Florida is updating its K-12 science standards for the first time since 2008, a process that formally began in November 2024 and must be completed by July 1, 2026, under state law. The current standards include only five benchmarks that directly reference climate change or global warming, all at the high school level. They stop short of explicitly requiring instruction on human-caused climate change. At the same time, in summer 2024, the Florida Department of Education pressured science textbook publishers to weaken or remove climate change content, changes that went beyond what the existing standards required, according to the National Center for Science Education.
Current standards and their limits
The Next Generation Sunshine State Standards for Science were adopted by the State Board of Education in 2008 and have not undergone significant revision since. They predate the 2013 Next Generation Science Standards, which 20 states and the District of Columbia have adopted. Florida is among roughly half a dozen states that neither adopted NGSS nor were inspired by its framework, according to Florida Citizens for Science.
The standards stop short of requiring instruction on human-caused climate change. Standard SC.912.E.7.7 appears to cover only natural causes. Standard SC.912.L.17.16 lists greenhouse gases as one item in a broad list of environmental impacts. The National Center for Science Education found that Florida was among five states that mention human activity in climate education but only as a possibility or in a list of factors, according to the Bradenton Herald.
Textbook pressure and the revision process
In summer 2024, the Florida Department of Education pressured science textbook publishers to alter climate content. In a McGraw Hill marine science book, the phrase “climate change” was changed to “changes in the environment,” and a passage about climate change killing 150,000 people per year was replaced with vaguer language. Cengage removed the word “polluting” from a description of coal burning power plants and eliminated a line about the political power of the fossil fuel industry, WUSF and The Hechinger Report found. Textbook authors Ken Miller and Joe Levine were told to strike the words “caused by human activity” from their biology textbook published by Savvas Learning Company and to add citations to peer-reviewed studies for statements about human-caused climate change effects, the Orlando Sentinel reported. The FDOE’s demands were not required to bring the textbooks in line with state science standards, according to Glenn Branch, deputy director of the National Center for Science Education, who called the pressure “very unusual.”
A data analysis by WUSF and Hechinger found that science textbooks most likely to contain climate content — environmental science, earth science, and marine science — were initially adopted at less than half the rate of textbooks on other subjects. The state eventually adopted most books only after publishers made changes to climate content.
The standards revision process formally began in November 2024 with a Notice of Development of Rulemaking for Rule 6A-1.09401, according to the Florida Administrative Register. Florida Statute 1003.41 requires the Commissioner of Education to revise all standards and submit them to the State Board of Education for approval by July 1, 2026, after a public comment process. According to people with knowledge of the process, the standards review committee submitted its recommended standards in summer 2025. The FDOE has not publicly posted draft standards for public feedback and did not respond to requests for an update, according to WUSF and Hechinger.
Broader political context
In May 2024, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill removing references to “climate change” from Florida state statutes and deprioritizing certain climate solutions in policy decision-making, WUSF and Hechinger reported. The National Center for Science Education also notes that the state has approved climate denial videos for classroom use.
Where Florida fits nationally
When Florida’s 2008 science standards were adopted, they were among the first state standards to reference climate change. Education Week reported at the time that Florida’s inclusion of climate change language “breaks new ground.” The Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s 2012 review of state science standards gave Florida’s earth and space science standards a mixed rating, noting that the important topic of the greenhouse effect and its possible contribution to global climate change was reduced to a phrase in a standard so broad it could form the basis for an entire course. The review concluded the standards were not bad but could be improved.
The National Center for Science Education’s analysis confirms there are no climate change standards for elementary or middle school students, and Florida is among only five states that mention human activity as a possibility rather than an established cause. The standards revision process, still underway without public draft standards, will determine whether the updated requirements codify existing minimal coverage or go further.