Law Enforcement ; Authorizes a sheriff to transfer funds between specified categories and code levels after his or her budget is approved; revises salary minimums for county sheriffs; provides for adoption benefits for law enforcements officers; creates Florida Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Payment Program; provides exemption from certain law enforcement officer training requirements for military veterans; provides requirements for skills training for law enforcement officers relating to officer health & safety; makes children of law enforcement officers eligible for Family Empowerment Scholarships; encourages school districts to establish public safety telecommunication training programs & offer law enforcement explorer programs; requires Board of Governors & State Board of Education to create process that enables eligible law enforcement officers or former officers to earn credit for college-level training & education acquired while serving an officer; creates Florida Law Enforcement Academy Scholarship Program; provides for reimbursement for out-of-state & special operations forces law enforcement equivalency training.
Parental Rights in Education; Requires district school boards to adopt procedures that comport with certain provisions of law for notifying student's parent of specified information; requires such procedures to reinforce fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding upbringing & control of their children; prohibits school district from adopting procedures or student support forms that prohibit school district personnel from notifying parent about specified information or that encourage student to withhold from parent such information; prohibits school district personnel from discouraging or prohibiting parental notification & involvement in critical decisions affecting student's mental, emotional, or physical well-being; prohibits classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels; requires school districts to notify parents of healthcare services; authorizes parent to bring action against school district to obtain declaratory judgment; provides for additional award of injunctive relief, damages, & reasonable attorney fees & court costs to certain parents.
Restraint of Students with Disabilities in Public Schools; Prohibits school personnel from using mechanical restraint on students with disabilities.
Assistive Technology Advisory Council; Revising provisions relating to the membership of and appointments and reappointments to the Assistive Technology Advisory Council; requiring council members to select a chair from among the council membership; revising provisions relating to committees appointed to perform the council’s functions; expanding the council’s functions to include fundraising activities, etc.
K-12 Education; Establishing term limits for school board members; deleting a requirement that district school boards maintain a specified list on their websites; requiring certain meetings relating to instructional materials to be noticed and open to the public; revising district school board requirements for the selection and adoption of certain materials, etc.
Care of Students with Epilepsy or Seizure Disorders; Requires school to provide epilepsy or seizure disorder care to student; provides for creation & implementation of individualized seizure action plan for students with epilepsy or seizure disorders to receive health care at school; provides requirements for DOE, schools, school nurses & certain other school employees, & such plans.
Financial Literacy Instruction in Public Schools; Citing this act as the “Dorothy L. Hukill Financial Literacy Act”; revising the requirements regarding financial literacy for the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards; revising the required credits for a standard high school diploma to include one-half credit of instruction in personal financial literacy and money management and seven and one-half, rather than eight, credits in electives; modifying the requirements for the award of a standard high school diploma for Academically Challenging Curriculum to Enhance Learning options, etc.
Public Records and Public Meetings; Providing an exemption from public records requirements for any personal identifying information of an applicant for president of a state university or a Florida College System institution held by a state university or a Florida College System institution; specifying when the age, race, and gender of all qualified applicants considered and the personal identifying information of applicants who are in the final group of applicants are no longer confidential and exempt; providing an exemption from public meetings requirements for any portion of a meeting held for the purpose of identifying or vetting applicants for president of a state university or a Florida College System institution, including any portion of a meeting which would disclose certain personal identifying information of such applicants; providing for future legislative review and repeal of the exemptions; providing a statement of public necessity, etc.
Student Assessments; Renaming “Next Generation Sunshine State Standards” as “state academic standards”; deleting provisions relating to the coordinated screening and progress monitoring program; providing that certain end-of-year comprehensive progress monitoring assessments are the statewide, standardized ELA and Mathematics assessments for certain students; requiring the coordinated screening and progress monitoring system to identify the educational strengths and needs of students; requiring 2022-2023 school and school district grades to serve as an informal baseline for schools and school districts; providing that school improvement ratings will not be calculated for the 2022-2023 school year, etc.
Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders; Providing that the use of peer specialists is an essential element of a coordinated system of care in recovery from a substance use disorder or mental illness; revising background screening requirements for certain peer specialists; requiring the Department of Children and Families to designate managing entities to conduct or contract for training for peer specialists; requiring peer specialists and certain persons to meet the requirements of a background screening as a condition of employment and continued employment, etc.
Executive Appointments; Requiring that the executive director of the Department of Law Enforcement be appointed subject to a majority vote of the Governor and Cabinet, with the Governor on the prevailing side; requiring the appointment of the secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection be subject to the concurrence of three members of the Cabinet or confirmation by the Senate; requiring the Governor to notify the Cabinet and the President of the Senate in writing of the method of confirmation; requiring that the executive director of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs be appointed subject to a majority vote of the Governor and Cabinet, with the Governor on the prevailing side, etc.
State Symbols; Designating strawberry shortcake as the official state dessert, etc.
