Florida Education Reform: Universal ESAs, FAST Testing, and Teacher Pay

Florida’s education reforms since 2022 have rewritten how families choose schools, what teachers can discuss in class, how parents challenge books, how students are tested, and who can stand at the front of a classroom. The centerpiece is universal eligibility for a state-funded Education Savings Account, but the changes reach into curriculum, library shelves, testing calendars, teacher certification, and graduation rules. Here is what has actually changed and what it means if you have a child in a Florida public or private school.

Every Student Now Qualifies for an ESA

House Bill 1, signed in March 2023, made every K-12 student in Florida eligible for a state-funded Education Savings Account through the Family Empowerment Scholarship.¹ The old income cap is gone. In its place is a priority order: families earning below 185 percent of the federal poverty level and children in foster care come first, families up to 400 percent of poverty come next, and remaining spots go to everyone else.²

State education dollars now follow the student. Approved uses include private school tuition and fees, online learning programs, private tutoring, community college costs, and other customized learning services and materials.¹ To spend ESA money on tuition, the private school must be approved by the Florida Department of Education to participate in the program.³ As long as funds go to qualified educational expenses, the money is generally not treated as taxable income at the federal level.

The Unique Abilities Track for Students With Disabilities

Students with disabilities qualify for a separate, higher-funded track called the Unique Abilities Scholarship. Eligibility requires an IEP or a qualifying diagnosis from a licensed physician or psychologist.² Covered services include applied behavior analysis, speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, assistive technology, and digital devices.

One tradeoff to understand before switching: moving a child from a public school to a private school on ESA funds means the child no longer has the procedural protections attached to a public school IEP. The private school must be state-approved, and the parent must have the student take a norm-referenced assessment administered by that school, but the federal rights that come with a public school IEP do not travel to the private setting.

Instruction on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Through Eighth Grade

The 2022 Parental Rights in Education Act (HB 1557) prohibited classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.⁴ In 2023, HB 1069 extended that prohibition from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade and added a statutory definition of “sex” that applies across the entire Florida education code.⁵

The pronoun and title provisions cut in one direction: districts cannot require personnel or students to use pronouns that do not correspond with a person’s biological sex under the statute.⁶ Students cannot be penalized for declining to provide preferred titles or pronouns, and schools cannot require students to declare pronouns.

The 2022 law also bars districts from adopting procedures that would prevent staff from notifying a parent about information related to their child’s mental, emotional, or physical well-being. If a parent believes a district violated any of these provisions, they can sue for a court order, damages, and attorney fees.⁴

How Parents Can Challenge Books and Classroom Materials

HB 1069 made school boards explicitly responsible for the content of everything in classroom libraries, not just formally adopted textbooks.⁵ It also created a fast-track removal rule with real teeth.

When a parent objects to a specific item on the grounds that it contains pornographic content or depicts sexual conduct as defined under Florida’s obscenity statutes, the school must pull that material within five school days. It stays unavailable to students at that school until the objection is formally resolved.⁷ Materials used in courses specifically required by state law, such as reproductive health, are exempt. Objections that don’t allege pornographic content or sexual conduct go through the standard review process without the mandatory rapid removal.

The practical effect has been substantial. Hundreds of titles were removed or restricted across Florida districts during the 2024-2025 school year, with the Florida Department of Education reporting 414 statewide removals and independent trackers documenting higher numbers. Because a single objection can pull a book from shelves for weeks or months while review plays out, districts face a strong incentive to remove first and sort it out later.

FAST Testing Replaced the FSA

Florida retired the Florida Standards Assessment and replaced it with the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST), a computer-adaptive progress monitoring system aligned to the state’s B.E.S.T. standards in English language arts and mathematics.⁸ Students test three times a year: PM1 in the fall, PM2 in the middle of the year, and PM3 at the end.⁹

Only PM3 counts for official purposes. Third graders must score at Level 2 or higher on the PM3 ELA Reading assessment to be promoted to fourth grade, and tenth graders must pass the PM3 ELA Reading assessment to graduate.⁹ PM3 scores also drive school accountability ratings. PM1 and PM2 are informational baselines meant to give teachers and parents time to adjust before the year ends.

Teacher Pay and the Salary Compression Problem

The state’s mandated minimum base salary for full-time classroom teachers is $47,500. That floor lifted starting pay, but districts received funding to raise the minimum without proportional money to lift the entire pay scale. Veteran teachers with fifteen years in the classroom can earn only slightly more than a first-year hire.

A 2025 bill to raise the minimum to $65,000 died in committee in June 2025, and a similar bill has been filed for the 2026 session.¹⁰ For now, compression is unresolved.

The Military Veterans Certification Pathway

To address teacher shortages, Florida has offered a five-year temporary teaching certificate to military veterans without a bachelor’s degree since July 2022.¹¹ To qualify, a veteran must have:

At least 48 months of active-duty service with an honorable or medical discharge
At least 60 college credits from an accredited institution with a minimum 2.5 GPA¹²
A passing score on a Florida subject area examination

Certificate holders must be employed by a Florida school district or charter school and are assigned a mentor teacher for a minimum of two years.¹³

What the 2025 Session Added

HB 1105 brought another round of changes covering charter funding, graduation policy, and student conduct.¹⁴ The provisions most likely to affect families:

Districts must share local infrastructure surtax revenues with eligible charter schools by enrollment, for surtaxes approved on or after July 1, 2025.
Students who do not earn a standard diploma will no longer receive a certificate of completion. The Department of Education must issue guidance on adult education and postsecondary options by January 2026.
A new workforce credentialing program for students with autism or cognitive disabilities must be in place by January 2026, with annual reports to the legislature through 2030.
The Department of Education must study full-day cell phone restrictions in high schools across six districts and deliver a model policy by December 2026.
Students graduating in 2025-2026 and after can use the Advanced Placement Capstone designation toward Florida Academic Scholars eligibility under Bright Futures.

The session also expanded the trespass definition of “school” to include any vehicle operated, owned, or contracted by a district for student transportation, so someone who trespasses on a school bus can be arrested without a warrant on probable cause.¹⁴

1
Florida Department of Education. Family Empowerment Scholarship
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Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 1002.394 – Family Empowerment Scholarship Program
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Florida Department of Education. Family Empowerment Scholarship Educational Options FAQs
4
Florida Senate. CS/CS/HB 1557 – Parental Rights in Education
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Florida Senate. CS/CS/HB 1069 – Education
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Executive Office of the Governor. Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Sweeping Legislation to Protect the Innocence of Floridas Children
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Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 1006.28 – Duties of District School Board, District School Superintendent; Shelving or Removal of Instructional Materials
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Florida Department of Education. BEST Standards Overview
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Florida Department of Education. 2025-26 FAST 3-10 Fact Sheet
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Florida Senate. Senate Bill 1272 (2026) – Instructional Personnel and School Administrator Salaries
11
Florida Department of Education. Military Veterans Certification Pathway
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Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 1012.56 – Educator Certification Requirements
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Florida Department of Education. Military Veterans Certification Pathway
14
Florida Senate. HB 1105 – 2025 Bill Summaries