Florida Will Lower Graduation Requirements—Again

'They're just pushing students through and we've got graduates who are not prepared for life'

Graduates of Matanzas High School receive their diplomas on the track in their cars at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, on May 31, 2020. (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Despite having graduation requirements lowered two years ago, Florida superintendents are again pleading with the state’s Department of Education to delay a scheduled increase in graduation requirements.

On April 20, 2021, then-Florida Department of Education (DOE) Commissioner Richard Corcoran issued an emergency order (pdf), waiving required state assessments for graduation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two years later, superintendents across the Sunshine State are again pleading with the Florida DOE to keep the state’s graduation standards low, claiming thousands of students would fail due to learning loss during the pandemic.

In May 2018, Florida’s State Board of Education (SBE) eliminated the Post Education Readiness Test (PERT) as an alternative option for students who didn’t pass their state exams. It also raised the bar on ACT and SAT scores and added the PSAT. As the Orlando Sentinel reported, educators and students pleaded with the board not to raise the standards back then, claiming the tougher requirements would prevent students from graduating. The SBE unanimously voted to adopt the new higher standards anyway.

Now superintendents from some Florida school districts are again pleading with state lawmakers to delay the increase in graduation requirements to prevent thousands of high school seniors from failing. This time, superintendents are blaming their students’ lack of academic achievement on learning loss during the pandemic.

In an April 23 letter (pdf) to Florida Sen. Dennis Baxley, Lake County Schools Superintendent Diane Kornegay said, “Florida’s District School Superintendents are collectively requesting that the Legislature correct a potentially serious issue before it unfairly and irrevocably keeps thousands of our high school seniors from graduating this year.

“We believe in accountability and stretch goals, and we have no issue with a gradual increase in the concordant scores, but someone has to stand up for these students before it’s too late,” Kornegay insisted.

In an April 13 letter (pdf) to the Florida Legislature, Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna pleaded with Florida’s lawmakers to “correct a problem before it unfairly and irrevocably prevents thousands of high school seniors from graduating with their Class of 2023.”

Other reports show an April 20 letter from Broward County’s interim Superintendent Earlean Smiley who claims, “These changes have created an undue burden on our educators who are already facing significant challenges in delivering quality education.

“They are being forced to devote more time and resources to help students meet the increased standards rather than focus on other critical aspects of their education and post-secondary opportunities,” Smiley asserted.

In his letter to legislators, Palm Beach County Superintendent Mike Burke said, “Without your intervention, this increased expectation will result in a potential 11 percent drop in our District’s graduation rate.”

On May 2, four years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Florida Senate unanimously approved HB 1537 (pdf), which includes provisions to delay the requirement for higher passing scores. On May 3, the bill passed the Florida House. On May 8, it was presented to Gov. Ron DeSantis along with four other education bills. He has until May 23 to sign the bills.

Miami-Dade Superintendent Jose Dotres said, “This step by the Florida House will open the door for thousands of students impacted by the pandemic to walk across the stage and receive their high school diploma.”

‘No One Cares’

In February 2022, the Florida DOE announced (pdf) that the graduation rate for the 2020–2021 school year increased by 0.1 percentage points. A Jan. 13, 2023 press release from the Florida DOE showed Florida’s 2021–2022 high school graduation rate was 87.3 percent, an increase of 0.4 percentage points over the 2018–2019 pre-pandemic school year.

Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz, Jr. heralded the graduation numbers as “the culmination of the hard work and dedication of Florida’s teachers, students, parents and school leaders, along with Governor Ron DeSantis’ decision to keep schools open for in-person instruction.”

Sarah Calamunci, the Florida state director for Citizens Defending Freedom, contends, “As requirements and standards drop, graduation rates will naturally increase.

“You can see the steady increase over the years as requirements diminish and no one cares that the standards are dropping,” Calamunci told The Epoch Times, “because at the end of the day, what are they really recording? ‘Oh, look at our graduation rates. Look how many more students are graduating.’ There is no quality control, and they’re just pushing students through, and we’ve got graduates who are not prepared for life.”

An August 2021 report by the Brookings Institute revealed that roughly 60 percent of high school graduates are unprepared to take college-level coursework. More concerning is that most of those ill-prepared students have skill levels far below established benchmarks: 88 percent are far below in math, and 76 percent are far below in English.

Data released by the Nation’s Report Card in 2022 showed that assessments in reading and mathematics decreased five points between 2020 and 2022, the “largest average score decline in reading since 1990, and the first-ever score decline in mathematics.”

Although the National Center for Education Statistics reported in May 2021 that the graduation rate for high schools in the 2018–2019 school year was 86 percent—the highest recorded since 2010—a November 2022 “Post Graduation Readiness Report” by YouScience revealed that 75 percent of the 2019 through 2022 high school graduates surveyed were not ready to make college and career decisions.

“But after graduation, it isn’t the school system’s problem anymore because now they’re graduates,” Callamunci chided. “That’s the root of it. Schools are nothing but mills, and we have far too many students advancing into the next chapter of their lives ill-prepared for success.”

A 2020 Gallup analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Education revealed that around 130 million adults in the United States have low literacy skills. More significant is that 54 percent of Americans between the ages of 16 and 74 possess reading skills below that of the sixth grade.

Sarah Calamunci, state director of Florida Citizens Defending Freedom. (Courtesy of Sarah Calamunci)

Keith Flaugh, the co-founder of Florida Citizens Alliance, says the learning loss suffered by Florida’s students has less to do with the pandemic and more to do with a deliberate choice by educators to push liberal ideology rather than teaching math, science, and reading.

“Delaying elevated graduation requirements is just one more example of Florida superintendents’ failure to support quality education in Florida,” Flaugh told The Epoch Times.

“They led the charge to mask the students and fought against reopening schools. Furthermore, they focus on indoctrination, including CRT, SEL, and sexual grooming, instead of academics. It’s past time for Florida parents to demand the high-quality education our kids deserve.”