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2021 Florida Statutes (Including 2021B Session)

Title XLVIII EARLY LEARNING-20 EDUCATION CODE
Chapter 1002 STUDENT AND PARENTAL RIGHTS AND EDUCATIONAL CHOICES Entire Chapter
SECTION 81
Definitions.
F.S. 1002.81
1002.81 Definitions.—Consistent with the requirements of 45 C.F.R. parts 98 and 99 and as used in this part, the term:
(1) “At-risk child” means:
(a) A child from a family under investigation by the Department of Children and Families or a designated sheriff’s office for child abuse, neglect, abandonment, or exploitation.
(b) A child who is in a diversion program provided by the Department of Children and Families or its contracted provider and who is from a family that is actively participating and complying in department-prescribed activities, including education, health services, or work.
(c) A child from a family that is under supervision by the Department of Children and Families or a contracted service provider for abuse, neglect, abandonment, or exploitation.
(d) A child placed in court-ordered, long-term custody or under the guardianship of a relative or nonrelative after termination of supervision by the Department of Children and Families or its contracted provider.
(e) A child in the custody of a parent who is considered a victim of domestic violence and is receiving services through a certified domestic violence center.
(f) A child in the custody of a parent who is considered homeless as verified by a Department of Children and Families certified homeless shelter.
(2) “Authorized hours of care” means the hours of care that are necessary to provide protection, maintain employment, or complete work activities or eligible educational activities, including reasonable travel time.
(3) “Department” means the Department of Education.
(4) “Direct enhancement services” means services for families and children that are in addition to payments for the placement of children in the school readiness program. Direct enhancement services for families and children may include supports for providers, parent training and involvement activities, and strategies to meet the needs of unique populations and local eligibility priorities. Direct enhancement services offered by an early learning coalition shall be consistent with the activities prescribed in s. 1002.89(5)(b).
(5) “Disenrollment” means the removal, either temporary or permanent, of a child from participation in the school readiness program. Removal of a child from the school readiness program may be based on the following events: a reduction in available school readiness program funding, participant’s failure to meet eligibility or program participation requirements, fraud, or a change in local service priorities.
(6) “Economically disadvantaged” means having a family income that does not exceed 150 percent of the federal poverty level and includes being a child of a working migratory family as defined by 34 C.F.R. s. 200.81(d) or (f) or an agricultural worker who is employed by more than one agricultural employer during the course of a year, and whose income varies according to weather conditions and market stability.
(7) “Family income” means the combined gross income, whether earned or unearned, that is derived from any source by all family or household members who are 18 years of age or older who are currently residing together in the same dwelling unit. The term does not include income earned by a currently enrolled high school student who, since attaining the age of 18 years, or a student with a disability who, since attaining the age of 22 years, has not terminated school enrollment or received a high school diploma, high school equivalency diploma, special diploma, or certificate of high school completion. The term also does not include food stamp benefits or federal housing assistance payments issued directly to a landlord or the associated utilities expenses.
(8) “Family or household members” means spouses, former spouses, persons related by blood or marriage, persons who are parents of a child in common regardless of whether they have been married, and other persons who are currently residing together in the same dwelling unit as if a family.
(9) “Full-time care” means at least 6 hours, but not more than 11 hours, of child care or early childhood education services within a 24-hour period.
(10) “Market rate” means the price that a child care or early childhood education provider charges for full-time or part-time daily, weekly, or monthly child care or early childhood education services.
(11) “Part-time care” means less than 6 hours of child care or early childhood education services within a 24-hour period.
(12) “Prevailing market rate” means the biennially determined 75th percentile of a reasonable frequency distribution of the market rate by program care level and provider type in a predetermined geographic market at which child care providers charge a person for child care services.
(13) “Single point of entry” means an integrated information system that allows a parent to enroll his or her child in the school readiness program or the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program at various locations throughout a county, that may allow a parent to enroll his or her child by telephone or through a website, and that uses a uniform waiting list to track eligible children waiting for enrollment in the school readiness program.
(14) “Working family” means:
(a) A single-parent family in which the parent with whom the child resides is employed or engaged in eligible work or education activities for at least 20 hours per week;
(b) A two-parent family in which both parents with whom the child resides are employed or engaged in eligible work or education activities for a combined total of at least 40 hours per week; or
(c) A two-parent family in which one of the parents with whom the child resides is exempt from work requirements due to age or disability, as determined and documented by a physician licensed under chapter 458 or chapter 459, and one parent is employed or engaged in eligible work or education activities at least 20 hours per week.
History.—s. 17, ch. 2013-252; s. 1, ch. 2018-136; s. 48, ch. 2021-10; s. 1, ch. 2021-87.