Bill Text: FL S1314 | 2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Educational Options
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-05-05 - Died on Calendar, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/CS/CS/HB 15 (Ch. 2017-166) [S1314 Detail]
Download: Florida-2017-S1314-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Educational Options
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-05-05 - Died on Calendar, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/CS/CS/HB 15 (Ch. 2017-166) [S1314 Detail]
Download: Florida-2017-S1314-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2017 SB 1314 By Senator Grimsley 26-00935A-17 20171314__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to educational options; amending s. 3 1002.395, F.S.; specifying the Department of 4 Education’s duty to approve or deny an application for 5 the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program within a 6 specified time; specifying the department’s duties 7 regarding the carryforward tax credit; requiring an 8 eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization to 9 allow certain dependent children to apply for a 10 scholarship at any time; revising parent and student 11 responsibilities for program participation; revising 12 the date upon which certain private schools must 13 submit a required report; specifying that certain 14 actions of the private school are a basis for program 15 ineligibility; authorizing the Learning Systems 16 Institute to receive compensation for research under 17 certain circumstances; revising the calculation of a 18 scholarship award; increasing the limit of a 19 scholarship award for certain students; revising 20 payment method options; amending s. 1012.98, F.S.; 21 authorizing specified eligible nonprofit scholarship 22 funding organizations to develop a professional 23 development system; providing an effective date. 24 25 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 26 27 Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (5) of section 28 1002.395, Florida Statutes, is amended, present paragraph (f) of 29 that subsection is redesignated as paragraph (g) and a new 30 paragraph (f) is added to that subsection, and paragraph (h) of 31 subsection (6), paragraph (f) of subsection (7), subsection (8), 32 paragraph (j) of subsection (9), and paragraphs (a) and (b) of 33 subsection (12) of that section are amended, to read: 34 1002.395 Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program.— 35 (5) SCHOLARSHIP FUNDING TAX CREDITS; LIMITATIONS.— 36 (b) A taxpayer may submit an application to the department 37 for a tax credit or credits under one or more of s. 211.0251, s. 38 212.1831, s. 220.1875, s. 561.1211, or s. 624.51055. 39 1. The taxpayer shall specify in the application each tax 40 for which the taxpayer requests a credit and the applicable 41 taxable year for a credit under s. 220.1875 or s. 624.51055 or 42 the applicable state fiscal year for a credit under s. 211.0251, 43 s. 212.1831, or s. 561.1211. The department shall approve tax 44 credits on a first-come, first-served basis and must obtain the 45 division’s approval before approving a tax credit under s. 46 561.1211. 47 2. Within 10 days after approving or denying an 48 application, the department shall provide a copy of its approval 49 or denial letter to the eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding 50 organization specified by the taxpayer in the application. 51 (f) Within 10 days after approving or denying an 52 application for a carryforward tax credit under paragraph (c), 53 the conveyance, transfer, or assignment of a tax credit under 54 paragraph (d), or the rescindment of a tax credit under 55 paragraph (e), the department shall provide a copy of its 56 approval or denial letter to the eligible nonprofit scholarship 57 funding organization specified by the taxpayer in the 58 application. The department shall also include the eligible 59 nonprofit scholarship-funding organization specified by the 60 taxpayer in the application on all letters or correspondence of 61 acknowledgment for tax credits under s. 212.1831. 62 (6) OBLIGATIONS OF ELIGIBLE NONPROFIT SCHOLARSHIP-FUNDING 63 ORGANIZATIONS.—An eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding 64 organization: 65 (h) Must allow a student in foster care,orout-of-home 66 care, or who is a dependent child of a parent or guardian who is 67 a member of the United States Armed Forces, to apply for a 68 scholarship at any time. 69 70 Information and documentation provided to the Department of 71 Education and the Auditor General relating to the identity of a 72 taxpayer that provides an eligible contribution under this 73 section shall remain confidential at all times in accordance 74 with s. 213.053. 75 (7) PARENT AND STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES FOR PROGRAM 76 PARTICIPATION.— 77 (f) Upon receipt of a scholarship warrant from the eligible 78 nonprofit scholarship-funding organization, the parent to whom 79 the warrant is made must restrictively endorse the warrant to 80 the private school for deposit into the account of the private 81 school. If payments are made by funds transfer, the parent must 82 approve each payment before the scholarship funds may be 83 deposited. The parent may not designate any entity or individual 84 associated with the participating private school as the parent’s 85 attorney in fact to endorse a scholarship warrant or approve a 86 funds transfer. A participant who fails to comply with this 87 paragraph forfeits the scholarship. 88 (8) PRIVATE SCHOOL ELIGIBILITY AND OBLIGATIONS.—An eligible 89 private school may be sectarian or nonsectarian and must: 90 (a) Comply with all requirements for private schools 91 participating in state school choice scholarship programs 92 pursuant to s. 1002.421. 93 (b) Provide to the eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding 94 organization, upon request, all documentation required for the 95 student’s participation, including the private school’s and 96 student’s fee schedules. 