Bill Text: FL S0200 | 2021 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Student Retention

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-04-30 - Died on Calendar, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/HB 1159 (Ch. 2021-228), CS/CS/SB 1028 (Ch. 2021-35) [S0200 Detail]

Download: Florida-2021-S0200-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2021                       CS for CS for SB 200
       
       
        
       By the Committees on Appropriations; and Education; and Senators
       Berman, Stewart, Book, and Cruz
       
       
       
       
       576-04412-21                                           2021200c2
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to student retention; authorizing a
    3         parent or guardian to request that his or her K-5
    4         student be retained in a grade level for academic
    5         reasons for a specified school year; requiring that
    6         such a request be submitted in a specified manner;
    7         requiring school principals to consider such requests
    8         if they are timely received; authorizing school
    9         principals to consider requests that are not timely
   10         received; requiring a school principal who considers a
   11         request for retention to inform the student’s teachers
   12         of the request and collaboratively discuss with the
   13         parent or guardian any basis for agreement or
   14         disagreement with the request; requiring such
   15         discussion to disclose that retention may impact the
   16         student’s eligibility to participate in high school
   17         interscholastic or intrascholastic sports; authorizing
   18         the principal, teachers, and parent or guardian to
   19         collaborate to develop a customized 1-year education
   20         plan for the student in lieu of retaining the student;
   21         requiring a parent’s or guardian’s decision regarding
   22         retention to control; requiring a parent or guardian
   23         to sign a form provided by the principal indicating
   24         the parent or guardian’s decision and acknowledging
   25         the academic and athletic ramifications of their
   26         decision; requiring such form to be retained in the
   27         student’s record; requiring the individual education
   28         plan (IEP) team for a retained student to review and
   29         revise the student’s IEP, as appropriate; requiring
   30         school districts to report certain data to the
   31         Department of Education by a specified date; providing
   32         an effective date.
   33          
   34  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   35  
   36         Section 1. Notwithstanding s. 1008.25, Florida Statutes, a
   37  parent or guardian may request that his or her K-5 public school
   38  student be retained for the 2021-2022 school year in the grade
   39  level to which the student was assigned at the beginning of the
   40  2020-2021 school year, provided that such request is made for
   41  academic reasons.
   42         (1) A parent or guardian who wishes for his or her student
   43  to be retained as provided by this act must submit, in writing,
   44  to the school principal a retention request that specifies the
   45  academic reasons for the retention. Only requests received by
   46  the principal on or before June 30, 2021, must be considered. A
   47  principal may consider a request received after that date at his
   48  or her discretion.
   49         (2)(a) A principal who considers a retention request
   50  submitted pursuant to this act shall inform the student’s
   51  teachers of the retention request and collaboratively discuss
   52  with the parent or guardian any basis for agreement or
   53  disagreement with the request. As part of the discussion with
   54  the parent or guardian, the principal shall disclose that
   55  retention may impact the student’s eligibility to participate in
   56  high school interscholastic or intrascholastic sports due to the
   57  student’s age.
   58         (b) In lieu of retention, the principal, teachers, and
   59  parent or guardian may collaborate to develop a customized 1
   60  year education plan for the student with the intent of helping
   61  the student return to grade level readiness by the end of the
   62  next academic year. Such plan may include, but need not be
   63  limited to, supplemental educational support, services, and
   64  interventions; summer education; promotion in some, but not all,
   65  courses; and midyear promotion.
   66         (c) The parent’s or guardian’s decision to promote or
   67  retain his or her student after discussing the retention request
   68  with the principal shall control. The parent or guardian must
   69  sign a form provided by the principal indicating the parent or
   70  guardian’s decision and acknowledging the academic and athletic
   71  ramifications of his or her decision. This form must be retained
   72  in the student’s record.
   73         (3) If a student retained under this subsection has an
   74  individual education plan (IEP) in effect, the student’s IEP
   75  team must convene to review and revise the student’s IEP, as
   76  appropriate.
   77         (4) By June 30, 2022, school districts shall report to the
   78  Department of Education the number of students retained pursuant
   79  to this act for all or part of the 2021-2022 school year.
   80         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.