Florida Now Requires Civics to Graduate. Most Adults Couldn’t Pass.
There’s an irony here worth mentioning. Starting in the fall of 2022, Florida began requiring every middle school and high school student to pass the Florida Civic Literacy Exam (FCLE) in order to graduate. It’s an 80-question test; they have to score at least 60% to pass, and it covers exactly the kind of structural government questions we’ve been walking through about how Polk County actually works. The state has decided that kids need to know how this works in order to leave high school. Not a bad idea, right?
The thing is, civics is not supposed to live just inside a classroom or on a test before adulthood. It is supposed to teach students how decisions are made, how public money is spent, how laws and policies move from an idea to a vote, and how ordinary residents can speak before those decisions become final. That lesson is happening right here in Polk County. If you ever feel like you should already know all this, and don’t, that is the State of Florida confirming we all need to be more informed. The kids today are required to know it. We adults, the ones already voting, get to figure it out on our own time.
Don’t worry, The Citrus Tea is here to help get you more informed…not to tell you what to think, but to remove the barriers of social media that prevent us from hearing all the voices that should be present in the room, and to bring those voices together, right here, in one place.
We are creating a place where we can listen and share and see that while we are spread over 2,000 square miles, we have a whole lot in common, and even more that needs to be talked about.
If you want a place to start, here are six things you can actually do that move the needle on local government — none of which require a test to pass.
Think you could pass the test?
Try the Florida Civic Literacy Exam Yourself
The same practice test Florida students take to graduate. It takes about 20 minutes and runs in your browser. Here is how to access it:
- Make sure all options are set to ON and click Sign In.
- For Student Grade Level, select 30.
- Scroll down to Florida Civic Literacy Exam, select Start Florida Civil Literacy Exam Sample Test.
- Do not change settings, then click Select.
- Click Begin Test Now.
Florida Now Requires Civics to Graduate. Most Adults Couldn’t Pass. – June 2026, is an excerpt from the original article, How Polk County Government Really Works — and Why You Should Pay Attention Before Decisions Are Made, Not After.
