Florida Senate - 2024 SB 342 By Senator Jones 34-00666-24 2024342__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to the school readiness program; 3 amending s. 1002.81, F.S.; revising the definition of 4 the term “economically disadvantaged” for purposes of 5 the school readiness program; amending s. 1002.85, 6 F.S.; conforming a provision to changes made by the 7 act; providing an effective date. 8 9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 10 11 Section 1. Subsection (6) of section 1002.81, Florida 12 Statutes, is amended to read: 13 1002.81 Definitions.—Consistent with the requirements of 45 14 C.F.R. parts 98 and 99 and as used in this part, the term: 15 (6) “Economically disadvantaged” means having a family 16 income that does not exceed 250150percent of the federal 17 poverty level and includes being a child of a working migratory 18 family as defined by 34 C.F.R. s. 200.81(d) or (f) or an 19 agricultural worker who is employed by more than one 20 agricultural employer during the course of a year, and whose 21 income varies according to weather conditions and market 22 stability. 23 Section 2. Subsection (5) of section 1002.85, Florida 24 Statutes, is amended to read: 25 1002.85 Early learning coalition plans.— 26 (5) The department shall collect and report data on 27 coalition delivery of early learning programs. Elements shall 28 include, but are not limited to, measures related to progress 29 towards reducing the number of children on the waiting list, the 30 percentage of children served by the program as compared to the 31 number of administrative staff and overhead, the percentage of 32 children served compared to total number of children under the 33 age of 5 years below 250150percent of the federal poverty 34 level, provider payment processes, fraud intervention, child 35 attendance and stability, use of child care resource and 36 referral, and kindergarten readiness outcomes for children in 37 the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program or the school 38 readiness program upon entry into kindergarten. The department 39 shall request input from the coalitions and school readiness 40 program providers before finalizing the format and data to be 41 used. The report shall be implemented beginning July 1, 2014, 42 and results of the report must be included in the annual report 43 under s. 1002.82. 44 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.