HB 0047B 2003
1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to charter school conversion; amending s.
3	1002.33, F.S.; authorizing an educational facilities
4	benefit district to apply for a conversion charter school;
5	providing a procedure for certain counties to participate
6	in a pilot program to convert public-school-feeder systems
7	into charter-school-feeder systems; providing a
8	definition; providing participation requirements;
9	providing an appeals process; providing for equitable
10	funding; authorizing creation of an educational facilities
11	benefit district for purposes of participation in the
12	pilot program; providing for construction of the act in
13	pari materia with laws enacted during the 2003 Regular
14	Session or the 2003 Special Session A of the Legislature;
15	providing an effective date.
16
17	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
18
19	Section 1. Subsections (3) and (10) of section 1002.33,
20	Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
21	1002.33 Charter schools.--
22	(3) APPLICATION FOR CHARTER STATUS.--
23	(a) An application for a new charter school may be made by
24	an individual, teachers, parents, a group of individuals, a
25	municipality, or a legal entity organized under the laws of this
26	state.
27	(b) An application for a conversion charter school shall
28	be made by the district school board, the principal, teachers,
29	parents, and/or the school advisory council at an existing
30	public school that has been in operation for at least 2 years
31	prior to the application to convert, including a public school-
32	within-a-school that is designated as a school by the district
33	school board, or by an educational facilities benefit district.
34	An application submitted proposing to convert an existing public
35	school to a charter school shall demonstrate the support of at
36	least 50 percent of the teachers employed at the school and 50
37	percent of the parents voting whose children are enrolled at the
38	school, provided that a majority of the parents eligible to vote
39	participate in the ballot process, according to rules adopted by
40	the State Board of Education. A district school board denying an
41	application for a conversion charter school shall provide notice
42	of denial to the applicants in writing within 30 days after the
43	meeting at which the district school board denied the
44	application. The notice must specify the exact reasons for
45	denial and must provide documentation supporting those reasons.
46	A private school, parochial school, or home education program
47	shall not be eligible for charter school status.
48	(c) District school boards in counties with populations in
49	excess of 1.5 million persons, as reported on the most recent
50	United States Census, are authorized to accept applications from
51	educational facilities benefit districts for the purpose of
52	establishing a pilot program in each such county to convert no
53	more than five feeder systems of public schools per county to
54	conversion charter-school-feeder systems. Applications for up to
55	four of the conversion charter-school-feeder systems must be
56	from educational facilities benefit districts located within
57	municipalities with populations in excess of 58,000 persons, as
58	reported on the most recent United States Census. At least one
59	application must be from an educational facilities benefit
60	district located in the unincorporated area of each county. Not
61	more than one educational facilities benefit district within a
62	municipality may be awarded a conversion charter-school-feeder
63	system. In evaluating applications, priority shall be given to
64	applications to convert poorly performing feeder systems in
65	which the high school received a performance grade category "D"
66	or "F," as reported in the most recent annual report of school
67	performance grades pursuant to s. 1008.34, unless no high school
68	within any feeder system in the municipality or unincorporated
69	area received a performance grade category "D" or "F."
70	1. For purposes of this section, a conversion charter-
71	school-feeder system is defined as one high school and the
72	middle schools and elementary schools where more than one-half
73	of the students are zoned to attend that high school and must
74	include at least one high school, one middle school, and one
75	elementary school.
76	2. To participate in the pilot program, all schools
77	included in the conversion charter-school-feeder system must be
78	located within the boundaries of the educational facilities
79	benefit district applying to participate in the conversion pilot
80	program.
81	3. Decisions of the school district regarding the
82	establishment of a conversion charter-school-feeder system may
83	be appealed to the State Board of Education.
84	4. If the educational facilities benefit district provides
85	operational funding for the conversion charter-school-feeder
86	system, the district's contribution per full-time equivalent
87	(FTE) shall be reduced on a dollar-for-dollar basis to maintain
88	equal funding per FTE throughout the district.
