Guest Author
Florida policymakers wrapped up the 2025 Legislative Session later than usual, but not without first ensuring the state continues to support strong education policies. The Legislature protected parental choice while further investing in strong education-to-workforce systems and added interventions to support better student outcomes.
This year’s Legislative Session coincided with the release of the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress scores, which showed Florida student performance moving in the wrong direction.
The Foundation proposed several policy solutions that we believe will help Florida move forward again. We’re grateful to the Florida House for passing nearly all these priorities through the lower chamber, most of which were passed unanimously. Unfortunately, the Senate failed to take up these and many other important education policy initiatives that would have had a positive impact on students.
That said, we are grateful to both the House and the Senate for delivering a big victory for the Schools of Hope charter school program this year. We are proud that legislative leadership continues to recognize the value of attracting high-impact charter schools to locate in Florida and serve students who have been stuck in persistently low-performing schools.
By all accounts, Florida is the first state in the nation to address, via policy, the decline in public school enrollment and the underutilization of public school facilities. This is a significant step in ensuring that buildings, which taxpayers have funded, are utilized to their maximum potential for educational purposes, regardless of the school’s governance structure.
Each year following the Legislative Session, the Foundation for Florida’s Future ranks policymakers on their efforts to advance key education issues. The result is a legislative report card, much like the ones students and schools receive, that provides a readout on each policymaker’s efforts to support student-centered education policies.
Policymakers earn their grades for the year based on their votes and leadership on bills and amendments in Committees and the floor.
Beyond the good, joint work on Schools of Hope policy, this year saw quite a bit of divergence between the House and the Senate’s approaches to education policy, with the Senate failing to advance many important and overwhelmingly bipartisan education initiatives while again putting forward anti-accountability and anti-school choice policies under the banner of “administrative efficiency.”
The Foundation continues to believe these policies would harm student outcomes and move Florida in the wrong direction. We’re grateful to the Florida House, the Department of Education and Gov. Ron DeSantis for continuing to protect these important policies.
As a result of this divergence in strategy, fewer policymakers earned top marks: 84 out of 160 policymakers earned an ‘A’ or better grade, which is 11 fewer than last Session.
Notably, 18 policymakers earned a spot on the Legislative Honor Roll, including Speaker Danny Perez, Reps. Jennifer Canady, Shane Abbott, Erika Booth, Demi Busatta, Kim Daniels, Kim Kendall, Berny Jacques, Jennifer Kincart Jonsson, Fiona McFarland, Lauren Melo, Jenna Persons-Mulicka, Alex Rizo, Jason Shoaf, John Snyder, Dana Trabulsy and Susan Valdes, as well as Sens. Jim Boyd, Danny Burgess and Joe Gruters.
These policymakers demonstrated a willingness, through both their votes and leadership, to put students first. Education policy is not easy, and there are no simple fixes. Florida is a leader because policymakers have historically opted to do what is right, not necessarily what is easy.
As lawmakers take a break and prepare for the next Session, we are hopeful that they will consider policies that maintain and advance Florida’s position as the most proactive education reform state in the nation. We must recommit to strong standards and accountability while protecting parental rights, including the right to decide where and how their child is educated, and build the nation’s most robust education-to-workforce system.
On behalf of our Chair, Gov. Jeb Bush, and the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, we congratulate this year’s Honor Roll recipients and each member who earned a strong grade for their work.
A full listing of policymaker grades can be found here.
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Patricia Levesque is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Florida’s Future.
