The Florida Senate
BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
(This document is based on the provisions contained in the legislation as of the latest date listed below.)
Prepared By: The Professional Staff of the Committee on Fiscal Policy
BILL: CS/SB 1320
INTRODUCER: Education Pre-K -12 Committee and Senator Yarborough and others
SUBJECT: Child Protection in Public Schools
DATE: April 12, 2023 REVISED:
ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR REFERENCE ACTION
1. Brick Bouck ED Fav/CS
2. Brick Yeatman FP Favorable
Please see Section IX. for Additional Information:
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE - Substantial Changes
I. Summary:
CS/SB 1320 includes provisions designed to protect children in public schools. The bill includes
requirements for age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate instruction for all students in
prekindergarten through grade 12. The bill:
Includes requirements for specific terminology and instruction relative to health and
reproductive education in schools.
Extends the prohibition on classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity to
prekindergarten through grade 8.
The bill enhances the process for transparency and review of library and classroom materials
available to students in public schools and the process for parents to make objections to
materials. The bill requires the suspension of materials alleged to contain pornography or
materials harmful to minors as identified in current law pending resolution of an objection to the
material.
The bill takes effect on July 1, 2023.
II. Present Situation:
The Florida Early Learning-20 Education Code includes definitions of terms to be applied
throughout the code.1
1
Section 1000.21, F.S.
BILL: CS/SB 1320 Page 2
Classroom Instruction
Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender
identity may not occur in public schools in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is
not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state
standards.2
Each district school board is required to adopt procedures for a parent to notify the principal, or
his or her designee, regarding concerns about the procedures for notifying a student’s parent if
there is a change in the student’s services or monitoring related to the student’s mental,
emotional, or physical health or well-being and the school’s ability to provide a safe and
supportive learning environment for the student at his or her student’s school, and the process for
resolving those concerns within seven calendar days after notification by the parent.3
The procedures must require that within 30 days after notification by the parent that the concern
remains unresolved, the district school board must either resolve the concern or provide a
statement of the reasons for not resolving the concern.4 If a concern is not resolved by the district
school board, a parent may request the Commissioner of Education to appoint a special
magistrate who is a member of The Florida Bar in good standing and who has at least five years’
experience in administrative law. The special magistrate must determine facts relating to the
dispute over the district school board procedure or practice, consider information provided by the
district school board, and render a recommended decision for resolution to the State Board of
Education within 30 days after receipt of the request by the parent.5
The State Board of Education must approve or reject the recommended decision at its next
regularly scheduled meeting that is more than 7 calendar days and no more than 30 days after the
date the recommended decision is transmitted. The costs of the special magistrate must be borne
by the district school board.6 District school boards are required to develop procedures for
applying this process to complaints related to classroom instruction on sexual orientation or
gender identity in charter schools.7
A parent may also bring an action against the district school board to obtain a declaratory
judgment that the district school board procedure includes inappropriate instruction on sexual
orientation or gender identity and seek injunctive relief. A court may award damages, and is
required to award reasonable attorney fees and court costs, to a parent who receives declaratory
or injunctive relief.8
2
Section 1001.42(8)(c)3., F.S.
3
Section 1001.42(8)(c)7., F.S.
4
Section 1001.42(8)(c)7.a., F.S.
5
Section 1001.42(8)(c)7.b., F.S.
6
Section 1001.42(8)(c)7.b., F.S.
7
Rule 6A-6.0791, F.A.C.
8
Section 1001.42(8)(c)7.b., F.S.
BILL: CS/SB 1320 Page 3
Reproductive and Health Education
Public school teachers are required to teach comprehensive age-appropriate and developmentally
appropriate instruction in health education in:9
Kindergarten through grade 12 that addresses concepts of community health, consumer
health, environmental health, and family life.
Grades 6 through 12 that provides awareness of the benefits of sexual abstinence as the
expected standard and the consequences of teen pregnancy.
Grades 7 through 12 that addresses teen dating violence and abuse.
Grades 9 through 12 that provides life skills that build confidence, support mental and
emotional health, and enable students to overcome challenges.
