House Bill 2251e1

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                                          HB 2251, First Engrossed



  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to rulemaking authority with

  3         respect to education (RAB); amending s.

  4         229.555, F.S.; authorizing the State Board of

  5         Education to adopt rules to administer the

  6         educational planning and information system of

  7         the Department of Education; amending s.

  8         229.565, F.S.; requiring the Commissioner of

  9         Education to develop course descriptions for

10         specified courses; amending s. 232.022, F.S.;

11         requiring the State Board of Education to adopt

12         rules with respect to student attendance;

13         amending s. 232.0225, F.S.; requiring that a

14         school board's policy authorizing absences for

15         religious instruction or holidays be in

16         accordance with rules of the State Board of

17         Education; amending s. 236.081, F.S.; providing

18         additional requirements for determining the

19         annual allocation for school districts under

20         the Florida Education Finance Program; amending

21         s. 240.1201, F.S.; requiring the State Board of

22         Education to designate by rule certain

23         classifications of students as residents or

24         nonresidents for tuition purposes; providing an

25         effective date.

26

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

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29         Section 1.  Section 229.555, Florida Statutes, is

30  amended to read:

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                                          HB 2251, First Engrossed



  1         229.555  Educational planning and information

  2  systems.--

  3         (1)  EDUCATIONAL PLANNING.--

  4         (a)  The commissioner shall be responsible for all

  5  planning functions for the department, including collection,

  6  analysis, and interpretation of all data, information, test

  7  results, evaluations, and other indicators that are used to

  8  formulate policy, identify areas of concern and need, and

  9  serve as the basis for short-range and long-range planning.

10  Such planning shall include assembling data, conducting

11  appropriate studies and surveys, and sponsoring research and

12  development activities designed to provide information about

13  educational needs and the effect of alternative educational

14  practices.

15         (b)  Each district school board shall maintain a

16  continuing system of planning and budgeting designed to aid in

17  identifying and meeting the educational needs of students and

18  the public. Provision shall be made for coordination between

19  district school boards and community college district boards

20  of trustees concerning the planning for vocational and adult

21  educational programs.  The major emphasis of the system shall

22  be upon locally determined goals and objectives, the state

23  plan for education, and the Sunshine State Standards developed

24  by the Department of Education and adopted by the State Board

25  of Education.  The district planning and budgeting system must

26  include consideration of student achievement data obtained

27  pursuant to s. 229.57.  The system shall be structured to meet

28  the specific management needs of the district and to align the

29  budget adopted by the district school board with the plan the

30  board has also adopted. Each district school board shall

31  utilize its system of planning and budgeting to emphasize a


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                                          HB 2251, First Engrossed



  1  system of school-based management in which individual school

  2  centers become the principal planning units and to integrate

  3  planning and budgeting at the school level.

  4         (2)  COMPREHENSIVE MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS.--The

  5  commissioner shall develop and implement an integrated

  6  information system for educational management. The system must

  7  be designed to collect, via electronic transfer, all student

  8  and school performance data required to ascertain the degree

  9  to which schools and school districts are meeting state

10  performance standards, and must be capable of producing data

11  for a comprehensive annual report on school and district

12  performance. In addition, the system shall support, as

13  feasible, the management decisions to be made in each division

14  of the department and at the individual school and district

15  levels.  Similar data elements among divisions and levels

16  shall be compatible.  The system shall be based on an overall

17  conceptual design; the information needed for such decisions,

18  including fiscal, student, program, personnel, facility,

19  community, evaluation, and other relevant data; and the

20  relationship between cost and effectiveness.  The system shall

21  be managed and administered by the commissioner and shall

22  include a district subsystem component to be administered at

23  the district level, with input from the reports-and-forms

24  control management committees.  Each district school system

25  with a unique management information system shall assure that

26  compatibility exists between its unique system and the

27  district component of the state system so that all data

28  required as input to the state system is made available via

29  electronic transfer and in the appropriate input format.

