---
type: "Bill"
title: "Required African-American Instruction"
description: "Required African-American Instruction; Requires each school district to certify & provide certain evidence to DOE regarding certain instruction; authorizes DOE to seek input from & contract with certain educational organizations for specified purposes; requires each school district to submit implementation plan to Commissioner of Education & post plan on its website; provides requirements for plan; requires commissioner or DOE to provide certain notification; provides timeframe within which school district must submit revisions to its plan; authorizes SBE to take certain actions."
jurisdiction: "us/states/fl"
legislature: "Florida Legislature"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 551"
citation: "Florida HB 551 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
chapter_law: "2023-103"
primary_sponsors: ["Benjamin", "Fine"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 43
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2023-01-30"
last_action: "2023-05-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/791aea6b-9da9-4f3b-90da-2a07cf3cec46"
source_url: "https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/551/ByCategory"
source_hash: "09ab59f9c24cf193dcefdf85f42077c2d03933d11c82ddf4fe2306e6da555dc1"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-fl"]
---

# Florida HB 551 (2023) — Required African-American Instruction

Required African-American Instruction; Requires each school district to certify & provide certain evidence to DOE regarding certain instruction; authorizes DOE to seek input from & contract with certain educational organizations for specified purposes; requires each school district to submit implementation plan to Commissioner of Education & post plan on its website; provides requirements for plan; requires commissioner or DOE to provide certain notification; provides timeframe within which school district must submit revisions to its plan; authorizes SBE to take certain actions.

**Enacted** — Laws of Florida, Chapter 2023-103.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **H 551 Filed** (filed) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/551/BillText/Filed/PDF)
2. **H 551 c1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/551/BillText/c1/PDF)
3. **H 551 er** (enrolled) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/551/BillText/er/PDF)

## Votes

- Third Reading — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Favorable (PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee) — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- Passage, Third Reading — **116–0** (pass) · lower
- Favorable (Education & Employment Committee) — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Favorable With Committee Substitute (Education Quality Subcommittee) — **18–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Benjamin — primary (person)
- Education Quality Subcommittee — primary (organization)
- Fine — primary (person)
- Alvarez — cosponsor (person)
- Bankson — cosponsor (person)
- Bartleman — cosponsor (person)
- Basabe — cosponsor (person)
- Caruso — cosponsor (person)
- Casello — cosponsor (person)
- Cassel — cosponsor (person)
- Chambliss — cosponsor (person)
- Cross — cosponsor (person)
- Daniels — cosponsor (person)
- Dunkley — cosponsor (person)
- Eskamani — cosponsor (person)
- Franklin — cosponsor (person)
- Gottlieb — cosponsor (person)
- Harris — cosponsor (person)
- Hinson — cosponsor (person)
- Hunschofsky — cosponsor (person)
- Leek — cosponsor (person)
- López, J. — cosponsor (person)
- Melo — cosponsor (person)
- Michael — cosponsor (person)
- Overdorf — cosponsor (person)
- Robinson, F. — cosponsor (person)
- Salzman — cosponsor (person)
- Trabulsy — cosponsor (person)
- Valdés — cosponsor (person)
- Waldron — cosponsor (person)
- Williams — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-01-30** Filed `filing`
- **2023-02-07** Referred to Education Quality Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-07** Referred to PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-07** Referred to Education & Employment Committee `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-07** Now in Education Quality Subcommittee
- **2023-03-07** 1st Reading (Original Filed Version) `filing, reading-1`
- **2023-03-13** Added to Education Quality Subcommittee agenda
- **2023-03-15** Favorable with CS by Education Quality Subcommittee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-16** Reported out of Education Quality Subcommittee
- **2023-03-16** Laid on Table under Rule 7.18(a) `deferral`
- **2023-03-16** CS Filed `filing`
- **2023-03-16** 1st Reading (Committee Substitute 1) `reading-1`
- **2023-03-17** Referred to PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-17** Referred to Education & Employment Committee `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-17** Now in PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee
- **2023-03-20** Added to PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee agenda
- **2023-03-22** Favorable by PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-22** Reported out of PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee
- **2023-03-22** Now in Education & Employment Committee
- **2023-03-29** Added to Education & Employment Committee agenda
- **2023-03-31** Favorable by Education & Employment Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-31** Reported out of Education & Employment Committee
- **2023-03-31** Bill released to House Calendar
- **2023-03-31** Added to Second Reading Calendar
- **2023-04-13** Bill added to Special Order Calendar (4/20/2023)
- **2023-04-20** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2023-04-20** Added to Third Reading Calendar
- **2023-04-20** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-04-20** CS passed; YEAS 116, NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2023-04-20** In Messages
- **2023-04-21** Referred to Fiscal Policy `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-25** Received `enrolled`
- **2023-05-02** Withdrawn from Fiscal Policy `withdrawal`
- **2023-05-02** Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading
- **2023-05-02** Placed on Special Order Calendar, 05/04/23
- **2023-05-04** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2023-05-04** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-05-04** CS passed; YEAS 40 NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2023-05-04** In Messages
- **2023-05-04** Ordered enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-05-16** Signed by Officers and presented to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-05-17** Approved by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2023-05-18** Chapter No. 2023-103

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/791aea6b-9da9-4f3b-90da-2a07cf3cec46`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Florida legislature records).