The Florida Senate

229.58  District and school advisory councils.--

(1)  ESTABLISHMENT.--

(a)  The school board shall establish an advisory council for each school in the district, and shall develop procedures for the election and appointment of advisory council members. Each school advisory council shall include in its name the words "school advisory council." The school advisory council shall be the sole body responsible for final decisionmaking at the school relating to implementation of the provisions of ss. 229.591, 229.592, and 230.23(16). A majority of the members of each school advisory council must be persons who are not employed by the school. Each advisory council shall be composed of the principal and an appropriately balanced number of teachers, education support employees, students, parents, and other business and community citizens who are representative of the ethnic, racial, and economic community served by the school. Vocational-technical center and high school advisory councils shall include students, and middle and junior high school advisory councils may include students. School advisory councils of vocational-technical and adult education centers are not required to include parents as members. Council members representing teachers, education support employees, students, and parents shall be elected by their respective peer groups at the school in a fair and equitable manner as follows:

1.  Teachers shall be elected by teachers.

2.  Education support employees shall be elected by education support employees.

3.  Students shall be elected by students.

4.  Parents shall be elected by parents.

The school board shall establish procedures for use by schools in selecting business and community members. Such procedures shall include means of ensuring wide notice of vacancies and for taking input on possible members from local business, chambers of commerce, community and civic organizations and groups, and the public at large. The school board shall review the membership composition of each advisory council. Should the school board determine that the membership elected by the school is not representative of the ethnic, racial, and economic community served by the school, the board shall appoint additional members to achieve proper representation. The Commissioner of Education shall determine if schools have maximized their efforts to include on their advisory councils minority persons and persons of lower socioeconomic status. Although schools should be strongly encouraged to establish school advisory councils, any school district that has a student population of 10,000 or fewer may establish a district advisory council which shall include at least one duly elected teacher from each school in the district. For the purposes of school advisory councils and district advisory councils, the term "teacher" shall include classroom teachers, certified student services personnel, and media specialists. For purposes of this paragraph, "education support employee" means any person employed by a school who is not defined as instructional or administrative personnel pursuant to s. 228.041 and whose duties require 20 or more hours in each normal working week.

(b)  The school board may establish a district advisory council representative of the district and composed of teachers, students, parents, and other citizens or a district advisory council which may be comprised of representatives of each school advisory council. Recognized schoolwide support groups which meet all criteria established by law or rule may function as school advisory councils.

(c)  For those schools operating for the purpose of providing educational services to youth in Department of Juvenile Justice programs, school boards may establish a district advisory council with appropriate representatives for the purpose of developing and monitoring a district school improvement plan which encompasses all such schools in the district, pursuant to s. 230.23(16)(a).

(2)  DUTIES.--Each advisory council shall perform such functions as are prescribed by regulations of the school board; however, no advisory council shall have any of the powers and duties now reserved by law to the school board. Each school advisory council shall assist in the preparation and evaluation of the school improvement plan required pursuant to s. 230.23(16). By the 1999-2000 academic year, with technical assistance from the Department of Education, each school advisory council shall assist in the preparation of the school's annual budget and plan as required by s. 229.555(1). A portion of funds provided in the annual General Appropriations Act for use by school advisory councils must be used for implementing the school improvement plan.

History.--s. 8, ch. 76-223; s. 1, ch. 78-416; ss. 11, 21, ch. 91-283; s. 5, ch. 91-429; s. 1, ch. 93-93; s. 49, ch. 97-190; s. 2, ch. 97-279; s. 2, ch. 98-271; s. 21, ch. 98-281; s. 45, ch. 99-284; s. 8, ch. 99-398.