Bill Text: FL S1950 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Authority to Enforce Public School Improvement
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-07 - Indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration [S1950 Detail]
Download: Florida-2011-S1950-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2011 SB 1950
By Senator Garcia
40-01576-11 20111950__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the authority to enforce public
3 school improvement; repealing s. 1008.33, F.S., which
4 establishes the authority of the State Board of
5 Education and the Department of Education to enforce
6 accountability requirements, categorize public schools
7 based on student performance, and apply intervention
8 and support strategies to improve student performance;
9 amending ss. 1001.42, 1002.33, 1006.40, 1008.345, and
10 1012.2315, F.S.; conforming provisions and cross
11 references; providing an effective date.
12
13 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
14
15 Section 1. Section 1008.33, Florida Statutes, is repealed.
16 Section 2. Subsection (18) of section 1001.42, Florida
17 Statutes, is amended to read:
18 1001.42 Powers and duties of district school board.—The
19 district school board, acting as a board, shall exercise all
20 powers and perform all duties listed below:
21 (18) IMPLEMENT SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY.
22 Maintain a state system of school improvement and education
23 accountability as provided by statute and State Board of
24 Education rule. This system of school improvement and education
25 accountability shall be consistent with, and implemented
26 through, the district’s continuing system of planning and
27 budgeting required by this section and ss. 1008.385, 1010.01,
28 and 1011.01. This system of school improvement and education
29 accountability shall comply with the provisions of ss. 1008.33,
30 1008.34, 1008.345, and 1008.385 and include the following:
31 (a) School improvement plans.—The district school board
32 shall annually approve and require implementation of a new,
33 amended, or continuation school improvement plan for each school
34 in the district.
35 (b) Public disclosure.—The district school board shall
36 provide information regarding the performance of students and
37 educational programs as required pursuant to ss. 1008.22 and
38 1008.385 and implement a system of school reports as required by
39 statute and State Board of Education rule which shall include
40 schools operating for the purpose of providing educational
41 services to youth in Department of Juvenile Justice programs,
42 and for those schools, report on the elements specified in s.
43 1003.52(19). Annual public disclosure reports shall be in an
44 easy-to-read report card format and shall include the school’s
45 grade, high school graduation rate calculated without GED tests,
46 disaggregated by student ethnicity, and performance data as
47 specified in state board rule.
48 (c) School improvement funds.—The district school board
49 shall provide funds to schools for developing and implementing
50 school improvement plans. Such funds shall include those funds
51 appropriated for the purpose of school improvement pursuant to
52 s. 24.121(5)(c).
53 Section 3. Paragraph (o) of subsection (9) of section
54 1002.33, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
55 1002.33 Charter schools.—
56 (9) CHARTER SCHOOL REQUIREMENTS.—
57 (o) Upon notification that a charter school receives a
58 school grade of “D” for 2 consecutive years or a school grade of
59 “F” under s. 1008.34(2), the charter school sponsor or the
60 sponsor’s staff shall require the director and a representative
61 of the governing body to submit to the sponsor for approval a
62 school improvement plan to raise student achievement and to
63 implement the plan. The sponsor has the authority to approve a
64 school improvement plan that the charter school will implement
65 in the following school year. The sponsor may also consider the
66 State Board of Education’s recommended action pursuant to s.
67 1008.33(1) as part of the school improvement plan. The
68 Department of Education shall offer technical assistance and
69 training to the charter school and its governing body and
70 establish guidelines for developing, submitting, and approving
71 such plans.
72 1. If the charter school fails to improve its student
73 performance from the year immediately prior to the
74 implementation of the school improvement plan, the sponsor shall
75 place the charter school on probation and shall require the
76 charter school governing body to take one of the following
77 corrective actions:
78 a. Contract for the educational services of the charter
79 school;
80 b. Reorganize the school at the end of the school year
81 under a new director or principal who is authorized to hire new
82 staff and implement a plan that addresses the causes of
83 inadequate progress; or
84 c. Reconstitute the charter school.
85 2. A charter school that is placed on probation shall
86 continue the corrective actions required under subparagraph 1.
87 until the charter school improves its student performance from
88 the year prior to the implementation of the school improvement
89 plan.
90 3. Notwithstanding any provision of this paragraph, the
91 sponsor may terminate the charter at any time pursuant to
92 subsection (8).
