Student Mental Health; Requiring the State Board of Education to adopt rules to enforce maximum class size restrictions; requiring that a school district’s plan for its mental health assistance program include contracts or interagency agreements that provide for one licensed mental health therapist per school; requiring that such plan include policies and procedures ensuring that every classroom has a corner for students to regulate emotional control and that teachers assign homework that is purposeful and assigned with consideration of students’ time outside the classroom, etc.
School Counselors; Requires evaluation criteria for certified school counselors to be based on specified standards; provides that persons seeking employment as school counselors are exempt from specified educator certification requirements; & provides that school districts may require such persons to meet certain requirements as condition of employment.
Instructional Personnel and School Administrator Salaries; Revises provisions relating to school district salary schedules & certain FEFP funding relating to instructional personnel salary increases & school district, charter school, & DOE responsibilities.
Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder; Requiring certain program participants at educator preparation institutes to complete the autism micro-credential; requiring each educator preparation institute to offer training on teaching students with certain disabilities; creating the Autism Educator Loan Forgiveness Program; providing requirements for teachers to receive an annual payment; revising core curricula for teacher preparation programs, etc.
Hunger-Free Campus Pilot Program; Citing this act as the "Hunger-Free Campus Act"; establishing, subject to legislative appropriation, the pilot program within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for a specified period; requiring the Commissioner of Agriculture to identify the three state universities or Florida College System institutions with the highest percentage of Pell Grant-eligible students for participation in the pilot program; providing requirements for participating universities and institutions, etc.
Extracurricular Activities; Authorizing district school boards to adopt policies for the use of certain funds to provide funding to specified persons relating to extracurricular activities; revising eligibility requirements for a student to participate in an interscholastic or intrascholastic extracurricular activity; requiring the athletic director or other appropriate administrator to maintain records for all eligible students participating in interscholastic or intrascholastic extracurricular activities at a member school; authorizing a public school to assess an activity fee for certain students; prohibiting a student from participating in interscholastic or intrascholastic extracurricular activities at two different schools within the same school year unless the student meets specified criteria, etc.
Career and Academic Planning for Middle and High School Students; Requiring district school boards annually to provide students and their parents with certain information relating to career and technical education programs beginning in a specified grade; requiring middle schools to hold a career and academic planning meeting for specified students and their parents; revising the information included in a student’s personalized academic and career plan, etc.
Career and Academic Planning For Middle and High School Students; Requires district school boards to annually provide students & their parents with certain information relating to career & technical education programs beginning in specified grade; requires middle schools to hold career & academic planning meeting for specified students & their parents; requires certain information to be included in meeting; revises information included in student's personalized academic & career plan; requires students in specified grades to annually review personalized academic & career plan; requires such review to include certain demonstration.
Recruitment and Retention of Speech-language Pathologists; Requires DOE to develop & maintain statewide strategic plan for recruitment & retention of speech-language pathologists & provision of quality services; provides requirements for such plan, DOE, school districts, & charter schools.
SB 626 updates Florida's school immunization requirements by allowing the Department of Health to add new communicable diseases to the mandatory list through rulemaking, instead of pre-listing them. It directly affects all Florida students entering public or private schools, as it modifies which diseases require vaccination for attendance. The bill keeps existing requirements for diseases like polio, measles, mumps, and chickenpox but gives the Department authority to expand the list based on current health needs. The changes will take effect July 1, 2026, and immunizations must remain free at county health departments. The bill does not add new diseases immediately but establishes a process for future updates.
