# Florida Board Approves School Turnaround Plans

The Florida State Board of Education approved turnaround option plans in September 2026 for two elementary schools in Alachua County—Joseph Williams and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings—following consecutive low performance grades. These plans emphasize leadership strengthening, reduced class sizes, and targeted support for students with disabilities. Concurrently, the Board adopted comprehensive AI and educational technology guidelines for K-12 and college institutions, mandating transparent policies including parental notifications by July 1, 2027, to regulate AI use in education.

- The turnaround plans require collaboration with contractors such as the University of Florida, which holds a contract to develop specialized training modules for teachers and school leaders on serving students with disabilities and autism spectrum disorder.
- Procurement professionals should note the emphasis on educational technology compliance, including AI instructional tools, which must meet strict transparency, privacy, and ethical standards as outlined by the Florida Department of Education.
- Vendors offering AI educational products must prepare to comply with parental notification requirements and restrictions on AI functionalities, impacting product development and deployment timelines.
- School districts and contractors should align procurement and training efforts with the July 1, 2027 deadline for AI policy implementation to ensure regulatory compliance and support improved educational outcomes.

**Jurisdictions:** sled
**Industries:** Education
**Topics:** Regulatory Compliance
**Published:** September 19, 2026

### Government Entities
- Florida State Board of Education
- Florida Department of Education (FDOE)
- Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS)
- Florida College System

### Vendors
- University of Florida (contractor)

### Key Quotes
> At minimum, those policies must notify parents when an AI instructional tool is approved -including the name of the tool, the courses involved, and how the students will interact with it; give the parents the choice to opt their child into using the AI instructional tool or to receive a non-AI alternative; subject tools used in VPK through grade 5 to additional review for age and developmental appropriateness; prohibit AI designed to meet a students social or emotional needs, simulate companionship or an emotional relationship, or use anthropomorphic design to pull students into interaction with a machine; prohibit undisclosed behavior monitoring, social scoring, and/or psychological profiling; prohibit vendors from selling student data or using it to train agentic models; and set clear expectations for academic integrity and compel reporting if an AI agent compromises the integrity of district data systems.
> — Henry Mack, Florida Education Commissioner

> Weve reduced their class size so that teachers have the opportunity to build not only [a] deeper understanding of each students needs, but also so we can intervene very quickly.
> — Kamela Patton, Interim Superintendent

> Each year, districts that have schools that receive their second consecutive school grade of D or a first school grade of F are required to present a turnaround option plan to the State Board of Education on how they will improve the school.
> — Dr. Peggy Aune, Vice Chancellor for Strategic Improvement

### Sources
- [Florida State Board of Education approves turnaround plans for Rawlings and Williams Elementary](https://www.mainstreetdailynews.com/education/florida-state-board-education-rawlings-williams-elementary) - Mainstreet Daily News Gainesville