Florida Senate - 2017 SB 692
By Senator Baxley
12-00379A-17 2017692__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to student eligibility for K-12
3 virtual instruction; amending s. 1002.37, F.S.;
4 revising eligibility requirements for specified
5 students to receive part-time instruction at the
6 Florida Virtual School; removing provisions requiring
7 the Auditor General to conduct an operational audit of
8 the Florida Virtual School; amending s. 1002.455,
9 F.S.; authorizing all students, including home
10 education and private school students, to participate
11 in specified virtual instruction options; deleting the
12 eligibility criteria for a student to participate in
13 virtual instruction; amending s. 1003.4282, F.S.;
14 revising the options that a district school board or
15 charter school governing board may offer for a student
16 to satisfy certain online course requirements;
17 amending ss. 1002.33, 1002.45, 1003.498, and 1011.62,
18 F.S.; conforming provisions and cross-references to
19 changes made by the act; providing an effective date.
20
21 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
22
23 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (8) and subsection
24 (11) of section 1002.37, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
25 1002.37 The Florida Virtual School.—
26 (8)(a) The Florida Virtual School may provide full-time and
27 part-time instruction for students in kindergarten through grade
28 12. To receive part-time instruction in kindergarten through
29 grade 5, a student must meet at least one of the eligibility
30 criteria in s. 1002.455(2).
31 (11) The Auditor General shall conduct an operational audit
32 of the Florida Virtual School, including Florida Virtual School
33 Global. The scope of the audit shall include, but not be limited
34 to, the administration of responsibilities relating to
35 personnel; procurement and contracting; revenue production;
36 school funds, including internal funds; student enrollment
37 records; franchise agreements; information technology
38 utilization, assets, and security; performance measures and
39 standards; and accountability. The final report on the audit
40 shall be submitted to the President of the Senate and the
41 Speaker of the House of Representatives no later than January
42 31, 2014.
43 Section 2. Section 1002.455, Florida Statutes, is amended
44 to read:
45 1002.455 Student eligibility for K-12 virtual instruction.—
46 (1) All students, including home education and private
47 school students, are eligible to participate in any of the
48 following A student may participate in virtual instruction in
49 the school district in which he or she resides if the student
50 meets the eligibility criteria in subsection (2).
51 (2) A student is eligible to participate in virtual
52 instruction if:
53 (a) The student spent the prior school year in attendance
54 at a public school in the state and was enrolled and reported by
55 the school district for funding during October and February for
56 purposes of the Florida Education Finance Program surveys;
57 (b) The student is a dependent child of a member of the
58 United States Armed Forces who was transferred within the last
59 12 months to this state from another state or from a foreign
60 country pursuant to a permanent change of station order;
61 (c) The student was enrolled during the prior school year
62 in a virtual instruction program under s. 1002.45 or a full-time
63 Florida Virtual School program under s. 1002.37(8)(a);
64 (d) The student has a sibling who is currently enrolled in
65 a virtual instruction program and the sibling was enrolled in
66 that program at the end of the prior school year;
67 (e) The student is eligible to enter kindergarten or first
68 grade; or
69 (f) The student is eligible to enter grades 2 through 5 and
70 is enrolled full-time in a school district virtual instruction
71 program, virtual charter school, or the Florida Virtual School.
72 (3) The virtual instruction options for which this
73 eligibility section applies include:
74 (1)(a) School district operated part-time or full-time
75 kindergarten through grade 12 virtual instruction programs under
76 s. 1002.45(1)(b) for students enrolled in the school district.
77 (2)(b) Full-time virtual charter school instruction
78 authorized under s. 1002.33.
79 (3)(c) Virtual courses offered in the course code directory
80 to students within the school district or to students in other
81 school districts throughout the state pursuant to s. 1003.498.
82 (4) Florida Virtual School instructional services
83 authorized under s. 1002.37.
84 Section 3. Paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of section
85 1003.4282, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
86 1003.4282 Requirements for a standard high school diploma.—
87 (4) ONLINE COURSE REQUIREMENT.—At least one course within
88 the 24 credits required under this section must be completed
89 through online learning.
90 (b) A district school board or a charter school governing
91 board, as applicable, may allow a student offer students the
92 following options to satisfy the online course requirements of
93 this subsection by completing:
94 1. Completion of a course in which the a student earns a
95 nationally recognized industry certification in information
96 technology that is identified on the CAPE Industry Certification
97 Funding List pursuant to s. 1008.44 or passing passage of the
98 information technology certification examination without
99 enrolling enrollment in or completing completion of the
100 corresponding course or courses, as applicable.