97 (c) Be academically accountable to the parent for meeting 98 the educational needs of the student by: 99 1. At a minimum, annually providing to the parent a written 100 explanation of the student’s progress. 101 2. Annually administering or making provision for students 102 participating in the scholarship program in grades 3 through 10 103 to take one of the nationally norm-referenced tests identified 104 by the Department of Education or the statewide assessments 105 pursuant to s. 1008.22. Students with disabilities for whom 106 standardized testing is not appropriate are exempt from this 107 requirement. A participating private school must report a 108 student’s scores to the parent. A participating private school 109 must annually report by August 15 the scores of all 110 participating students to the Learning System Institute 111 described in paragraph (9)(j). 112 3. Cooperating with the scholarship student whose parent 113 chooses to have the student participate in the statewide 114 assessments pursuant to s. 1008.22 or, if a private school 115 chooses to offer the statewide assessments, administering the 116 assessments at the school. 117 a. A participating private school may choose to offer and 118 administer the statewide assessments to all students who attend 119 the private school in grades 3 through 10. 120 b. A participating private school must submit a request in 121 writing to the Department of Education by March 1 of each year 122 in order to administer the statewide assessments in the 123 subsequent school year. 124 (d) Employ or contract with teachers who have regular and 125 direct contact with each student receiving a scholarship under 126 this section at the school’s physical location. 127 (e) Annually contract with an independent certified public 128 accountant to perform the agreed-upon procedures developed under 129 paragraph (6)(o) and produce a report of the results if the 130 private school receives more than $250,000 in funds from 131 scholarships awarded under this section in the 2010-2011 state 132 fiscal year or a state fiscal year thereafter. A private school 133 subject to this paragraph must submit the report by each August 134 15by September 15, 2011, and annually thereafterto the 135 scholarship-funding organization that awarded the majority of 136 the school’s scholarship funds. The agreed-upon procedures must 137 be conducted in accordance with attestation standards 138 established by the American Institute of Certified Public 139 Accountants. 140 141 The inability of a private school to meet the requirements of 142 this subsection, or the listing of material exceptions in its 143 agreed-upon procedures reports, constitutesshall constitutea 144 basis for the ineligibility of the private school to participate 145 in the scholarship program as determined by the Department of 146 Education. 147 (9) DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OBLIGATIONS.—The Department of 148 Education shall: 149 (j) Issue a project grant award to the Learning System 150 Institute at the Florida State University, to which 151 participating private schools must report the scores of 152 participating students on the nationally norm-referenced tests 153 or the statewide assessments administered by the private school 154 in grades 3 through 10. The project term is 2 years, and the 155 amount of the project is up to $500,000 per year. The Learning 156 Systems Institute may be compensated for additional research as 157 determined through the project grant award process. The project 158 grant award must be reissued in 2-year intervals in accordance 159 with this paragraph. 160 1. The Learning System Institute must annually report to 161 the Department of Education on the student performance of 162 participating students and any additional research included in 163 the project grant award issued by the Department of Education: 164 a. On a statewide basis. The report shall also include, to 165 the extent possible, a comparison of scholarship students’ 166 performance to the statewide student performance of public 167 school students with socioeconomic backgrounds similar to those 168 of students participating in the scholarship program. To 169 minimize costs and reduce time required for the Learning System 170 Institute’s analysis and evaluation, the Department of Education 171 shall coordinate with the Learning System Institute to provide 172 data to the Learning System Institute in order to conduct 173 analyses of matched students from public school assessment data 174 and calculate control group student performance using an agreed 175 upon methodology with the Learning System Institute; and 176 b. On an individual school basis. The annual report must 177 include student performance for each participating private 178 school in which at least 51 percent of the total enrolled 179 students in the private school participated in the Florida Tax 180 Credit Scholarship Program in the prior school year. The report 181 shall be according to each participating private school, and for 182 participating students, in which there are at least 30 183 participating students who have scores for tests administered. 184 If the Learning System Institute determines that the 30 185 participating-student cell size may be reduced without 186 disclosing personally identifiable information, as described in 187 34 C.F.R. s. 99.12, of a participating student, the Learning 188 System Institute may reduce the participating-student cell size, 189 but the cell size must not be reduced to less than 10 190 participating students. The department shall provide each 191 private school’s prior school year’s student enrollment 192 information to the Learning System Institute no later than June 193 15 of each year, or as requested by the Learning System 194 Institute. 