Senate Bill 2088

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    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 2088

    By Senator Cowin





    11-1100A-00

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to school readiness; amending

  3         s. 411.01, F.S.; revising the composition of

  4         the Florida Partnership for School Readiness;

  5         revising the membership of school readiness

  6         coalitions; providing sovereign immunity for

  7         school readiness coalitions; changing

  8         terminology relating to payment; amending s.

  9         230.2305, F.S.; revising funding for

10         prekindergarten early intervention programs;

11         repealing s. 402.3015(6)(a), F.S.; which

12         requires competitive bids for community child

13         care coordinating agencies; providing an

14         effective date.

15

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

17

18         Section 1.  Paragraph (b) of subsection (4) and

19  paragraphs (a) and (e) of subsection (5) of section 411.01,

20  Florida Statutes, are amended to read:

21         411.01  Florida Partnership for School Readiness;

22  school readiness coalitions.--

23         (4)  FLORIDA PARTNERSHIP FOR SCHOOL READINESS.--

24         (b)1.  The Florida Partnership for School Readiness

25  shall include the Lieutenant Governor or his or her designee,

26  the Commissioner of Education, the Secretary of Children and

27  Family Services, the Secretary of Health, the chair of the

28  Child Care Executive Partnership Board, and the chairperson of

29  the WAGES Program State Board of Directors of Workforce

30  Florida, Inc.

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    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 2088
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  1         2.  The partnership shall also include 10 members of

  2  the public who shall be business, community, and civic leaders

  3  in the state who are not elected to public office. These

  4  members and their families must not be providers in the early

  5  education and child care industry. The members must be

  6  geographically and demographically representative of the

  7  state. Each member shall be appointed by the Governor. Eight

  8  of the members shall be appointed from a list of 10 nominees,

  9  of which five must be submitted by the President of the Senate

10  and five must be submitted by the Speaker of the House of

11  Representatives. Members shall be appointed to 4-year terms of

12  office. However, of the initial appointees, two shall be

13  appointed to 1-year terms, two shall be appointed to 2-year

14  terms, three shall be appointed to 3-year terms, and three

15  shall be appointed to 4-year terms. The members of the

16  partnership shall elect a chairperson annually from the

17  nongovernmental members of the partnership. Any vacancy on the

18  partnership shall be filled in the same manner as the original

19  appointment.

20         (5)  CREATION OF SCHOOL READINESS COALITIONS.--

21         (a)  School readiness coalitions.--

22         1.  If a coalition's plan would serve less than 400

23  birth-to-kindergarten age children, the coalition must either

24  join with another county to form a multicounty coalition,

25  enter an agreement with a fiscal agent to serve more than one

26  coalition, or demonstrate to the partnership its ability to

27  effectively and efficiently implement its plan as a

28  single-county coalition and meet all required performance

29  standards and outcome measures.

30         2.  Each coalition shall have at least 18 but not more

31  than 25 members and such members must include the following:

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    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 2088
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  1         a.  A Department of Children and Family Services

  2  district administrator or his or her designee who is

  3  authorized to make decisions on behalf of the department.

  4         b.  A district superintendent of schools of his or her

  5  designee who is authorized to make decisions on behalf of the

  6  department.

  7         c.  A regional workforce development board chair or

  8  director, where applicable.

  9         d.  A county health department director or his or her

10  designee.

11         e.  A children's services council or juvenile welfare

12  board chair or executive director, if applicable.

13         f.  A child care licensing agency head.

14         g.  One member appointed by a Department of Children

15  and Family Services district administrator.

16         h.  One member appointed by a board of county

17  commissioners.

18         i.  One member appointed by a district school board.

19         j.  A central child care agency administrator.

20         k.  A Head Start director.

21         l.  A representative of private child care providers.

22         m.  A representative of faith-based child care

23  providers.

24

25  More than one-third of the coalition members must be from the

26  private sector, and neither they nor their families may earn

27  an income from the early education and child care industry. To

28  meet this requirement a coalition must appoint additional

29  members from a list of nominees presented to the coalition by

30  a chamber of commerce or economic development council within

31  the geographic area of the coalition.

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    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 2088
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  1         3.  No member of a coalition may appoint a designee to

  2  act in his or her place. A member may send a representative to

  3  coalition meetings, but that representative will have no

  4  voting privileges. When a district superintendent of schools

  5  or a district administrator for the Department of Children and

  6  Family Services appoints a designee to a school readiness

  7  coalition, the designee will be the voting member of the

  8  coalition, and any individual attending in his or her place,

  9  including the district administrator or superintendent will

10  have no voting privileges.

