The Alachua County Legislative Delegation met for a second time this year at Santa Fe College to hear from community members and local officials to prepare for Florida’s 2026 Legislative Session.
The five-member delegation on Oct. 20 met for over three hours at Santa Fe College to hear from several city and county officials on issues and accomplishments impacting the county, including education.
State Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said state legislation is born out of these meetings, which affect both local and statewide issues that tend to impact the more rural parts of her district.
“Last year it was a school bus start time,” Bradley said, referring to her bill SB296 that allows school districts to set their own schedules instead of a 2023 law starting class time later. DeSantis signed the bill into law in May.
State Rep. Yvonne Hayes-Hinson, D-Gainesville, said the state has experienced a massive literacy issue in its children and emphasized that legislators have to make some big decisions regarding early education.
“I was a ranking member on education and workforce development and (in) the last presentation across the state, third graders were reading at 57%. Some people thought that was good but think about the 43(%) that can’t,” Hinson said.
Alachua County School Board Chair Sarah Rockwell and interim Superintendent Kamala Patton spoke to the delegation briefly and requested five items, including a state statute change in its attendance policy.
Calling student absences a chronic issue, Rockwell requested to amend state statute 1003.26 (1) (B) to allow districts to initiate interventions after a student misses class 10 times within the school year. Rockwell said under current law, districts can only intervene on student attendance with their local partners after 10 absences in a 90-day period.
“If that absence occurs on day 91, we’re starting the count all over again,” Rockwell said. “This change would allow schools to intervene with our community partners sooner, to help families and students be at school where they can learn, and that is at zero cost to our state.”
Additionally, Rockwell asked the state to fund a full-day service for its VPK program and increase funding for statewide safety measures.
Patton asked for an alignment change to have public schools and scholarship programs have a more uniform way of dealing with enrollment and payment procedures. Patton also asked to maintain the district’s sovereign immunity cap.
Alachua County Children’s Trust Executive Director Marsha Kiner spoke to the delegation and brought up Hayes-Hinson’s comment on child literacy rates. Kiner said the Children’s Trust, the county and school board have partnered to host two town halls at Eastside High School on the Oct. 29 and at Santa Fe High School on Oct. 30 to hear about literacy concerns from the community.
“We are designing and developing a blueprint for literacy here in Alachua County,” Kiner said.
The 2026 legislative session will convene on Jan. 13, 2026.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: ACPS requests help from legislative delegation on attendance, literacy issues
Reporting by Elliot Tritto, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
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