30         (a)  The specific responsibilities of the commissioner

31  shall include:


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                                          HB 2251, First Engrossed



  1         1.  Consulting with school district representatives in

  2  the development of the system design model and implementation

  3  plans for the management information system for public school

  4  education management;

  5         2.  Providing operational definitions for the proposed

  6  system;

  7         3.  Determining the information and specific data

  8  elements required for the management decisions made at each

  9  educational level, recognizing that the primary unit for

10  information input is the individual school and recognizing

11  that time and effort of instructional personnel expended in

12  collection and compilation of data should be minimized;

13         4.  Developing standardized terminology and procedures

14  to be followed at all levels of the system;

15         5.  Developing a standard transmittal format to be used

16  for collection of data from the various levels of the system;

17         6.  Developing appropriate computer programs to assure

18  integration of the various information components dealing with

19  students, personnel, facilities, fiscal, program, community,

20  and evaluation data;

21         7.  Developing the necessary programs to provide

22  statistical analysis of the integrated data provided in

23  subparagraph 6. in such a way that required reports may be

24  disseminated, comparisons may be made, and relationships may

25  be determined in order to provide the necessary information

26  for making management decisions at all levels;

27         8.  Developing output report formats which will provide

28  district school systems with information for making management

29  decisions at the various educational levels;

30         9.  Developing a phased plan for distributing computer

31  services equitably among all public schools and school


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                                          HB 2251, First Engrossed



  1  districts in the state as rapidly as possible.  The plan shall

  2  describe alternatives available to the state in providing such

  3  computing services and shall contain estimates of the cost of

  4  each alternative, together with a recommendation for action.

  5  In developing the plan, the feasibility of shared use of

  6  computing hardware and software by school districts, community

  7  colleges, and universities shall be examined.  Laws or

  8  administrative rules regulating procurement of data processing

  9  equipment, communication services, or data processing services

10  by state agencies shall not be construed to apply to local

11  agencies which share computing facilities with state agencies;

12         10.  Assisting the district school systems in

13  establishing their subsystem components and assuring

14  compatibility with current district systems;

15         11.  Establishing procedures for continuous evaluation

16  of system efficiency and effectiveness;

17         12.  Initiating a reports-management and

18  forms-management system to ascertain that duplication in

19  collection of data does not exist and that forms and reports

20  for reporting under state and federal requirements and other

21  forms and reports are prepared in a logical and uncomplicated

22  format, resulting in a reduction in the number and complexity

23  of required reports, particularly at the school level; and

24         13.  Initiating such other actions as are necessary to

25  carry out the intent of the Legislature that a management

26  information system for public school management needs be

27  implemented.  Such other actions shall be based on criteria

28  including, but not limited to:

29         a.  The purpose of the reporting requirement;

30         b.  The origination of the reporting requirement;

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                                          HB 2251, First Engrossed



  1         c.  The date of origin of the reporting requirement;

  2  and

  3         d.  The date of repeal of the reporting requirement.

  4         (b)  The specific responsibilities of each district

  5  school system shall include:

  6         1.  Establishing, at the district level, a

  7  reports-control and forms-control management system committee

  8  composed of school administrators and classroom teachers.  The

  9  district school board shall appoint school administrator

10  members and classroom teacher members; or, in school districts

11  where appropriate, the classroom teacher members shall be

12  appointed by the bargaining agent. Teachers shall constitute a

13  majority of the committee membership. The committee shall

14  periodically recommend procedures to the district school board

15  for eliminating, reducing, revising, and consolidating

16  paperwork and data collection requirements and shall submit to

17  the district school board an annual report of its findings.

18         2.  With assistance from the commissioner, developing

19  systems compatibility between the state management information

20  system and unique local systems.

21         3.  Providing, with the assistance of the department,

22  inservice training dealing with management information system

23  purposes and scope, a method of transmitting input data, and

24  the use of output report information.

25         4.  Establishing a plan for continuous review and

26  evaluation of local management information system needs and

27  procedures.

28         5.  Advising the commissioner of all district

29  management information needs.

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                                          HB 2251, First Engrossed



  1         6.  Transmitting required data input elements to the

  2  appropriate processing locations in accordance with guidelines

  3  established by the commissioner.

