JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In 2017, Florida lawmakers signed an education bill that carried several mandates, including one that said students in kindergarten through fifth grade were entitled to 20 consecutive minutes of free-play recess every day, a requirement that doesn’t apply to charter schools.
But that could soon go away if Florida state senators get their way.
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According to the Tampa Bay Times, a small wording change in physical education laws would end the requirement, if approved by the Florida Legislature.
READ: Bill proposing deregulation changes for Florida public schools
It comes as Florida lawmakers are looking at ways to take some regulations off the books for public schools following the passage of HB 1, which expanded public school voucher programs among other changes.
The bill, which went before the Senate PreK-12 Education Committee on Wednesday, would remove the words “unstructured” and “consecutive” which could bring the return of five-minute student “brain breaks,” the Times reported.
Now, some Florida parents who fought for the 20-minute recess provision are speaking out about the possible change.
“Only if we push back will they think, maybe it’s not a good idea,” Marucci Guzmán, who has a 4-year-old who will enter kindergarten next year, told the Tampa Bay Times.
Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, has championed the effort to do away with what she calls “burdensome” regulations on schools.
“Because traditional public schools should always be a strong option for Florida’s families, a huge component of implementing HB 1 is our effort to reduce outdated, unnecessary, and quite frankly, burdensome regulations public schools have to abide by,” Passidomo said in a Nov. 3 memo to senators.
State Sen. Travis Hutson, who represents parts of Flagler, St. Johns and Volusia Counties, said the legislative bills will help St. Johns County deal with population growth by helping it build schools faster.
The law directed the State Board of Education to identify potential repeals and revisions in the state’s education code. The law also required the board to solicit input from people such as teachers, superintendents, administrators and school boards.
More than 4,000 suggestions came in from across the state, with most coming from parents of public school students and educators.
According to a report from the Pensacola News Journal last month, some of the recommendations lawmakers are looking into include:
- Changing the number of days certified mechanics inspect school buses from every 30 days to every 90 days.
- Providing financial flexibility to schools, such as raising the threshold at which districts are required to obtain the services of registered architects for renovation projects. The threshold is currently $50,000.
- Eliminating requirements that third graders pass the state reading test.
- Eliminating requirements that high school students pass language arts and algebra exams to graduate.
A Department of Education presentation given to the House and Senate panels said recommendations were aimed at “increasing efficiencies and reducing redundancies,” “removing outdated and unnecessary reporting requirements,” “providing additional flexibility in the area of transportation while ensuring safety” and “providing additional financial flexibility.”
“In terms of efficiency, we had a number of recommendations that would allow districts to leverage technology to increase efficiency. One of them is to remove some requirements around publishing notices in the local newspaper,” Adam Miller, a senior chancellor with the Department of Education, said during the House presentation Wednesday.
Instead, districts would be allowed to use digital communications to distribute the information. Miller said the board looked at research that suggested people are more likely to get information from digital media.
The Legislature is slated to consider the recommendations during the 2024 legislative session, which will start in January.