How SB 182, HB 1279, SB 1296 Impact K-12 Public Education in Florida

Florida – May 1, 2026 – Signed by Governor Ron DeSantis on May 1, 2026, HB 1279 and SB 1296 aim to strengthen transparency and accountability in teacher unions, support educators, and expand opportunities for students and parents across Florida.

These bills “put students first by removing barriers, rewarding excellence, and increasing transparency, while supporting teachers by ensuring unions earn the right to serve as the collective bargaining representative through the trust and participation of educators,” said Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas. ”

HB 1279 expands the criteria for a district to declare an education emergency, allowing for salary incentives not subject to collective bargaining requirements.  Currently, emergencies are reserved for schools graded D or F.  With HB 1270, being a persistently low-performing school is a cause for that status.  Note: In 2025, Florida lawmakers expanded the definition of persistently low-performing schools beyond receiving a grade lower than a C for 3 consecutive years. Now, schools with a grade of less than a C for 3 of the last 5 years and no B grade, or Math and Reading assessments ranking below the bottom 10% of schools for 2 of the past 3 years, trigger a persistently low categorization.

The bill also:

• Allows districts to provide immediate pay incentives to high-performing teachers who choose to teach in lower-performing schools without being burdened by collective bargaining. 
• Strengthens parental rights in special education.
• Expands bonuses to teachers in Florida—ensuring that teachers delivering the Florida Advanced Courses are eligible for bonuses, just like those teaching Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB).
• Creates consumer disclosures for fee-based blind services, revises service provider qualifications, modifies K-12 and postsecondary policies, and refines licensure, health, and grading requirements across Florida’s education system.
• Requires written disclosures from fee-based blind-service providers regarding publicly available, free alternatives and imposes penalties for noncompliance.
• Transition vocational rehabilitation service providers from registration to a formal application process, establish minimum qualifications, and limit program participation to approved providers by January 1, 2027.
• Extends the deadline for certain marriage and family therapists to obtain licensure from 2027 to 2032.
• Replaces references to Florida Virtual School with approved or district-level virtual instruction programs, broadens the conditions for educational emergencies, and clarifies the required virtual instruction options.
• Authorizes FDA-approved epinephrine delivery devices rather than auto-injectors and allows students to carry and self-administer them.
• Deletes obsolete sections on Voluntary Prekindergarten readiness calculations and refines VPK program accountability provisions.
• Expands CAPE Digital Tool certificates to middle grades, capping them at two per school year.
• Allows marching band participation to satisfy specific high school credit requirements, includes a new dance techniques course option, and directs the creation of additional applied algebra courses aligned with career clusters.
• Mandates a statewide uniform weighted grading system for certain high school courses and acceleration mechanisms.
• Requires parent notification when IEP-related services are missed and grants parents access to service logs within 15 school days upon request.

• Extends reporting and repeal dates for the Statewide Data Repository for Anonymous Human Trafficking Data.
• Removes specific references to American Bar Association accreditation criteria for Florida’s public law schools, replacing them with any nationally recognized accreditation associations.
• Exempts certain institutions licensed by other state agencies from Commission for Independent Education oversight.
• Authorizes school districts and charter schools to implement safe-school officer options, regardless of local ordinances or orders.
• Shortens Florida College System and state university response time to specialized transfer degree notices from 60 days to 30 days and clarifies eligible institutions for dual enrollment.
• Raises the kindergarten readiness threshold from the 10th percentile to the 25th percentile and adds notifications on New Worlds Reading Initiative eligibility for students with reading deficiencies.
• Lengthens the timeframe for postsecondary institutions to seek accreditation after reaffirmation, allowing a 3-year window.
• Ensures that Florida residents do not lose tuition residency status if they or their parents serve outside the state in certain capacities.
• Clarifies homeless student fee exemptions and restricts them for distance learners outside of Florida.
• Allows recipients of Benacquisto Scholarships to defer their awards up to one year.
• Revises membership eligibility requirements for board members of the Florida Prepaid College Foundation’s direct-support organization and Florida ABLE, Inc.
• Provides additional full-time-equivalent funding for students passing assessments in Florida advanced courses and prescribes bonuses for teachers.
• Permits school districts to reserve up to 1% of Title I funds for STEM-related educational services.

Effective Date: July 1, 2026. Bill Analysis is available here.

SB 1296 requires that public-sector labor unions need at least 50% of all of the employees in the bargaining unit to vote and that the vote itself wins 50%-plus-one support to win certification. Currently, unions only need a majority of those who voted.

• Requires at least 50% participation in union certification or recertification elections. Unions can no longer be recertified through an election where only a handful of voters participate.
• Increases penalties for illegal strikes—increasing the maximum fine for organizations engaging in this activity from $20,000 per day to $40,000 per day.
• Establishes a fast-track process to ensure teachers receive pay increases without delay.

As signed recently is  SB 182.  That bill allows private schools to use existing buildings — such as churches — without being subject to costly rezoning, special use permits, or unnecessary, burdensome mandates, while still requiring compliance with fire safety and health codes.

The bill also:

• strengthens the teaching of cursive writing in public schools in 3rd-5th grade
• creates a mentorship program for educators at underperforming schools
• cpdates Charter School Academic Dismissal Restrictions — revises charter school enrollment to prohibit a charter school implementing a school improvement plan or a corrective action plan from dismissing a student based on academic performance
• requires that portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln be displayed in public schools.  

Click here to read the Bill summary.

If you have any questions about these new laws, please contact the FCSA advocacy team.