  4         7.  Determining required reports, comparisons, and

  5  relationships to be provided to district school systems by the

  6  system output reports, continuously reviewing these reports

  7  for usefulness and meaningfulness, and submitting recommended

  8  additions, deletions, and change requirements in accordance

  9  with the guidelines established by the commissioner.

10         8.  Being responsible for the accuracy of all data

11  elements transmitted to the department.

12         (c)  It is the intent of the Legislature that the

13  expertise in the state system of public education, as well as

14  contracted services, be utilized to hasten the plan for full

15  implementation of a comprehensive management information

16  system.

17         (3)  RULES.--The State Board of Education shall adopt

18  rules to administer this section.

19         Section 2.  Paragraph (c) is added to subsection (1) of

20  section 229.565, Florida Statutes, to read:

21         229.565  Educational evaluation procedures.--

22         (1)  STUDENT PERFORMANCE STANDARDS.--

23         (c)  The Commissioner of Education shall develop a

24  course description that provides the essential content and

25  course requirements for each course in grades 6 through 12

26  which are contained in the Course Code Directory and

27  Instructional Personnel Assignments. When appropriate and

28  feasible, the course descriptions must incorporate the

29  approved student performance standards.

30         Section 3.  Section 232.022, Florida Statutes, is

31  amended to read:


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                                          HB 2251, First Engrossed



  1         232.022  Attendance defined.--

  2         (1)  The attendance of all public school pupils shall

  3  be checked each school day in the manner prescribed by

  4  regulations of the state board and recorded in the teacher's

  5  register or by some approved system of recording attendance.

  6  Pupils may be counted in attendance only if they are actually

  7  present at school or are away from school on a school day and

  8  are engaged in an educational activity which constitutes a

  9  part of the school-approved instructional program for the

10  pupil.

11         (2)  The State Board of Education shall adopt rules to

12  administer this section.

13         Section 4.  Section 232.0225, Florida Statutes, is

14  amended to read:

15         232.0225  Absence for religious instruction or

16  holidays.--Each school board, in accordance with rules of the

17  State Board of Education, shall adopt a policy that which

18  authorizes a parent or guardian to request and be granted

19  permission for absence of a student from school for religious

20  instruction or religious holidays.

21         Section 5.  Paragraph (q) is added to subsection (1) of

22  section 236.081, Florida Statutes, to read:

23         236.081  Funds for operation of schools.--If the annual

24  allocation from the Florida Education Finance Program to each

25  district for operation of schools is not determined in the

26  annual appropriations act or the substantive bill implementing

27  the annual appropriations act, it shall be determined as

28  follows:

29         (1)  COMPUTATION OF THE BASIC AMOUNT TO BE INCLUDED FOR

30  OPERATION.--The following procedure shall be followed in

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                                          HB 2251, First Engrossed



  1  determining the annual allocation to each district for

  2  operation:

  3         (q)  Computation for funding through the Florida

  4  Education Finance Program.--For student membership in a

  5  program or course to generate funding through the Florida

  6  Education Finance Program and for students in grades 9 through

  7  12 to receive elective or required credit toward high school

  8  graduation for such a program or course, the following

  9  conditions must be met:

10         1.  The course or program in which the student is in

11  membership must be an educational activity that constitutes a

12  part of the instructional program approved by the district

13  school board.

14         2.  The course or program must be listed in the Course

15  Code Directory and Instructional Personnel Assignments

16  developed by the Department of Education for the year in which

17  the student is in membership. The Commissioner of Education

18  may publish the directory in appropriate and useful formats,

19  such as a printed copy, an electronic database, or an

20  electronic disc. The Commissioner of Education may approve

21  additional courses for which funding could be generated

22  through the Florida Educational Finance Program.

23         Section 6.  Subsection (11) is added to section

24  240.1201, Florida Statutes, to read:

25         240.1201  Determination of resident status for tuition

26  purposes.--Students shall be classified as residents or

27  nonresidents for the purpose of assessing tuition fees in

28  public community colleges and universities.

29         (11)  The State Board of Education shall by rule

30  designate classifications of students as residents or

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                                          HB 2251, First Engrossed



  1  non-residents for tuition purposes at public community

  2  colleges and universities.

  3         Section 7.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

  4  law.

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