195 2. The sharing and reporting of student performance data 196 under this paragraph must be in accordance with requirements of 197 ss. 1002.22 and 1002.221 and 20 U.S.C. s. 1232g, the Family 198 Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and the applicable rules and 199 regulations issued pursuant thereto, and shall be for thesole200 purpose of research and creating the annual report required by 201 subparagraph 1. All parties must preserve the confidentiality of 202 such information as required by law. The annual report must not 203 disaggregate data to a level that will identify individual 204 participating schools, except as required under sub-subparagraph 205 1.b., or disclose the academic level of individual students. 206 3. The annual report required by subparagraph 1. shall be 207 published by the Department of Education on its website. 208 (12) SCHOLARSHIP AMOUNT AND PAYMENT.— 209 (a) Except as provided in subparagraph 2., the amount of a 210 scholarship provided to any student for any single school year 211 by an eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization from 212 eligible contributions shall be for total costs authorized under 213 paragraph (6)(d), not to exceed annual limits, which shall be 214 determined as follows: 215 1.a. For a scholarship awarded to a student enrolled in an 216 eligible private school, the limit shall be determined as a 217 percentageby multiplying the unweighted FTE funding amount in218that state fiscal year by the percentage used to determine the219limit in the prior state fiscal year. However, in each state220fiscal year that the tax credit cap amount increases pursuant to221paragraph (5)(a), the prior year percentage shall be increased222by 4 percentage points and the increased percentage shall be223used to determine the limit for that state fiscal year. If the224percentage so calculated reaches 80 percent in a state fiscal225year, no further increase in the percentage is allowed and the226limit shall be 80 percent of the unweighted FTE funding amount227for that state fiscal year and thereafter. Beginning in the2282016-2017 state fiscal year, the amount of a scholarship awarded229to a student enrolled in an eligible private school shall be230equal to 82 percentof the unweighted FTE funding amount for 231 that state fiscal year and thereafter as follows: 232 (I) Eighty-eight percent for a student enrolled in 233 kindergarten through grade 5. 234 (II) Ninety-two percent for a student enrolled in grade 6, 235 grade 7, or grade 8. 236 (III) Ninety-six percent for a student enrolled in grades 9 237 through 12. 238 b. For a scholarship awarded to a student enrolled in a 239 Florida public school that is located outside the district in 240 which the student resides or in a lab school as defined in s. 241 1002.32, the limit shall be $750$500. 242 2. The annual limit for a scholarship under sub 243 subparagraph 1.a. shall be reduced by: 244 a. Twenty-five percent if the student’s household income 245 level is equal to or greater than 200 percent, but less than 215 246 percent, of the federal poverty level. 247 b. Fifty percent if the student’s household income level is 248 equal to or greater than 215 percent, but equal to or less than 249 230 percent, of the federal poverty level. 250 3. For the 2016-2017 state fiscal year and thereafter, the 251 annual limit for a scholarship under sub-subparagraph 1.a. shall 252 be reduced by: 253 a. Twelve percent if the student’s household income level 254 is greater than or equal to 200 percent, but less than 215 255 percent, of the federal poverty level. 256 b. Twenty-six percent if the student’s household income 257 level is greater than or equal to 215 percent, but less than 230 258 percent, of the federal poverty level. 259 c. Forty percent if the student’s household income level is 260 greater than or equal to 230 percent, but less than 245 percent, 261 of the federal poverty level. 262 d. Fifty percent if the student’s household income level is 263 greater than or equal to 245 percent, but less than or equal to 264 260 percent, of the federal poverty level. 265 (b) Payment of the scholarship by the eligible nonprofit 266 scholarship-funding organization shall be by individual warrant 267 made payable to the student’s parent or by funds transfer, 268 including, but not limited to, debit card, electronic payment 269 card, or any other means of payment that the department deems to 270 be commercially viable or cost-effective. A student’s 271 scholarship award may not be reduced for debit card or 272 electronic payment fees. If the payment is made by warrant 273parent chooses that his or her child attend an eligible private274school, the warrant must be delivered by the eligible nonprofit 275 scholarship-funding organization to the private school of the 276 parent’s choice, and the parent shall restrictively endorse the 277 warrant to the private school. An eligible nonprofit 278 scholarship-funding organization shall ensure that the parent to 279 whom the warrant is made restrictively endorsed the warrant to 280 the private school for deposit into the account of the private 281 school or that the parent has approved a funds transfer before 282 any scholarship funds are deposited. 283 Section 2. Subsection (6) of section 1012.98, Florida 284 Statutes, is amended to read: 285 1012.98 School Community Professional Development Act.— 286 (6) An organization of private schools or consortium of 287 charter schools which has no fewer than 10 member schools in 288 this state, or an eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding 289 organization as defined in s. 1002.395, which publishes and 290 files with the Department of Education copies of its standards, 291 and the member schools of which comply with the provisions of 292 part II of chapter 1003, relating to compulsory school 293 attendance, may also develop a professional development system 294 that includes a master plan for inservice activities. The system 295 and inservice plan must be submitted to the commissioner for 296 approval pursuant to state board rules. 297 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.