Florida Senate - 2015 CS for SB 688 By the Committee on Education Pre-K - 12; and Senator Montford 581-01942-15 2015688c1 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to the opening and closing of public 3 schools; amending s. 1001.42, F.S.; revising a 4 requirement for the uniform opening date of public 5 schools; amending s. 1003.621, F.S.; providing that 6 academically high-performing school districts must 7 comply with provisions relating to the uniform opening 8 date of public schools; providing an exception for 9 certain school districts for a certain timeframe; 10 providing an effective date. 11 12 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 13 14 Section 1. Paragraph (f) of subsection (4) of section 15 1001.42, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 16 1001.42 Powers and duties of district school board.—The 17 district school board, acting as a board, shall exercise all 18 powers and perform all duties listed below: 19 (4) ESTABLISHMENT, ORGANIZATION, AND OPERATION OF SCHOOLS. 20 Adopt and provide for the execution of plans for the 21 establishment, organization, and operation of the schools of the 22 district, including, but not limited to, the following: 23 (f) Opening and closing of schools; fixing uniform date. 24 Adopt policies for the opening and closing of schools and fix 25 uniform dates; however, beginning with the 2015-20162007-200826 school year, the opening date for schools in the district may 27 not be earlier than 2114days before Labor Day each year. 28 Section 2. Present paragraph (k) of subsection (2) of 29 section 1003.621, Florida Statutes, is redesignated as paragraph 30 (l), and a new paragraph (k) is added to that subsection, to 31 read: 32 1003.621 Academically high-performing school districts.—It 33 is the intent of the Legislature to recognize and reward school 34 districts that demonstrate the ability to consistently maintain 35 or improve their high-performing status. The purpose of this 36 section is to provide high-performing school districts with 37 flexibility in meeting the specific requirements in statute and 38 rules of the State Board of Education. 39 (2) COMPLIANCE WITH STATUTES AND RULES.—Each academically 40 high-performing school district shall comply with all of the 41 provisions in chapters 1000-1013, and rules of the State Board 42 of Education which implement these provisions, pertaining to the 43 following: 44 (k) Section 1001.42(4)(f), relating to the uniform opening 45 date for public schools. However, an academically high 46 performing school district whose calendar for the 2015-2016 47 school year was approved by the district school board before May 48 1, 2015, may waive compliance with s. 1001.42(4)(f) for the 49 2015-2016 school year. 50 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2015.