The Florida Information Resource Network (FIRN) is an effort by the Florida education community and the Florida Legislature to provide an electronic link among all agencies, institutions, and schools in the public education system. The communications link, perhaps one of the most advanced in the nation, has three purposes: (1) to provide equal access to computing resources for all public education entities in the state for both adminstration and instruction; (2) to reduce the data burden on teachers and administrators while providing timely, high-quality data at all levels; and (3) to enable the rapid and effective exchange of computerized information within the public education system. Once completed, FIRN will allow the State Department of Education to communicate information electronically to all local education agencies, and it will allow those agencies to communicate reports electronically to the department. By the end of the decade, Florida school districts will submit all state reports electronically through FIRN, and to satisfy this requirement, automated systems for student, staff, and financial data will be developed in each district. By July 1, 1988, detail-level student and staff reporting systems will be implemented. Future plans for the system include using it to support a statewide automated library system and research projects conducted in the state university system. Also under consideration are ways to use the network to permit students to communicate with their peers via the written "electronic" word for the purpose of expanding their language arts skills. (EW)