NBC 6’s Julia Bagg has more on what this means for future students across the Sunshine State as well as residents of one specific area
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a higher education reform bill Tuesday with new guidelines on tenure and accreditation, as he set his sights on battles with both Twitter and Disney.
The measure, Senate Bill 7044, was signed into law by DeSantis at an event in The Villages Tuesday morning.
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The Republican governor touted the legislation as a way to ensure accountability of tenured faculty, with tenure for professors at state colleges and universities subject to review every five years.
DeSantis emphasized that the new law would allow for transparency in curriculum, and criticized "politicized" courses ad major focuses that he said "don't prepare students for the real world."
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"The transparency and accountability is absolutely key and we’re gonna make sure our institutions of higher education are commited to higher education and not ideology," DeSantis said.
Another component of the law expands options for accrediting agencies of state colleges and universities.
Critics said the bill is a response to an accreditation body that last year launched separate investigations over concerns that the University of Florida and Florida State University were improperly influenced by state politics.
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DeSantis also announced an effort to revoke Walt Disney World's special self-governing status by the Florida legislature this week.
The governor said this week's special session will go beyond considering congressional districts to include terminating special districts like Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District.
DeSantis also set his sights on Twitter, criticizing the social media giant for rejecting billionair Tesla founder Elon Musk's offer to buy the platform.
The governor called Twitter an "agency of censorship and pointed out that Florida's retirement system owns shares of the platform, which may give the state grounds to respond.
“We’re gonna be looking at ways that the state of Florida potentially can be holding these Twitter board of directors accountable for breaching their fiduciary duty," DeSantis said.
