Recess Requirements for Middle School Students

Budget Education

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor: Arrington
Last action: 2026-03-13
Official status: Senate - Died in Education Pre-K - 12
Effective date: 2026-07-01

Plain English Breakdown

The bill died in committee and it is unclear if the governor will sign it into law.

Recess Requirements for Middle School Students

This bill requires district school boards in Florida to provide at least 100 minutes of free-play recess each week for students in grades 6 through 8.

What This Bill Does

Requires district school boards to give middle school students a minimum of 100 minutes of free-play recess every week.
Ensures there are at least 20 consecutive minutes of unstructured playtime per day for these students.

Who It Names or Affects

Students in grades 6 through 8
District school boards

Terms To Know

free-play recess: Unstructured playtime during the school day where students can choose their activities.
district school board: The group that makes decisions about schools in a specific area, like setting rules and budgets.

Limits and Unknowns

This bill does not apply to charter schools.
It is unclear if the bill will be signed into law by the governor as it died in committee.

Bill History

2026-03-13 Senate
• Died in Education Pre-K - 12
2026-01-22 Senate
• Introduced
2026-01-16 Senate
• Referred to Education Pre-K - 12; Appropriations Committee on Pre-K - 12 Education; Rules
2026-01-08 Senate
• Filed

Official Summary Text

Recess Requirements for Middle School Students; Requiring district school boards to provide a specified amount of free-play recess each week to students in grades 6 through 8, etc.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

Florida Senate
-
2026

SB 1518

By
Senator Arrington

25-01282-26 20261518__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to recess requirements for middle
3 school students; amending s. 1003.455, F.S.; requiring
4 district school boards to provide a specified amount
5 of free-play recess each week to students in grades 6
6 through 8; providing an effective date.
7
8 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
9
10 Section 1. Subsection (6) of section 1003.455, Florida
11 Statutes, is amended to read:
12 1003.455 Physical education; assessment.—
13 (6) In addition to the requirements in subsection (3), each
14 district school board shall provide at least 100 minutes of
15 supervised, safe, and unstructured free-play recess each week
16 for students in kindergarten through grade
8

5
so that there are
17 at least 20 consecutive minutes of free-play recess per day.
18 This requirement does not apply to charter schools.
19 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.