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CS/HB 453: Changes to High School Diploma Requirements
This law will allow students to complete two years of marching band to satisfy requirements for physical education and performing arts requirements for a Florida high school diploma.

what was it before?

Apparently something else. I was reading down a list of the most significant changes to Florida law this year.

I looked it up. It used to be one year. I'm not sure how many years Texas is, but even 40 years ago you got PE credit for being in band

LeMark wrote: Sat Jun 27, 2026 10:09 pm I looked it up. It used to be one year. I'm not sure how many years Texas is, but even 40 years ago you got PE credit for being in band

and?
It appears that - now - to get credits in both PE and art, they have to do two years of band, rather than one.

bloke wrote: Sat Jun 27, 2026 10:42 pm

LeMark wrote: Sat Jun 27, 2026 10:09 pm I looked it up. It used to be one year. I'm not sure how many years Texas is, but even 40 years ago you got PE credit for being in band

and?
It appears that - now - to get credits in both PE and art, they have to do two years of band, rather than one.

When I was in HS in Connecticut, we got art credit for marching and concert band. We got PE credit for marching band, but only in the fall because we only marched during the football season. Is marching band year round in Florida?

guess:

Florida legislators probably assume that "band" and "marching band" are synonymous.
It at all, they only SEE the "band" when it's marching, yes?

Never heard of such a thing before, but possibly because HS marching band was _barely_ even "a thing" to begin with. Would have been nice though, because HS gym class was just about the worst part of HS, which was already quite bad.

Only needed to take 1 semester of gym class, but damn that was annoying

No such thing in KY. Had to take a semester of PE. I don’t remember much except doing Tae Bo videos with Billy Blanks.

bort2.0 wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 1:14 pm Never heard of such a thing before, but possibly because HS marching band was _barely_ even "a thing" to begin with. Would have been nice though, because HS gym class was just about the worst part of HS, which was already quite bad.

Only needed to take 1 semester of gym class, but damn that was annoying

I tried to damp-towel off sweat, after PE/"gym class". I NEVER took a shower.
I had a padlocked locker with a few towels (some that I would run through the sink, and others I would use to wipe-off/dry-off (mostly upper body) and small isopropyl alcohol (as ersatz "deodorant", because I didn't want to smell like freakin' "Old Spice", "Brut", or "Hai Karate" ).
1/ There wasn't TIME to take a shower, and get to the next class on time.
2/ ' too much g _ _-@ass "grab-@ss" and towel-popping bullsh!t (mostly by the jocks in the class) going on in the shower area...nope, nope, and HELL nope.

arpthark wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 1:25 pm No such thing in KY. Had to take a semester of PE. I don’t remember much except doing Tae Bo videos with Billy Blanks.

We had to do this too. And it happened BEFORE the basketball unit. So all the yo-boys had to do step aerobics for 2 weeks before they could do basketball, or they'd have to sit out until they did.

And more than a few of them did exactly that, not doing the step aerobics and then not doing basketball. And, incomprehensibly, failing gym class.

Showers? I think they technically physically existed in middle and high school, but they were blocked off and never in use. I figure they were either broken or -- more likely -- too much of a liability in waiting.

Gym class was just plain gross, I hated every bit of it.

bort2.0 wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 4:41 pm

arpthark wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 1:25 pm No such thing in KY. Had to take a semester of PE. I don’t remember much except doing Tae Bo videos with Billy Blanks.

We had to do this too. And it happened BEFORE the basketball unit. So all the yo-boys had to do step aerobics for 2 weeks before they could do basketball, or they'd have to sit out until they did.

And more than a few of them did exactly that, not doing the step aerobics and then not doing basketball. And, incomprehensibly, failing gym class.

Showers? I think they technically physically existed in middle and high school, but they were blocked off and never in use. I figure they were either broken or -- more likely -- too much of a liability in waiting.

Gym class was just plain gross, I hated every bit of it.

There were two of us who would always sandbag when the PE coach wasn't around.
This was 7th grade PE, and - back then - seventh grade was the first year of "junior high".

On the last day of classes, we were all rated on our ability to play baseball and that guy (Steve) and I - per typical - were sitting over in the shade. In our PE class were a whole bunch of the seventh grade baseball team (whereas the "junior high" baseball team was actually 8th and 9th graders).

The coach - a young fairly handsome Italian guy named Marinelli, assumed that the two of us were both a couple of sissies, because we were always sandbagging. (We just didn't want to get sweaty.)
When he showed up and saw us sitting over in the shade, he started hollering and forcing one of the two teams to pick us.

We both ended up being on the the team opposing the PE class team on which the 7th grade baseball team pitcher was serving as pitcher. He threw me a sissy pitch, and the coach scolded him and told him to pitch me a regular pitch ...so I got a fastball, I hit a triple, and ran around to third. Then Steve was up, he hit a home run, and we both walked in and sat back in our spots - over in the shade. Mr Marinelli was laughing so hard that he couldn't catch his breath.

timestamp: late May of 1969

I wish we could get this in MD. (Even coming from an orchestra teacher)!

tubanh84 wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 11:48 am When I was in HS in Connecticut, we got art credit for marching and concert band. We got PE credit for marching band, but only in the fall because we only marched during the football season. Is marching band year round in Florida?

When I was in HS in the FL panhandle in the 1970s, we got 1/2 PE credit for a semester of marching band, which we also had only in the Fall. I don't recall anything like a performing arts requirement, my guess is that was a later thing.

Marching Band met first period every day, plus Tuesday and Thursday nights, IIRC.

LeMark wrote: Sat Jun 27, 2026 10:09 pm I looked it up. It used to be one year. I'm not sure how many years Texas is, but even 40 years ago you got PE credit for being in band

I had to do 3 semesters at CHHS. Fall would count as a PE and we had to have 1.5 PE credits and 1 fine arts credit. Concert band counted as a .5. It was a good way to keep students until their junior year and I only knew 1 person who dropped their senior year. There were all of rewards and honors for doing extra curricular activities all 4 years she didn’t get at the awards ceremony and was all bent out of shape.

I’m sure how one of the districts I work with in Ohio do it. They have concert band year round and marching is after school, totally unrelated and an extra payment. Both high schools are now BOA competitors that are doing very well with very respectable sizes for the concert band sizes.

Jeez, I still had to do 2 years of PE in high school. Band was completely separate and did not count towards PE.
Of course I did all 4 years of band (concert & marching) in high school because I enjoyed it and always looked forward to it. Even grueling "band camp" (before school band practice) and after-school band practice on the field. I always craved playing on those nice silver King sousas

In my high school in Texas we either had to take two years of PE or band all four years. So totally did the band thing. I think if you dropped out of band after tenth grade you had to do PE the rest of your time in High School. I know very few folks that did that.