89	5. If the educational facilities benefit district provides
90	capital outlay funding for the conversion charter-school-feeder
91	system, the district's contribution per FTE shall be reduced on
92	a dollar-for-dollar basis to maintain equal funding per FTE
93	throughout the district.
94	6. Notwithstanding s. 1013.355(3)(b), for purposes of
95	participating in the pilot program, an educational facilities
96	benefit district may be created by the county or municipality
97	within whose jurisdiction the educational facilities benefit
98	district is located, pursuant to the adoption of an ordinance
99	establishing the educational facilities benefit district and
100	approval by the electors within the educational facilities
101	benefit district at a general election.
102	(10) ELIGIBLE STUDENTS.--
103	(a) A charter school shall be open to any student covered
104	in an interdistrict agreement or residing in the school district
105	in which the charter school is located; however, in the case of
106	a charter lab school, the charter lab school shall be open to
107	any student eligible to attend the lab school as provided in s.
108	1002.32 or who resides in the school district in which the
109	charter lab school is located. Any eligible student shall be
110	allowed interdistrict transfer to attend a charter school when
111	based on good cause.
112	(b) The charter school shall enroll an eligible student
113	who submits a timely application, unless the number of
114	applications exceeds the capacity of a program, class, grade
115	level, or building. In such case, all applicants shall have an
116	equal chance of being admitted through a random selection
117	process.
118	(c) When a public school converts to charter status, or in
119	schools that are part of a conversion charter-school-feeder
120	system,enrollment preference shall be given to students who
121	would have otherwise attended that public school.
122	(d) A charter school may give enrollment preference to the
123	following student populations:
124	1. Students who are siblings of a student enrolled in the
125	charter school.
126	2. Students who are the children of a member of the
127	governing board of the charter school.
128	3. Students who are the children of an employee of the
129	charter school.
130	(e) A charter school may limit the enrollment process only
131	to target the following student populations:
132	1. Students within specific age groups or grade levels.
133	2. Students considered at risk of dropping out of school
134	or academic failure. Such students shall include exceptional
135	education students.
136	3. Students enrolling in a charter school-in-the-workplace
137	or charter school-in-a-municipality established pursuant to
138	subsection (16).
139	4. Students residing within a reasonable distance of the
140	charter school, as described in paragraph (21)(c). Such students
141	shall be subject to a random lottery and to the racial/ethnic
142	balance provisions described in subparagraph (7)(a)8. or any
143	federal provisions that require a school to achieve a
144	racial/ethnic balance reflective of the community it serves or
145	within the racial/ethnic range of other public schools in the
146	same school district.
147	5. Students who meet reasonable academic, artistic, or
148	other eligibility standards established by the charter school
149	and included in the charter school application and charter or,
150	in the case of existing charter schools, standards that are
151	consistent with the school's mission and purpose. Such standards
152	shall be in accordance with current state law and practice in
153	public schools and may not discriminate against otherwise
154	qualified individuals.
155	6. Students articulating from one charter school to
156	another pursuant to an articulation agreement between the
157	charter schools that has been approved by the sponsor.
158	(f) Students with handicapping conditions and students
159	served in English for Speakers of Other Languages programs shall
160	have an equal opportunity of being selected for enrollment in a
161	charter school.
162	(g) A student may withdraw from a charter school at any
163	time and enroll in another public school as determined by
164	district school board rule.
165	(h) The capacity of the charter school shall be determined
166	annually by the governing board, in conjunction with the
167	sponsor, of the charter school in consideration of the factors
168	identified in this subsection.
169	Section 2. If any law amended by this act was also amended
170	by a law enacted at the 2003 Regular Session of the Legislature
171	or at the 2003 Special Session A of the Legislature, such laws
172	shall be construed as if they had been enacted at the same
173	session of the Legislature, and full effect shall be given to
174	each if possible.
175	Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.