Senate Bill 1204 (2025) — Career-themed courses
SB 1204
Florida Bills
Florida Senate - 2025 SB 1204 By Senator DiCeglie 18-01070-25 20251204__ Page 1 of 5 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to career-themed courses; amending s. 2 1003.493, F.S.; revising the number of career-themed 3 courses that must be offered by a school district; 4 requiring at least two career-themed courses to meet 5 certain requirements; amending s. 1008.34, F.S.; 6 revising the number of clock hours required for a 7 certain component used to determine a school’s grade; 8 providing additional components used to determine a 9 school’s grade; providing an effective date. 10 11 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 12 13
Section 1. Paragraph (
b) of subsection (1) of
section 14 1003.493, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 15 1003.493 Career and professional academies and career-16 themed courses.— 17 (1) 18 (
b) A “career-themed course” is a course, or a course in a 19 series of courses, that leads to an industry certification 20 identified in the CAPE Industry Certification Funding List 21 pursuant to rules adopted by the State Board of Education. 22 Career-themed courses have industry-specific curriculum aligned 23 directly to priority workforce needs established by the local 24 workforce development board or the Department of Commerce. 25 School districts shall offer at least four two career-themed 26 courses, and each secondary school is encouraged to offer at 27 least one career-themed course. At least one career-themed 28 course offered by a school district must be aligned with a 29
Florida Senate - 2025 SB 1204 18-01070-25 20251204__ Page 2 of 5 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. regional demand occupation field as identified by the school 30 district’s respective regional demand occupations list published 31 by CareerSource Florida, Inc. At least one career-themed course 32 offered by a school district must be in one of the following 33 areas: agriculture, construction or trades, early childhood 34 education, health care, or hospitality. The Florida Virtual 35 School is encouraged to develop and offer rigorous career-themed 36 courses as appropriate.
Students completing a career-themed 37 course must be provided opportunities to earn postsecondary 38 credit if the credit for the career-themed course can be 39 articulated to a postsecondary institution approved to operate 40 in this the state. 41
Section 2. Paragraph (
b) of subsection (3) of
section 42 1008.34, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 43 1008.34 School grading system; school report cards; 44 district grade.— 45
(3) DESIGNATION OF SCHOOL GRADES.— 46 (b)1. A school’s grade is shall be based on the following 47 components, each worth 100 points: 48 a. The percentage of eligible students passing statewide, 49 standardized assessments in English Language Arts under s. 50 1008.22(3). 51 b. The percentage of eligible students passing statewide, 52 standardized assessments in mathematics under s. 1008.22(3). 53 c. The percentage of eligible students passing statewide, 54 standardized assessments in science under s. 1008.22(3). 55 d.
The percentage of eligible students passing statewide, 56 standardized assessments in social studies under s. 1008.22(3). 57 e. The percentage of eligible students who make Learning 58
Florida Senate - 2025 SB 1204 18-01070-25 20251204__ Page 3 of 5 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. Gains in English Language Arts as measured by statewide, 59 standardized assessments administered under s. 1008.22(3). 60 f. The percentage of eligible students who make Learning 61 Gains in mathematics as measured by statewide, standardized 62 assessments administered under s. 1008.22(3). 63 g.
The percentage of eligible students in the lowest 25 64 percent in English Language Arts, as identified by prior year 65 performance on statewide, standardized assessments, who make 66 Learning Gains as measured by statewide, standardized English 67 Language Arts assessments administered under s. 1008.22(3). 68 h. The percentage of eligible students in the lowest 25 69 percent in mathematics, as identified by prior year performance 70 on statewide, standardized assessments, who make Learning Gains 71 as measured by statewide, standardized Mathematics assessments 72 administered under s. 1008.22(3). 73 i.
For schools comprised of middle grades 6 through 8 or 74 grades 7 and 8, the percentage of eligible students passing high 75 school level statewide, standardized end-of-course assessments 76 or attaining national industry certifications identified in the 77 CAPE Industry Certification Funding List pursuant to state board 78 rule. 79 j.
Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, for schools 80 comprised of grade levels that include grade 3, the percentage 81 of eligible students who score an achievement level 3 or higher 82 on the grade 3 statewide, standardized English Language Arts 83 assessment administered under s. 1008.22(3). 84 85 In calculating Learning Gains for the components listed in sub-86 subparagraphs e.-h., the State Board of Education shall require 87
Florida Senate - 2025 SB 1204 18-01070-25 20251204__ Page 4 of 5 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. that learning growth toward achievement levels 3, 4, and 5 is 88 demonstrated by students who scored below each of those levels 89 in the prior year. In calculating the components in sub-90 subparagraphs a.-d., the state board shall include the 91 performance of English language learners only if they have been 92 enrolled in a school in the United States for more than 2 years. 93 2.
For a school comprised of grades 9, 10, 11, and 12, or 94 grades 10, 11, and 12, the school’s grade shall also be based on 95 the following components, each worth 100 points, except as 96 provided in sub-subparagraph c.: 97 a. The 4-year high school graduation rate of the school as 98 defined by state board rule. 99 b.
The percentage of students who were eligible to earn 100 college and career credit through an assessment identified 101 pursuant to s. 1007.27(2), College Board Advanced Placement 102 examinations, International Baccalaureate examinations, dual 103 enrollment courses, including career dual enrollment courses 104 resulting in the completion of 150 300 or more clock hours 105 during high school which are approved by the state board as 106 meeting the requirements of s. 1007.271, or Advanced 107 International Certificate of Education examinations; who, at any 108 time during high school, earned national industry certification 109 identified in the CAPE Industry Certification Funding List, 110 pursuant to rules adopted by the state board; or who earned an 111 Armed Services Qualification Test score that falls within 112 Category II or higher on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude 113 Battery and earned a minimum of two credits in Junior Reserve 114 Officers’ Training Corps courses from the same branch of the 115 United States Armed Forces. 116
Florida Senate - 2025 SB 1204 18-01070-25 20251204__ Page 5 of 5 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. c. For the percentage of students who earned a national 117 industry certification identified in the CAPE Industry 118 Certification Funding List, the component is worth 200 points to 119 calculate a school’s grade. 120 3.
When calculating a school grade for a school comprised 121 of grades 9, 10, 11, and 12, or grades 10, 11, and 12, or a 122 district grade, the following apply for courses that lead to a 123 national industry certification identified in the CAPE Industry 124 Certification Funding List: 125 a. Courses totaling 150 or more clock hours do not have to 126 be included in the same program, as designated by the name and 127 program number. 128 b.
Courses totaling 50 or more clock hours must align with 129 an occupation field on the Local Targeted Occupations List for 130 the school district published by CareerSource Florida, Inc. 131 c. Courses totaling 50 or more clock hours that are 132 included on the Credentials of Value listing do not have to be 133 included in the same program, as designated by the name and 134 program number. 135 d.
Courses totaling 50 or more clock hours that are 136 included in the College and Career Acceleration component in one 137 of the following areas do not have to be included in the same 138 program, as designated by the name and program number: 139 agriculture, construction or trades, early childhood education, 140 health care, or hospitality. 141