State Board of Education

The Florida Board of Education has approved a new rule that says schools “Shall not intentionally provide classroom instruction to students in grades 4 through 12 on sexual orientation or gender identity unless such instruction is expressly required by state academic standards.” The rule extends an already existing ban on such instruction.

Florida’s top education officials on Wednesday approved a rule to carry out a new state law requiring school-library employees to complete training sessions as part of an effort to increase scrutiny of library books and instructional materials.

Ten districts whose support guides and other policies were called into question by the state Board of Education are in various stages of revising the documents, or in some cases have dropped the disputed guides.

Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. told his staff Wednesday to "pull" LGBTQ support documents at all school districts, after a State Board of Education member asserted that some could violate a controversial new law.

Gov. Ron DeSantis says he does not support stripping funding from the dozen Florida school districts that defied his ban on mandatory student masking. But he would support allowing parents to sue those districts if they could prove their children were harmed by the policy.

The State Board of Education has scheduled a meeting next week to consider a U.S. Department of Education complaint seeking to prevent Florida from withholding funds from school districts that received federal money to cover school board members’ salaries.

Leon County is getting a new charter school in Red Hills Academy. The State Board of Education overrode a rejection by the local school board Wednesday, making Red Hills the district’s 6th charter school.

Florida school kids will be learning about patriotism in their civics classes. The move is part of standards changes approved Wednesday by the State Board of Education.

Pointing to a “hierarchy” that requires school districts to follow state laws and rules, the Florida Department of Health is asking a judge to toss out a challenge by six school boards to a rule that seeks to prevent student mask mandates during the pandemic.

The State Board of Education on Thursday ratcheted up discipline against eight county school boards that have maintained student mask mandates to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19.