Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed several bills Tuesday impacting Florida schools, including legislation that gives teachers the authority to restrict social media use in classrooms and protects teachers who report their own administrators for violating state policies.
The new laws come amid a major, multi-year education overhaul led by DeSantis and Florida Republicans, which has also included bans on critical race theory and "woke activism" – as the governor calls it.
"It gives teachers the authority to establish classroom rules on cell phone and device use during instructional time," DeSantis said at a signing ceremony Tuesday, adding that teachers could still allow students to check their phones before class.
Previous laws block classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity for all grades, bars the availability of certain sexual books in school libraries and prevents students and teachers from being required to use certain pronouns. DeSantis also signed a law that prohibits diversity, equity and inclusion programs in state colleges.
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During the signing ceremony Tuesday, DeSantis said giving teachers the opportunity to set guidelines and restrictions on social media use could help children steer clear of the distraction and influence of social media.
"There’s no way you’re learning what you need to be learning [when distracted by cell phone use]. And things like social media, it can wait. Honestly, it is not that important to be doing," DeSantis said, noting instructional time in the classroom is more important. "We think that is just common sense."
Later on Twitter, DeSantis wrote that students need to focus on learning, not social media.
He continued: "We don’t want kids on the phone the whole time while the teachers are trying to teach."
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"I just think of our kids and being normal kids like kids were prior to social media is important," the governor said. "Social media, it has more problems than it solves, and I think it does more harm than good. So, let’s let our education system be about traditional education as much as we can."
The new law could allow teachers to require students to hand over their phones at the beginning of class. It also bans the use of TikTok on school Wi-Fi and networks, and it does not allow students to use school internet to access social media with some exceptions.
One bill also allows teachers to leave school unions for any reason.
DeSantis touted the bills as giving more freedom to teachers, but some critics say they target unions who opposed his ban on mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Republican governor addressed the unions during his remarks.
"What did some of the school districts and school unions do? They defied the state. We ended up having to go to court over this because you had a handful of rogue districts that thought they knew better than the elected representatives and the parents of this state," DeSantis said.
"There's no question — if you look at COVID, locking kids out of school — the unions not only were for it, they were instrumental in ensuring it," he added.
The Florida Education Association argued the governor's actions were punishment for opposing his policies.
"The governor may have let his desire to crush perceived opponents get the best of him," FEA President Andrew Spar said in a news release. "This new law grossly oversteps in trying to silence teachers, staff, professors and most other public employees. We will not go quietly — our students and our professions are simply too important."
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Florida’s new budget also provides an increase in teacher pay — the fourth year in a row for the state.
DeSantis is expected to announce a bid for the 2024 presidency in the coming days.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
