The Florida Senate

1000.03  Function, mission, and goals of the Florida K-20 education system.--

(1)  Florida's K-20 education system shall be a decentralized system without excess layers of bureaucracy. The State Board of Education may appoint on an ad hoc basis a committee or committees to assist it on any and all issues within the K-20 education system. Florida's K-20 education system shall maintain a systemwide technology plan based on a common set of data definitions.

(2)(a)  The Legislature shall establish education policy, enact education laws, and appropriate and allocate education resources.

(b)  The State Board of Education shall oversee the enforcement of all laws and rules, and the timely provision of direction, resources, assistance, intervention when needed, and strong incentives and disincentives to force accountability for results.

(c)  The Commissioner of Education shall serve as chief executive officer of the K-20 education system. The commissioner shall be responsible for enforcing compliance with the mission and goals of the K-20 education system. The commissioner's office shall operate all statewide functions necessary to support the State Board of Education and the K-20 education system.

(3)  Public education is a cooperative function of the state and local educational authorities. The state retains responsibility for establishing a system of public education through laws, standards, and rules to assure efficient operation of a K-20 system of public education and adequate educational opportunities for all individuals. Local educational authorities have a duty to fully and faithfully comply with state laws, standards, and rules and to efficiently use the resources available to them to assist the state in allowing adequate educational opportunities.

(4)  The mission of Florida's K-20 education system is to allow its students to increase their proficiency by allowing them the opportunity to expand their knowledge and skills through adequate learning opportunities, in accordance with the mission statement and accountability requirements of s. 1008.31

(5)  The priorities of Florida's K-20 education system include:

(a)  Learning and completion at all levels, including increased high school graduation rate and readiness for postsecondary education without remediation.--All students demonstrate increased learning and completion at all levels, graduate from high school, and are prepared to enter postsecondary education without remediation.

(b)  Student performance.--Students demonstrate that they meet the expected academic standards consistently at all levels of their education.

(c)  Alignment of standards and resources.--Academic standards for every level of the K-20 education system are aligned, and education financial resources are aligned with student performance expectations at each level of the K-20 education system.

(d)  Educational leadership.--The quality of educational leadership at all levels of K-20 education is improved.

(e)  Workforce education.--Workforce education is appropriately aligned with the skills required by the new global economy.

(f)  Parental, student, family, educational institution, and community involvement.--Parents, students, families, educational institutions, and communities are collaborative partners in education, and each plays an important role in the success of individual students. Therefore, the State of Florida cannot be the guarantor of each individual student's success. The goals of Florida's K-20 education system are not guarantees that each individual student will succeed or that each individual school will perform at the level indicated in the goals.

History.--s. 5, ch. 2002-387.