Fort Myers Republican Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka speaking on the floor of the House on March 11, 2026. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix)
On the last day of the 2026 legislative session, top education senators and representatives bartered their priorities, landing with a 32-section, 66-page omnibus bill ranging from pre-kindergarten to higher education.
HB 1279 contains pieces of itself and three other bills (SB 7036, SB 7038, and HB 1071) that each chamber was able to agree on and dropped the provisions they couldn’t, such as requiring 95% of incoming freshmen at state universities to be from within the state.
The provision that caused the most stir – among House Democrats – was expanding the criteria for a district to declare an education emergency.
An educational emergency allows for “salary incentives” “not subject to collective bargaining requirements.” Emergencies also allow for school boards “to assign high-quality teachers more equitably across schools in the district to low-performing schools as a management right.”
Existing law reserves emergencies for schools with a D or F grade, but if Gov. Ron DeSantis signs the bill into law, being a persistently low-performing school would be cause for an emergency, too.
Last year, lawmakers expanded the definition of persistently low-performing schools beyond just receiving a grade lower than a C for three consecutive years. Now, worse than a C for three of the last five years (without also scoring a B) or dropping in the bottom 10% of schools in math and reading for two of the last three years, will land a school on that list.
Rep. Ashley Gantt, a Democrat from Miami, asked the rationale for letting low-performing schools remove teachers without collective bargaining.
“The rationale is that student performance needs to be enhanced and this may be one of the ways to do it,” Rep. Alex Rizo, a Republican from Hialeah, replied.
“The reasons could be myriad,” Rizo said. “It could be that perhaps they’re just not performing to the level that they should. Doesn’t necessarily mean that the teachers would be removed, necessarily.”
The bill passed the House Friday afternoon, shortly before each chamber gaveled out, 81-16. Of the representatives not voting, most were Democrats. It had passed the Senate two hours earlier with one “no” vote, Sen. Tracie Davis, a Democrat from Jacksonville.
“There’s a big misunderstanding as to what that section of law means,” said Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, a Republican from Fort Myers. She pointed to Lee County, which experienced a teacher shortage and declared an educational emergency last year for the district and gave teacher bonuses. The union there was not happy with the processes the district used.
“This is all about student performance and it’s all about paying teachers more,” Persons-Mulicka added.
Rep. Angie Nixon, a Democrat form Jacksonville, criticized the bill.
“I for the life of me don’t understand why educators have to ask and beg every year to get their Amazon wishlist. That means we’re not funding traditional public schools the way in which we should. At the end of the day, y’all should stop with this. Y’all just want to end public schools, just end them. Stop with the smoke and mirrors,” Nixon said.
“Education is profitable. It’s a profitable business and you basically want to look out for campaign donors. Or you want to make more money on our children going to prison,” Nixon added.
Bill sponsor Rep. Jennifer Kincart-Jonsson, a Republican from Lakeland, took offense at Nixon’s characterization.
“This is not the bill I set out to pass. At the end of the day, we were all elected by our constituents to do what we believe is best for the state of Florida. For a member to suggest in debate that I would be a part of a bill that is for profits or campaign dollars is disgusting,” Kincart Jonsson said.
“At the end of the day, this will put forth great policy for the state of Florida, the students across the state of Florida, and our families,” Kincart Jonsson said.
“The entire profession of teaching is a critical shortage area. What do you think is going to happen if we pass this bill?” Rizo said. “…. Do you think that all of the sudden, tomorrow, every district in Florida, all 67, is going to say ‘I’m throwing out the contract and we’re not going to have teachers unions at the tables talking about it?”
The bill also…
Among other tweaks to state law, the bill qualifies dance for satisfying the physical education graduation requirement or a performing arts credit.
The bill directs the state Board of Education to create “a statewide uniform weighted grading system for honors courses and articulated acceleration mechanisms.”
Lawmakers approved removing mention of the American Bar Association in statute governing law schools at Florida International University and Florida A&M University, instead allowing for “a nationally recognized association.”
That follows ruling from the Florida Supreme Court in January determining the state need not rely solely on the ABA for accreditation.
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Removed
In addition to failure to cap non-Florida students at state universities, the House and Senate failed to agree on capping enrollment of students from any one country at 5% and for showing middle and high school students a video of an embryo developing.