Florida Man! A Review of the 2021 Civic Education Reform Process in the Sunshine State

Abstract

The quality of civic education in the United States has been on the decline for several decades, and the consequences of this issue have been a decrease in the civic engagement of, and political knowledge held, by American citizens. In 2021, Florida sought to address this issue by undertaking several initiatives that were meant to revitalize the state’s civic education curriculum to increase the quality of instruction. This thesis seeks to investigate which factors led to the successful passage of civic education reform measures in the state of Florida, as well as which elements are most vital to take into consideration during the process. The question that I am seeking to address is how the civic education reform process in Florida can inform individuals in other states on how to enact civic education reform within their own respective states. I looked at various official government documents created during the legislative process of passing the civic education reform bills in order to gain an understanding of what factors were influencing the legislation’s content. I additionally interviewed several individuals from Florida that were personally involved in the legislative process to provide me with insight as to what happened behind the scenes of the process. Some major themes that resulted from this research are that even civic education policy has become politicized in our hyperpolarized society; however, there are steps that can be taken to avoid blatant partisanship. Another major concept is the need to gain the support of government leadership. Without the approval of the governor and legislative leaders, any bill introduced will fail without active support in the legislature. My research has shown that the best chance that meaningful civic education initiatives have at achieving implementation is by remaining tied to the local community, as opposed to being linked as a part of the national political narrative. Civic education reformers must additionally be aware of status quo procedures and policies in place wherever they may be, in order to take advantage of them for their own benefit. Other conclusions include that the characteristics and preferences of the electorate must be taken into consideration, as well as the need to engage with as many different stakeholders as possible. In order to achieve maximum success with a civic education curriculum, it is fundamental that a required assessment is administered with consequences and that experiential learning is a component of the course curriculum.