Florida Senate - 2011                                    SB 1450
       
       
       
       By Senator Bennett
       
       
       
       
       21-00414-11                                           20111450__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to class size requirements; amending
    3         s. 1003.03, F.S.; revising provisions relating to the
    4         amount of penalties calculated by the Department of
    5         Education when a school district fails to comply with
    6         the class size requirements; prohibiting the penalties
    7         from exceeding $1,000 per school in each district;
    8         providing an effective date.
    9  
   10  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   11  
   12         Section 1. Subsection (4) of section 1003.03, Florida
   13  Statutes, is amended to read:
   14         1003.03 Maximum class size.—
   15         (4) ACCOUNTABILITY.—
   16         (a) If the department determines that the number of
   17  students assigned to any individual class exceeds the class size
   18  maximum, as required in subsection (1), based upon the October
   19  student membership survey, the department shall:
   20         1. Identify, for each grade group, the number of classes in
   21  which the number of students exceeds the maximum and the total
   22  number of students which exceeds the maximum for all classes.
   23         2. Determine the number of FTE students which exceeds the
   24  maximum for each grade group.
   25         3. Multiply the total number of FTE students which exceeds
   26  the maximum for each grade group by the district’s FTE dollar
   27  amount of the class size categorical allocation for that year
   28  and calculate the total for all three grade groups.
   29         4. Multiply the total number of FTE students which exceeds
   30  the maximum for all classes by an amount equal to 50 percent of
   31  the base student allocation adjusted by the district cost
   32  differential for the 2010-2011 fiscal year and by an amount
   33  equal to the base student allocation adjusted by the district
   34  cost differential beginning in the 2011-2012 fiscal year and
   35  thereafter.
   36         5. Reduce the district’s class size categorical allocation
   37  by an amount equal to the sum of the calculations in
   38  subparagraphs 3. and 4.
   39         (b) The amount of funds reduced shall be the lesser of the
   40  amount calculated in paragraph (a) or the undistributed balance
   41  of the district’s class size categorical allocation, and may not
   42  exceed $1,000 per school. The Florida Education Finance Program
   43  Appropriation Allocation Conference shall verify the
   44  department’s calculation in paragraph (a). The commissioner may
   45  withhold distribution of the class size categorical allocation
   46  to the extent necessary to comply with paragraph (a).
   47         (c) In lieu of the reduction calculation in paragraph (a),
   48  if the Commissioner of Education has evidence that a district
   49  was unable to meet the class size requirements despite
   50  appropriate efforts to do so or because of an extreme emergency,
   51  the commissioner may recommend by February 15, subject to
   52  approval of the Legislative Budget Commission, the reduction of
   53  an alternate amount of funds from the district’s class size
   54  categorical allocation.
   55         (d) Upon approval of the reduction calculation in
   56  paragraphs (a)-(c), the commissioner must prepare a reallocation
   57  of the funds made available for the districts that have fully
   58  met the class size requirements. The funds shall be reallocated
   59  by calculating an amount of up to 5 percent of the base student
   60  allocation multiplied by the total district FTE students. The
   61  reallocation total may not exceed 25 percent of the total funds
   62  reduced.
   63         (e) Each district that has not complied with the
   64  requirements in subsection (1) shall submit to the commissioner
   65  by February 15 a plan certified by the district school board
   66  that describes the specific actions the district will take in
   67  order to fully comply with the requirements in subsection (1) by
   68  October of the following school year. If a district submits the
   69  certified plan by the required deadline, the funds remaining
   70  after the reallocation calculation in paragraph (d) shall be
   71  added back to the district’s class size categorical allocation
   72  based on each qualifying district’s proportion of the total
   73  reduction for all qualifying districts for which a reduction was
   74  calculated in paragraphs (a)-(c). However, no district shall
   75  have an amount added back that is greater than the amount that
   76  was reduced.
   77         (f) The department shall adjust school district class size
   78  reduction categorical allocation distributions based on the
   79  calculations in paragraphs (a)-(e).
   80  
   81  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the penalties for
   82  noncompliance of class size requirements may not exceed $1,000
   83  per school in each district.
   84         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.