The Florida Senate

236.685  Educational funding accountability.--

(1)  This section may be cited as the "Educational Funding Accountability Act."

(2)  As used in this section, the term:

(a)  "Administrative personnel" means those employees responsible for management functions such as the development of broad policies and implementation of those policies through the direction of personnel. This classification includes instructional and noninstructional employees at the district and school level.

(b)  "Educational support personnel" means district-based and school-based employees, including professional staff, technicians, secretaries, clerks, skilled workers, transportation employees, food service employees, and custodial and maintenance workers.

(c)  "Instructional personnel" means classroom teachers, including substitute teachers.

(d)  "Instructional specialists" means staff members responsible for providing student personnel services, librarians, and media specialists.

(e)  "Instructional support personnel" means aides or assistants to instructional personnel or instructional specialists.

(f)  "Managers" means instructional and noninstructional employees with some managerial and supervisory functions, although primarily responsible for general operations. This category includes only district-based employees.

(3)  Each school board must classify each employee of the school board or school district into one of the following categories:

(a)  Instructional personnel;

(b)  Instructional specialists;

(c)  Instructional support personnel;

(d)  Administrative personnel;

(e)  Managers; or

(f)  Educational support personnel.

The school board shall notify each employee of such classification.

(4)(a)  The school public accountability report to parents must include the number of employees in each of the categories listed in subsection (3), by work location. However, this does not include the number of temporary substitute employees.

(b)  Any teacher-to-student ratio or class size measure required by law, State Board of Education rule, or Commissioner of Education rule must be computed by dividing the number of students in membership at the school by the number of full-time equivalent instructional personnel pursuant to paragraph (3)(a). Class size reports for exceptional student education shall be computed by dividing the number of exceptional students in membership by the number of full-time equivalent exceptional education classroom teachers who are classified as instructional personnel pursuant to paragraph (3)(a).

(5)(a)  All expenditures within the general and special revenue funds for each school district, including salaries, benefits, purchased services, energy services, materials and supplies, capital outlay, and miscellaneous expenditures, for the following purposes are classified as administrative expenditures:

1.  School board.

2.  General administration.

3.  School administration, excluding support expenditures.

4.  Facilities acquisition and construction at the district level.

5.  Fiscal services.

6.  Central services at the district level.

(b)  All expenditures within the general and special revenue funds for each school district, including salaries, benefits, purchased services, energy services, materials and supplies, capital outlay, and miscellaneous expenditures, for the following purposes are classified as instructional expenditures:

1.  Instruction.

2.  Instructional support services, including pupil personnel services, instructional media services, instruction and curriculum development, and instructional staff training services.

3.  School administration, including support expenditures.

4.  Facilities acquisition and construction at the school level.

5.  Food services.

6.  Central services at the school level.

7.  Pupil transportation services.

8.  Operation of plant.

9.  Maintenance of plant.

Definitions for the functions specified in this subsection are specified in State Board of Education rules.

(6)  The annual school public accountability report required by ss. 229.592 and 230.23(16) must include a school financial report. The purpose of the school financial report is to better inform parents and the public concerning how revenues were spent to operate the school during the prior fiscal year. Each school's financial report must follow a uniform, districtwide format that is easy to read and understand.

(a)  Total revenue must be reported at the school, district, and state levels. The revenue sources that must be addressed are state and local funds, other than lottery funds; lottery funds; federal funds; and private donations.

(b)  Expenditures must be reported as the total expenditures per unweighted full-time equivalent student at the school level and the average expenditures per full-time equivalent student at the district and state levels in each of the following categories and subcategories:

1.  Teachers, excluding substitute teachers, and education paraprofessionals who provide direct classroom instruction to students enrolled in programs classified by s. 236.081 as:

a.  Basic programs;

b.  Students-at-risk programs;

c.  Special programs for exceptional students;

d.  Career education programs; and

e.  Adult programs.

2.  Substitute teachers.

3.  Other instructional personnel, including school-based instructional specialists and their assistants.

4.  Contracted instructional services, including training for instructional staff and other contracted instructional services.

5.  School administration, including school-based administrative personnel and school-based education support personnel.

6.  The following materials, supplies, and operating capital outlay:

a.  Textbooks;

b.  Computer hardware and software;

c.  Other instructional materials;

d.  Other materials and supplies; and

e.  Library media materials.

7.  Food services.

8.  Other support services.

9.  Operation and maintenance of the school plant.

(c)  The school financial report must also identify the types of district-level expenditures that support the school's operations. The total amount of these district-level expenditures must be reported and expressed as total expenditures per full-time equivalent student.

As used in this subsection, the term "school" means a "school center" as defined by s. 228.041.

(7)  Based on the classifications in this section, each school district shall annually submit a report by January 1, which identifies and summarizes administrative expenditures and instructional expenditures by fund for the preceding fiscal year. The report shall also state the number of unweighted full-time equivalent students enrolled in the school district. The total amount of administrative expenditures shall be divided by the number of unweighted full-time equivalent students to determine the administrative expenditures per student. This calculation is to be made separately for the general and the special revenue funds. In addition, the report shall reflect the number of employees in each category outlined in subsection (3) and the percentage of employees in each category, excluding the number of temporary substitute employees. This report shall be submitted to the Commissioner of Education and shall be made available to the public. The school public accountability report shall contain notification of the availability of this report.

History.--s. 1, ch. 94-319; s. 2, ch. 96-269; s. 156, ch. 97-190; s. 1, ch. 97-288; s. 108, ch. 99-2; s. 20, ch. 99-398.