House Bill 1995
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida House of Representatives - 2000 HB 1995
By Representatives L. Miller, Ritter, Wasserman Schultz,
Hafner, Wilson, Eggelletion, Henriquez, Effman, C. Smith,
Greenstein, Sobel, Stafford, Rayson, Ritchie, Kosmas, Healey,
Levine, Jacobs, Lee, Betancourt, Bullard, Bush, Hill, Bloom,
Heyman, Frankel and Turnbull
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to education; creating the
3 Florida Education Funding Act of 2000;
4 providing legislative findings and intent;
5 providing for the hiring of additional district
6 school instructional personnel; providing for
7 an increase in district school instructional
8 personnel salaries; providing requirements for
9 distribution of funds appropriated for such
10 purposes; providing appropriations; providing
11 an effective date.
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13 WHEREAS, the hiring of an additional 10,000 teachers
14 over the next 4 years will help reduce class size and allow
15 teachers to spend more one-on-one time with students, and
16 WHEREAS, an additional 8,300 teachers are needed to
17 meet the 1998 legislative goal of one teacher to every 20
18 students in kindergarten through third grade, and
19 WHEREAS, an additional 1,700 teachers are needed in the
20 state's failing schools to help lift them up and ensure that
21 all children have a high-quality public education, and
22 WHEREAS, our children deserve to have motivated,
23 high-quality, well-trained, and well-paid teachers in every
24 Florida classroom, and
25 WHEREAS, the State of Florida was given a letter grade
26 of "D" in Education Week's "Quality Counts 2000" report for
27 failing to recruit and retain competent teachers, and
28 WHEREAS, a 10-percent pay increase for the state's
29 teachers will help school boards attract, retain, and reward
30 the good teachers Florida's students and parents demand, NOW
31 THEREFORE,
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida House of Representatives - 2000 HB 1995
516-213-00
1 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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3 Section 1. This act may be cited as the "Florida
4 Education Funding Act of 2000."
5 Section 2. (1) It is the intent of the Legislature to
6 provide funding for school districts to hire an additional
7 10,000 instructional personnel over the next 4 years. The
8 Department of Education has determined and will continue to
9 monitor the progress of the school districts in achieving the
10 legislative class size reduction goal as identified in s.
11 236.687, Florida Statutes.
12 (2) The Department of Education shall distribute to
13 the school districts the funds appropriated to carry out the
14 provisions of this section. The distribution of funds for
15 8,256 instructional personnel shall be based on the Department
16 of Education's October 1999 study on class size reduction, and
17 the funds for 1,744 instructional personnel shall be based on
18 the number of "F" schools per school district in school year
19 1998-1999.
20 (3) There is hereby appropriated from the General
21 Revenue Fund to the Department of Education the sum of
22 $93,238,326 in recurring funds for each of the fiscal years
23 2000-2001 through 2003-2004 for the purpose of carrying out
24 the provisions of this section.
25 Section 3. (1) It is the intent of the Legislature to
26 provide school districts with sufficient funding to increase
27 Florida's average instructional personnel salary by 10 percent
28 to align instructional personnel salaries more closely with
29 the national average teacher salary.
30 (2) The Department of Education shall distribute to
31 the school districts the funds appropriated to carry out the
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida House of Representatives - 2000 HB 1995
516-213-00
1 provisions of this section. The distribution of funds for
2 instructional personnel salaries shall be based on the number
3 of instructional personnel per school district as reported by
4 the Department of Education during the 1998-1999 school year.
5 The number of instructional personnel per school district
6 shall be multiplied by the average annual statewide salary for
7 such personnel, and that product multiplied by 10 percent, for
8 the distribution per school district.
9 (3) There is hereby appropriated from the General
10 Revenue Fund to the Department of Education the sum of
11 $481,300,957 in recurring funds for the purpose of carrying
12 out the provisions of this section.
13 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2000.
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16 HOUSE SUMMARY
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Creates the Florida Education Funding Act of 2000 to
18 provide for the hiring of additional district school
instructional personnel and for an increase in district
19 school instructional personnel salaries. Provides
appropriations and requirements for distribution of the
20 funds appropriated. See bill for details.
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