HB 281 (Duggan) was passed unanimously by House Appropriations on April 8 and will move to its final committee of reference, Education & Employment. The bill provides access to dual enrollment courses for all Florida students. Under current law, public school students and homeschool students have free, unencumbered access to dual enrollment courses. Private school students, however, have very limited access to dual enrollment. Dual enrollment allows students to take college level courses while they are still in high school. Usually these courses are taken on the college or university campus during the normal school day. The Senate companion, SB 52 (Rodrigues, R.), was passed by the full Senate (
26-14) on March 25 and is in messages to the House. You can read more about dual enrollment and its benefits for students on the
FCCB Education Policy Team blog, Education and the Common Good.