93 Section 4. Paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section
94 1006.40, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
95 1006.40 Use of instructional materials allocation;
96 instructional materials, library books, and reference books;
97 repair of books.—
98 (2)(a) Each district school board must purchase current
99 instructional materials to provide each student with a textbook
100 or other instructional materials as a major tool of instruction
101 in core courses of the appropriate subject areas of mathematics,
102 language arts, science, social studies, reading, and literature
103 for kindergarten through grade 12. Such purchase must be made
104 within the first 2 years after the effective date of the
105 adoption cycle; however, this requirement is waived for the
106 adoption cycle occurring in the 2008-2009 academic year for
107 schools within the district which are identified in the top four
108 categories of schools pursuant to s. 1008.33, as amended by
109 chapter 2009-144, Laws of Florida. The Commissioner of Education
110 may provide a waiver of this requirement for the adoption cycle
111 occurring in the 2008-2009 academic year if the district
112 demonstrates that it has intervention and support strategies to
113 address the particular needs of schools in the lowest two
114 categories. Unless specifically provided for in the General
115 Appropriations Act, the cost of instructional materials
116 purchases required by this paragraph shall not exceed the amount
117 of the district’s allocation for instructional materials,
118 pursuant to s. 1011.67, for the previous 2 years.
119 Section 5. Paragraph (d) of subsection (6) of section
120 1008.345, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
121 1008.345 Implementation of state system of school
122 improvement and education accountability.—
123 (6)
124 (d) The commissioner shall assign a community assessment
125 team to each school district or governing board with a school
126 graded “F” or a school in the lowest-performing category
127 pursuant to s. 1008.33 to review the school performance data and
128 determine causes for the low performance, including the role of
129 school, area, and district administrative personnel. The
130 community assessment team shall review a high school’s
131 graduation rate calculated without GED tests for the past 3
132 years, disaggregated by student ethnicity. The team shall make
133 recommendations to the school board or the governing board and
134 to the State Board of Education which address the causes of the
135 school’s low performance and may be incorporated into the school
136 improvement plan. The assessment team shall include, but not be
137 limited to, a department representative, parents, business
138 representatives, educators, representatives of local
139 governments, and community activists, and shall represent the
140 demographics of the community from which they are appointed.
141 Section 6. Section 1012.2315, Florida Statutes, is amended
142 to read:
143 1012.2315 Assignment of teachers.—
144 (1) LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT.—The Legislature finds
145 disparities between teachers assigned to teach in a majority of
146 schools that do not need improvement and schools that do need
147 improvement pursuant to s. 1008.33. The disparities may be found
148 in the assignment of temporarily certified teachers, teachers in
149 need of improvement, and out-of-field teachers and in the
150 performance of the students. It is the intent of the Legislature
151 that district school boards have flexibility through the
152 collective bargaining process to assign teachers more equitably
153 across the schools in the district.
154 (2) ASSIGNMENT TO SCHOOLS CATEGORIZED AS IN NEED OF
155 IMPROVEMENT.—School districts may not assign a higher percentage
156 than the school district average of temporarily certified
157 teachers, teachers in need of improvement, or out-of-field
158 teachers to schools in one of the three lowest-performing
159 categories under s. 1008.33(3)(b). Each school district shall
160 annually certify to the Commissioner of Education that this
161 requirement has been met. If the commissioner determines that a
162 school district is not in compliance with this subsection, the
163 State Board of Education shall be notified and shall take action
164 pursuant to s. 1008.32 in the next regularly scheduled meeting
165 to require compliance.
166 (3) SALARY INCENTIVES.—District school boards are
167 authorized to provide salary incentives to meet the requirement
168 of subsection (2). A district school board may not sign a
169 collective bargaining agreement that precludes the school
170 district from providing sufficient incentives to meet this
171 requirement.
172 (2)(4) COLLECTIVE BARGAINING.—Notwithstanding provisions of
173 chapter 447 relating to district school board collective
174 bargaining, collective bargaining provisions may not preclude a
175 school district from providing incentives to high-quality
176 teachers and assigning such teachers to low-performing schools.
177 (3)(5) REPORT.—Schools graded “D” or “F” shall annually
178 report their teacher-retention rate. Included in this report
179 shall be reasons listed for leaving by each teacher who left the
180 school for any reason.
181 Section 7. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.
