,” Simon said.
Focusing on test scores only can turn students into “robots,” Simon said.
“We all learn differently, but we take a test that doesn’t focus on all of our strengths, and so it’s important for us to continue to do this work, making sure that our kids leave our schools, and they’re not defeated, they’re encouraged. They’re emboldened to take on their future,” Simon said.
The bill looks to “level the playing field amid other school choice options,” Senate President Ben Albritton said in a news release.
“None of this bill decreases the rigor of what our schools are doing. What we’re saying is, what they’ve done all should add up to something,” Simon told reporters following the vote.
The bill does not have a companion in the House, which will have to pass it before the governor could sign it into law.
“Thank you for your leadership and continued work on education and helping our public schools to have an environment where those that are running and trying to create policy to manage the district gets a little relief from all of the things that we mandate on them on the state level, as well as being focused on our children and helping them to learn and grow without overburdening them,” Sen. Rosalind Osgood, a Democrat representing part of Broward County said.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
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This article appears in Apr 3-9, 2025.