{"id":5378,"date":"2025-10-15T20:20:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T20:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/5378\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T20:20:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T20:20:07","slug":"florida-lawmaker-pushing-for-students-to-demonstrate-proficient-cursive-reading-and-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/5378\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida lawmaker pushing for students to demonstrate proficient cursive reading and writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In an age when students are often working on computers, typing up essays and homework instead of writing them out, the art of cursive writing may feel like a relic of the past.<\/p>\n

But Florida elementary students may soon have to prove they can read and write in cursive by the time they finish 5th grade if a newly filed bill<\/a> crosses the finish line next year.<\/p>\n

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n

Since 2020, Florida students have been expected to learn cursive<\/a> in elementary school, but State Representative Toby Overdorf (R-Stuart) told Action News Jax the current requirement falls short.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no requirement for any kind of sufficiency. There\u2019s no review associated with it,\u201d said Overdorf.<\/p>\n

Overdorf is sponsoring a bill in the upcoming legislative session that would not only require students to learn to read and write in cursive in grades 2 through 5, but they\u2019d also have to prove their proficiency.<\/p>\n

Jacksonville residents Action News Jax spoke with indicated they\u2019re all for the idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo help with their background. Let\u2019s say, they need help with their signature,\u201d said Duval local Jeremiah Taylor.<\/p>\n

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you don\u2019t have so much AI involved and they can actually write for themselves, they can be more creative and express themselves a little better. I think when you have too much technology, they can\u2019t actually express themselves as a child,\u201d said Duval parent Brandy Hollowell.<\/p>\n

And Overdorf argued that learning cursive has several surprising benefits that go beyond elegant penmanship.<\/p>\n

Cursive proficiency can improve fine motor skills, dexterity, and even help diagnose certain conditions at an earlier age.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, it also helps with an early diagnosis of dyslexia. So, when you combine all of those things, the benefits absolutely far outweigh anything else,\u201d said Overdorf.<\/p>\n

If passed, the new cursive requirements would kick in on July 1st of next year, just ahead of the 26\/27 school year.<\/p>\n

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an age when students are often working on computers, typing up essays and homework instead of writing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5959,28,30,29,3384,5960],"class_list":["post-5378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-cursive-writing","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-students","tag-toby-overdorf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}