Course standards for instruction concerning reproductive health begin in grade 3, when students
are expected to be able to recognize how the circulatory system, digestive system, nervous
system, reproductive system, and other body systems work together to form human body
systems.10 Standards for instruction concerning sexual behavior begin in grade 6, when students
are expected to predict the potential outcomes of a health-related decision, including prescription
drug use or abuse, eating disorders, depression, and sexual behavior.11 Course standards for
health instruction in grade 7 include articulating the possible causes of conflict among youth in
schools and communities, including ethnic prejudice and diversity, substance use, group
dynamics, relationship issues and dating violence, gossip and rumors, and sexual identity.12
When instruction in acquired immune deficiency syndrome, sexually transmitted diseases, or
health education contains instruction in human sexuality, a school must:13
Teach abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage as the expected standard for all
school-age students while teaching the benefits of monogamous heterosexual marriage.
Emphasize that abstinence from sexual activity is a certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock
pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, including acquired immune deficiency syndrome,
and other associated health problems.
Teach that each student has the power to control personal behavior and encourage students to
base actions on reasoning, self-esteem, and respect for others.
Provide instruction and material that is appropriate for the grade and age of the student.
All instructional materials used to teach reproductive health or any disease must be annually
approved by a district school board in an open, noticed public meeting.14
9
Section 1003.42(2)(n), F.S.
10
Department of Education, Health Education: HE.3.C.1.5, available at
https://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-13679, at 30, incorporated by reference in
Rule 6A-1.09412(2)(i), F.A.C.
11
Department of Education, Health Education: HE.6.B.5.5, available at
https://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-13679, at 51, incorporated by reference in
Rule 6A-1.09412(2)(i), F.A.C.
12
Department of Education, Health Education: HE.7.B.4.3, available at
https://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-13679, at 71, incorporated by reference in
Rule 6A-1.09412(2)(i), F.A.C.
13
Section 1003.46(2)(a), F.S.
14
Section 1003.42(1)(b), F.S.
BILL: CS/SB 1320 Page 4
Review of Materials Available to Students
The district school board has the constitutional duty and responsibility to select and provide
adequate instructional materials for all students. The district school board also has the specific
duty and responsibility to adopt courses of study, including instructional materials, for use in the
schools of the district.15
Each district school board is responsible for the content of all instructional materials and any
other materials used in a classroom, made available in a school library, or included on a reading
list, whether adopted and purchased from the state-adopted instructional materials list, adopted
and purchased through a district instructional materials program, or otherwise purchased or made
available.16
Each school principal is required to assure that instructional materials are used to provide
instruction to students enrolled at the grade level or levels for which the materials are designed.
The school principal is required to communicate to parents the manner in which instructional
materials are used to implement the curricular objectives of the school.17
Prohibited Content
If the district school board finds that an instructional material was selected for use in a course or
otherwise made available to students in the school district but was not subject to the public
notice, review, comment, and hearing procedures or that any material contains prohibited
pornographic content or material harmful to minors, the district school board is required to
discontinue use of the material for any grade level or age group for which such use is
inappropriate or unsuitable.18
Materials that are harmful to minors are identified in the criminal law. Except for the distribution
or posting of school-approved instructional materials that by design serve as a major tool for
assisting in the instruction of a subject or course by certain school personnel, a person commits a
felony of the third degree by knowingly providing to a minor:19
Any picture, photograph, drawing, sculpture, motion picture film, videocassette, or similar
visual representation or image of a person or portion of the human body which depicts nudity
or sexual conduct, sexual excitement, sexual battery, bestiality, or sadomasochistic abuse and
which is harmful to minors; or
Any book, pamphlet, magazine, printed matter however reproduced, or sound recording that
contains explicit and detailed verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexual excitement,
or sexual conduct and that is harmful to minors.
Materials that are harmful to minors also include any reproduction, imitation, characterization,
description, exhibition, presentation, or representation, of whatever kind or form, depicting
nudity, sexual conduct, or sexual excitement when it:20
15
Section 1006.28(2), F.S.
