The Florida Senate

236.0811  Educational training.--

(1)  Each school board shall develop and maintain an educational training program. Funds appropriated to school districts for the purposes of this section shall be used exclusively for educational training programs meeting criteria established by the Department of Education. When a district has an approved teacher education center, the inservice programs shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Teacher Education Center Act.

(2)(a)1.  Pursuant to rules of the Commissioner of Education, each school board shall develop and annually approve a master plan for inservice educational training. The plan shall include all inservice programs for all district employees from all fund sources and shall be updated annually by September 1 using criteria and procedures for continued approval as specified by rule of the commissioner. Verification that the plan meets all requirements of this section must be submitted annually to the commissioner by October 1. The plan must be based on an assessment of the inservice educational training needs of the district conducted by a committee that includes parents, classroom teachers, and other educational personnel. This assessment must identify districtwide inservice needs and the inservice training needs of local schools. The plan must include, at a minimum, the inservice activities that are necessary for implementation of the schools' improvement plans during the current fiscal year. The plan must include, but is not limited to, components addressing: competencies in the identification, assessment, and prescription of instruction for exceptional students; competencies in the identification, assessment, and prescription of instruction for child abuse and neglect prevention and for substance and alcohol abuse prevention; and competencies in instruction for multicultural sensitivity in the classroom. In addition, the plan must include a component to provide regular training to classroom teachers on advances in the field of normal child development and the disorders of development. The plan must also include components that may be used to satisfy the certification requirements applicable to teachers of students with limited proficiency in English and components that may be used for the renewal of a certificate in each of the following areas: a study of the middle grades, understanding the student in the middle grades, organizing interdisciplinary instruction in the middle grades, developing critical thinking and creative thinking in students in the middle grades, counseling functions of the teacher in the middle grades, developing creative learning materials for the middle grades, and planning and evaluating programs in the middle grades. The plan must include inservice activities for all district employees from all fund sources.

2.  Classroom teachers and guidance counselors shall be required to participate in the inservice training for child abuse and neglect prevention, for alcohol and substance abuse prevention education, and for multicultural sensitivity education, which may include negotiation and conflict resolution training.

(b)  Each school district's plan for inservice educational training submitted pursuant to this section shall comply with guidelines approved by the Florida Council on Educational Management, pursuant to s. 231.087. Such guidelines shall be provided for certificated and noncertificated managers and supervisors.

(c)  An organization of nonpublic schools which has no fewer than 10 member schools in this state, which publishes and files with the Department of Education copies of its standards, and the member schools of which comply with the provisions of chapter 232 relating to compulsory attendance may also develop a master plan for inservice educational training. The plan must be submitted to the commissioner for approval pursuant to rules of the commissioner. Costs associated with approval of the plan, such as travel, per diem, and substitutes required for onsite reviews, must be determined in accordance with criteria established by the Department of Education and must be borne by the organization.

History.--s. 26, ch. 74-227; s. 11, ch. 75-284; s. 11, ch. 78-423; s. 114, ch. 79-222; ss. 3, 11, ch. 80-325; s. 25, ch. 83-324; ss. 86, 94, ch. 84-336; s. 7, ch. 85-109; s. 13, ch. 85-238; s. 9, ch. 85-248; s. 16, ch. 87-243; s. 30, ch. 87-329; s. 12, ch. 89-302; s. 8, ch. 92-100; s. 146, ch. 94-209; s. 44, ch. 94-232; ss. 58, 151, ch. 97-190.