A bill recently filed in the House of Representatives would mandate cursive writing instruction for some elementary school students in Florida.
State Rep. Toby Overdorf, R-Palm City, filed House Bill 127 on Wednesday, which calls for state public schools to provide cursive writing instruction for students in grades second through fifth.
The bill further states that “By the end of grade 5, each student must demonstrate proficiency in cursive writing through an evaluation of written work.”
The term “demonstrate proficiency in cursive writing”, according to the bill, means students should have the capability to write both uppercase and lowercase letters in cursive, write words and sentences in cursive “legibly” while “maintaining proper spacing and alignment, and write essays and assignments in cursive writing, compliant with state academic standards.
Overdorf filed a similar bill – HB 921 – for the 2025 legislative session. The bill got unanimous support from the Florida House; however, it died in the Senate Rules Committee on June 16.
Florida initially dropped cursive writing from its academic standards in 2010, but it was reinstated in 2014.
While not specifically stated in the state’s statutorily ordered instruction, cursive writing is part of Florida’s B.E.S.T. English Arts (ELA) standards for grades three through fifth. This means schools are obligated to teach cursive writing to students in these respective grades.
Though B.E.S.T. standards require schools to teach cursive writing, the institutions are not exactly obligated to make sure students can read and comprehend cursive writing.
The 2026 Florida legislative session is scheduled to start on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026.
If the bill were to pass this time around, it would go into effect on July 1, 2026.
Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.
Its a good discipline to lear, it slows you down and can make you more selective and reflective…I’m expecting majot pushback but good nevertheless. To make it more reasonable make it a simple Pass / Fail for a few years.
Probably a good idea. As I understand that some younger folks that never learned and/or cannot write in cursive, do not have a consistent signature they can use for voting, drivers license, and/or other paper legal documents.
Another GOP window dressing bill. Why worry about jobs, wages, housing shortages, disaster preparedness, unaffordable insurance and unavailable healthcare when you can prioritize handwriting, renaming roads and repainting crosswalks. Bread and circuses, but without the bread.