16
Section 1006.28(2)(a)1., F.S.
17
Section 1006.28(4)(a), F.S.
18
Section 1006.28(2)(a), F.S.
19
Section 847.012(3) and (6), F.S.
20
Section 847.001(7), F.S. The Florida Supreme Court has upheld this definition as it relates to the prohibition on the
distribution to minors of materials that are harmful. See Simmons v. State, 944 So. 2d 317, 329 (Fla. 2006).
BILL: CS/SB 1320 Page 5
Predominantly appeals to a prurient, shameful, or morbid interest;
Is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect
to what is suitable material or conduct for minors; and
Taken as a whole, is without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
Prohibited content includes depictions of sexual conduct, as defined in law,21 in the form of:22
Actual or simulated sexual intercourse, deviate sexual intercourse, sexual bestiality,
masturbation, or sadomasochistic abuse.
Actual or simulated lewd exhibition of the genitals.
Actual physical contact with a person's clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks,
or, if such person is a female, breast with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of
either party.
Any act or conduct which constitutes sexual battery or simulates that sexual battery is being
or will be committed.
A mother's breastfeeding of her baby does not under any circumstance constitute “sexual
conduct.”
Process for Objections
Each district school board must adopt a policy regarding an objection by a parent or a resident of
the county to the use of a specific material, which clearly describes a process to handle all
objections and provides for resolution. The process must provide the parent or resident the
opportunity to proffer evidence to the district school board that any material used in a classroom,
made available in a school library, or included on a reading list contains content that is
pornographic or harmful to minors,23 is not suited to student needs and their ability to
comprehend the material presented, or is inappropriate for the grade level and age group for
which the material is used.24
Transparency of Materials Available to Students
Meetings of committees convened for the purpose of ranking, eliminating, or selecting
instructional materials for recommendation to the district school board must be noticed and open
to the public. Any committees convened for such purposes must include parents of district
students.25
Each district school board is required to adopt procedures for developing library media center
collections and post the procedures on the website for each school within the district. The
procedures must:26
21
Section 847.012, F.S., incorporates in prohibited content any matter defined in s. 847.001, F.S., which includes this
definition of sexual conduct, as well as the other terms used in the definition.
22
Section 847.001(19), F.S.
23
Materials prohibited as harmful to minors are identified in s. 847.012, F.S.
24
Section 1006.28(2)(a)2., F.S.
25
Section 1006.28(2)(a)4., F.S.
26
Section 1006.28(2)(d)2., F.S.
BILL: CS/SB 1320 Page 6
Require that book selections are free from pornography and specified material identified as
harmful to minors.27
Require consultation of reputable, professionally recognized reviewing periodicals and
school community stakeholders.
Provide for library media center collections based on reader interest, support of state
academic standards and aligned curriculum, and the academic needs of students and faculty.
Provide for the regular removal or discontinuance of books based on, at a minimum, physical
condition, rate of recent circulation, alignment to state academic standards and relevancy to
curriculum, out-of-date content, and prohibited content.
School principals are responsible for overseeing compliance with district school board
procedures for selecting school library media center materials at the school to which they are
assigned.28
Each elementary school must publish on its website, in a searchable format prescribed by the
Department of Education (DOE), a list of all materials maintained in the school library media
center or required as part of a school or grade-level reading list.29
Each district school board is required to publish on its website, in a searchable format prescribed
by the DOE, a list of all instructional materials. Each district school board must annually,
beginning June 30, 2023, submit to the Commissioner of Education a report that identifies:30
Each material for which the district school board received an objection for containing
pornographic content or content harmful to minors for the school year and the specific
objections thereto.
Each material that was removed or discontinued as a result of an objection.
The grade level and course for which a removed or discontinued material was used, as
applicable.
The DOE is required to publish and regularly update the list of materials that were removed or
discontinued as a result of an objection and disseminate the list to district school boards for
consideration in their selection procedures.31
III. Effect of Proposed Changes:
Terminology