101 2. Passage of an online content assessment, without
102 enrollment in or completion of the corresponding course or
103 courses, as applicable, by which the student demonstrates skills
104 and competency in locating information and applying technology
105 for instructional purposes.
106
107 For purposes of this subsection, a school district may not
108 require a student to take the online course outside the school
109 day or in addition to a student’s courses for a given semester.
110 This subsection does not apply to a student who has an
111 individual education plan under s. 1003.57 which indicates that
112 an online course would be inappropriate or to an out-of-state
113 transfer student who is enrolled in a Florida high school and
114 has 1 academic year or less remaining in high school.
115 Section 4. Subsection (1) of section 1002.33, Florida
116 Statutes, is amended to read:
117 1002.33 Charter schools.—
118 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—Charter schools shall be part of the
119 state’s program of public education. All charter schools in
120 Florida are public schools. A charter school may be formed by
121 creating a new school or converting an existing public school to
122 charter status. A charter school may operate a virtual charter
123 school pursuant to s. 1002.45(1)(d) to provide full-time online
124 instruction to eligible students, pursuant to s. 1002.455, in
125 kindergarten through grade 12. An existing charter school that
126 is seeking to become a virtual charter school must amend its
127 charter or submit a new application pursuant to subsection (6)
128 to become a virtual charter school. A virtual charter school is
129 subject to the requirements of this section; however, a virtual
130 charter school is exempt from subsections (18) and (19),
131 subparagraphs (20)(a)2., 4., 5., and 7., paragraph (20)(c), and
132 s. 1003.03. A public school may not use the term charter in its
133 name unless it has been approved under this section.
134 Section 5. Subsection (5) of section 1002.45, Florida
135 Statutes, is amended to read:
136 1002.45 Virtual instruction programs.—
137 (5) STUDENT ELIGIBILITY.—A student may enroll in a virtual
138 instruction program provided by the school district or by a
139 virtual charter school operated in the district in which he or
140 she resides if the student meets eligibility requirements for
141 virtual instruction pursuant to s. 1002.455.
142 Section 6. Subsection (2) of section 1003.498, Florida
143 Statutes, is amended to read:
144 1003.498 School district virtual course offerings.—
145 (2) School districts may offer virtual courses for students
146 enrolled in the school district. These courses must be
147 identified in the course code directory. Students who meet the
148 eligibility requirements of s. 1002.455 may participate in these
149 virtual course offerings pursuant to s. 1002.455.
150 (a) Any eligible student who is enrolled in a school
151 district may register and enroll in an online course offered by
152 his or her school district.
153 (b)1. Any eligible student who is enrolled in a school
154 district may register and enroll in an online course offered by
155 any other school district in the state. The school district in
156 which the student completes the course shall report the
157 student’s completion of that course for funding pursuant to s.
158 1011.61(1)(c)1.b.(VI), and the home school district shall not
159 report the student for funding for that course.
160 2. The full-time equivalent student membership calculated
161 under this subsection is subject to the requirements in s.
162 1011.61(4). The Department of Education shall establish
163 procedures to enable interdistrict coordination for the delivery
164 and funding of this online option.
165 Section 7. Subsection (11) of section 1011.62, Florida
166 Statutes, is amended to read:
167 1011.62 Funds for operation of schools.—If the annual
168 allocation from the Florida Education Finance Program to each
169 district for operation of schools is not determined in the
170 annual appropriations act or the substantive bill implementing
171 the annual appropriations act, it shall be determined as
172 follows:
173 (11) VIRTUAL EDUCATION CONTRIBUTION.—The Legislature may
174 annually provide in the Florida Education Finance Program a
175 virtual education contribution. The amount of the virtual
176 education contribution shall be the difference between the
177 amount per FTE established in the General Appropriations Act for
178 virtual education and the amount per FTE for each district and
179 the Florida Virtual School, which may be calculated by taking
180 the sum of the base FEFP allocation, the discretionary local
181 effort, the state-funded discretionary contribution, the
182 discretionary millage compression supplement, the research-based
183 reading instruction allocation, and the instructional materials
184 allocation, and then dividing by the total unweighted FTE. This
185 difference shall be multiplied by the virtual education
186 unweighted FTE for programs and options identified in s.
187 1002.455 s. 1002.455(3) and the Florida Virtual School and its
188 franchises to equal the virtual education contribution and shall
189 be included as a separate allocation in the funding formula.
190 Section 8. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.