Senate Bill 1256c1

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    Florida Senate - 1999                           CS for SB 1256

    By the Committee on Education and Senator Kirkpatrick





    304-2021-99

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to education accountability;

  3         amending s. 229.58, F.S.; revising requirements

  4         for the composition of school advisory

  5         councils; requiring school boards to develop

  6         procedures to ensure balanced school advisory

  7         council membership; amending s. 230.23, F.S.;

  8         revising provisions relating to the school

  9         improvement plan approval process; requiring

10         the school board to hold public hearings

11         regarding assistance and intervention;

12         providing an effective date.

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14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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16         Section 1.  Subsection (1) of section 229.58, Florida

17  Statutes, 1998 Supplement, is amended to read:

18         229.58  District and school advisory councils.--

19         (1)  ESTABLISHMENT.--

20         (a)  The school board shall establish an advisory

21  council for each school in the district, and shall develop

22  procedures for the election and appointment of advisory

23  council members. Each school advisory council shall include in

24  its name the words "school advisory council." The school

25  advisory council shall be the sole body responsible for final

26  decisionmaking at the school relating to implementation of the

27  provisions of ss. 229.591, 229.592, and 230.23(16). A majority

28  of the members of each school advisory council must be persons

29  who are not employed by the school. Each advisory council

30  shall be composed of the following:

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    Florida Senate - 1999                           CS for SB 1256
    304-2021-99




  1         1.  The school principal. and an appropriately balanced

  2  number of

  3         2.  Teachers, education support employees, students,

  4  parents, and other business and community citizens who are

  5  representative of the ethnic, racial, and economic community

  6  served by the school, giving consideration to the school's

  7  ethnic, racial, and economic makeup.

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  9  School boards shall develop procedures to ensure balanced

10  school advisory council membership. Vocational-technical

11  center and high school advisory councils shall include

12  students, and middle and junior high school advisory councils

13  may include students.  School advisory councils of

14  vocational-technical and adult education centers are not

15  required to include parents as members.

16         (b)  Council members representing teachers, education

17  support employees, students, and parents shall be elected by

18  their respective peer groups at the school in a fair and

19  equitable manner as follows:

20         1.  Teachers shall be elected by teachers.

21         2.  Education support employees shall be elected by

22  education support employees.

23         3.  Students shall be elected by students.

24         4.  Parents shall be elected by parents.

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26  The school board shall establish procedures for use by schools

27  in selecting business and community members. Such procedures

28  shall include means of ensuring wide notice of vacancies and

29  for taking input on possible members from local business,

30  chambers of commerce, community and civic organizations and

31  groups, and the public at large. The school board shall review

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    Florida Senate - 1999                           CS for SB 1256
    304-2021-99




  1  the membership composition of each advisory council.  Should

  2  the school board determine that the membership elected by the

  3  school is not representative of the ethnic, racial, and

  4  economic community served by the school, the board shall

  5  appoint additional members to achieve proper representation.

  6  The Florida Commission on Education Reform and Accountability

  7  shall serve as a review body to determine if schools have

  8  maximized their efforts to include on their advisory councils

  9  minority persons and persons of lower socioeconomic status.

10  Although schools should be strongly encouraged to establish

11  school advisory councils, any school district that has a

12  student population of 10,000 or fewer may establish a district

13  advisory council which shall include at least one duly elected

14  teacher from each school in the district.  For the purposes of

15  school advisory councils and district advisory councils, the

16  term "teacher" shall include classroom teachers, certified

17  student services personnel, and media specialists.  For

18  purposes of this paragraph, "education support employee" means

19  any person employed by a school who is not defined as

20  instructional or administrative personnel pursuant to s.

21  228.041 and whose duties require 20 or more hours in each

22  normal working week.

23         (c)(b)  The school board may establish a district

24  advisory council representative of the district and composed

25  of teachers, students, parents, and other citizens or a

26  district advisory council which may be comprised of

27  representatives of each school advisory council.  Recognized

28  schoolwide support groups which meet all criteria established

29  by law or rule may function as school advisory councils.

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    Florida Senate - 1999                           CS for SB 1256
    304-2021-99




  1         Section 2.  Paragraphs (b) and (c) of subsection (16)

  2  of section 230.23, Florida Statutes, 1998 Supplement, are

  3  amended to read:

  4         230.23  Powers and duties of school board.--The school

  5  board, acting as a board, shall exercise all powers and

  6  perform all duties listed below:

  7         (16)  IMPLEMENT SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT AND

  8  ACCOUNTABILITY.--Maintain a system of school improvement and

  9  education accountability as provided by statute and State

10  Board of Education rule. This system of school improvement and

11  education accountability shall be consistent with, and

12  implemented through, the district's continuing system of

13  planning and budgeting required by this section and ss.

14  229.555 and 237.041. This system of school improvement and

15  education accountability shall include, but not be limited to,

16  the following:

17         (b)  Approval process.--Develop a process for approval

18  of a school improvement plan presented by an individual school

19  and its advisory council which shall include a review by the

20  school advisory council of any revisions made to the plan

21  prior to its submission to the school board for approval. The

22  school advisory council may, by majority vote, concur or

23  reject these revisions. The plan shall be amended accordingly

24  prior to submission to the school board for approval. In the

25  event a board does not approve a school improvement plan after

26  exhausting this process, the Florida Commission on Education

27  Reform and Accountability shall be notified of the need for

28  assistance.

29         (c)  Assistance and intervention.--Develop a 2-year

30  3-year plan of increasing individualized assistance and

31  intervention for each school in danger of that does not

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    Florida Senate - 1999                           CS for SB 1256
    304-2021-99




  1  meeting state standards meet or making make adequate progress,

  2  based upon the recommendations of the commission, as defined

  3  pursuant to statute and State Board of Education rule, toward

  4  meeting the goals and standards of its approved school

  5  improvement plan. The school board must hold at least one

  6  public hearing to present the provisions included in the

  7  2-year plan, and must hold an annual public hearing to report

  8  on the progress of schools receiving assistance and

  9  intervention.

10         Section 3.  This act shall take effect July 1, 1999.

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12          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
13                              sb1256

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15  The committee substitute differs from SB 1256 in the following
    ways:
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    1. The date for submission of the annual report of the Florida
17  Commission on Education Reform and Accountability is not
    changed.
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    2. The 3-year plan of assistance and intervention for schools
19  that do not make adequate progress is changed to a 2-year
    plan.
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