11         4.  The school readiness coalition shall replace the

12  district interagency coordinating council required under s.

13  230.2305.

14         5.  Members of the coalition are subject to the ethics

15  provisions in part III of chapter 112.

16         6.  For the purposes of tort liability, the members of

17  the school readiness coalition and its employees shall be

18  governed by s. 768.28.

19         7.6.  Multicounty coalitions shall include

20  representation from each county.

21         8.7.  The terms of all appointed members of the

22  coalition must be staggered. Appointed members may serve a

23  maximum of two terms. When a vacancy occurs in an appointed

24  position, the coalition must advertise the vacancy.

25         (e)  Payment schedule Reimbursement rate.--Each

26  coalition shall develop a payment reimbursement rate schedule

27  that encompasses all programs funded by that coalition.  The

28  payment reimbursement rate schedule must take into

29  consideration the relevant market rate, must include the

30  projected number of children to be served, and must be

31  submitted to the partnership for information. Informal child

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    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 2088
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  1  care arrangements shall be reimbursed at not more than 50

  2  percent of the rate developed for family childcare.

  3         Section 2.  Subsection (6) of section 230.2305, Florida

  4  Statutes, is amended to read:

  5         230.2305  Prekindergarten early intervention program.--

  6         (6)  FUNDING.--

  7         (a)  This section shall be implemented only to the

  8  extent that funding is available.  State funds appropriated

  9  for the prekindergarten early intervention program may not be

10  used for the construction of new facilities, the

11  transportation of students, or the purchase of buses, but may

12  be used for educational field trips which enhance the

13  curriculum.

14         1.  At least 70 percent of the total funds allocated to

15  each school readiness coalition district under this section

16  must be used for implementing and conducting a prekindergarten

17  early intervention program or contracting with other public or

18  nonpublic entities for programs to serve eligible children.

19  The maximum amount to be spent per child for this purpose is

20  to be designated annually by the Florida Partnership for

21  School Readiness in the General Appropriations Act.

22         2.  No more than 30 percent of the funds allocated to

23  each school readiness coalition under district pursuant to

24  this section may be used to enhance existing public and

25  nonpublic programs for eligible children, to provide

26  before-school and after-school care for children served under

27  this section, to remodel or renovate existing facilities under

28  chapter 235, to lease or lease-purchase facilities, to

29  purchase classroom equipment to allow the implementation of

30  the prekindergarten early intervention program, and to provide

31  training for program teachers and administrative personnel

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    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 2088
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  1  employed by the school district and by agencies with which the

  2  school district contracts for the provision of prekindergarten

  3  services.

  4         3.  Funds may also be used pursuant to subparagraphs 1.

  5  and 2. to provide the prekindergarten early intervention

  6  program for more than 180 school days.

  7         (b)  A minimum grant for each school readiness

  8  coalition district is to be determined annually by the Florida

  9  Partnership for School Readiness in the General Appropriations

10  Act. The funds remaining after allocating the minimum grants

11  must be prorated based on an allocation factor for each

12  coalition district and must be added to each coalition's

13  district's minimum grant. The allocation factor is to be

14  calculated as follows:

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16  Coalition District             School district

17  percentage of state  x  1/4   +percentage           x  3/4

18  3-year-old and                 of state total free

19  4-year-old children            lunches served

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21  The calculation of each coalition's district's allocation

22  factor is to be based upon the official estimate of the total

23  number of 3-year-old and 4-year-old children by the school

24  district or districts in the coalition's service area and the

25  official record of the Department of Education for K-12

26  student total free lunches served by school district for the

27  prior fiscal year.

28         Section 3.  Paragraph (a)  of subsection (6) of section

29  402.3015, Florida Statutes, is repealed.

30         Section 4.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

31  law.

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    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 2088
    11-1100A-00




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  2                          SENATE SUMMARY

  3    Revises the composition of the Florida Partnership for
      School Readiness and the membership of school readiness
  4    coalitions. Provides sovereign immunity for school
      readiness coalitions and their employees with respect to
  5    any liability beyond the limit on the waiver of sovereign
      immunity prescribed in s. 768.28, F.S. Revises funding
  6    for prekindergarten early intervention programs.
      Eliminates a competitive bid requirement for community
  7    child care coordinating agencies.

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