Florida Senate passed bill reducing requirements for high-school diploma

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Senate on Thursday passed a wide-ranging education bill that includes eliminating a requirement that high-school students pass algebra and language-arts tests to earn standard diplomas.

Senators unanimously approved the measure (SB 166), which would represent a major change after years of Republican leaders saying test requirements are an important part of evaluating student performance and holding schools accountable. Some senators, however, said Thursday it was time to move away from “high stakes” testing.

“If all they (students) learn how to do is take a test, then I think we have failed in our education system,” Senate Education Pre-K-12 Chairman Corey Simon, a Tallahassee Republican who is sponsoring the bill, said.

Halfway through this year’s legislative session, it remains unclear whether the House will take up the proposal.

Under current law, students must pass Algebra 1 and English-language arts standardized tests to earn standard diplomas. The bill would require that a student’s performance on the English-language arts assessment make up 30 percent of the student’s course grade — similar to an already-existing requirement for Algebra 1.

Among other things, the bill would make a change in requirements for third-grade students to be promoted to fourth grade. It would expand what are known as “good cause exemptions” for students who do not meet a test requirement.

Many Republican leaders, dating back to when Jeb Bush was elected governor in 1998, have said testing is a critical part of measuring student and school performance.

But Simon pointed to changes that have occurred in recent years, including a decision in 2022 by lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis to use what is known as a “progress monitoring” system that tests students three times a year to measure how they are advancing. That decision eliminated the Florida Standards Assessments standardized tests.

Simon said the progress-monitoring system gives educators years to evaluate students, as opposed to relying on individual tests to determine whether they should get diplomas. He said progress monitoring provides accountability.

Senators pointed to easing what Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, described as “so much stress and anxiety around these standardized tests.” Simon said the bill would bring balance.

“Its focus is the total child, not just the child who’s going to be able to take a test,” Simon said.

But as the bill moved through Senate committees, the Foundation for Florida’s Future, an influential education group that Bush founded, opposed the measure.

“Public school deregulation remains a worthy goal, but reducing high school graduation requirements and weakening the state’s fourth grade promotion policy isn’t the way to get there,” Patricia Levesque, executive director of the foundation, said in a February statement. “These proposals will make it harder for parents and teachers to know if kids are reading at grade level or if they’re ready to take the next step after high school.”