HB 0009C 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	to charter-school-feeder systems; providing a definition;
8	providing participation requirements; providing an appeals
9	process; providing for equitable funding; authorizing
10	creation of an educational facilities benefit district for
11	purposes of participation in the pilot program; providing
12	for construction of the act in pari materia with laws
13	enacted during the 2003 Regular Session, the 2003 Special
14	Session A, or the 2003 Special Session B of the
15	Legislature; 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, as amended by House Bill 55A, 2003 Special
21	Session A, are amended to read:
22	1002.33 Charter schools.--
23	(3) APPLICATION FOR CHARTER STATUS.--
24	(a) An application for a new charter school may be made by
25	an individual, teachers, parents, a group of individuals, a
26	municipality, or a legal entity organized under the laws of this
27	state.
28	(b) An application for a conversion charter school shall
29	be made by the district school board, the principal, teachers,
30	parents, and/or the school advisory council at an existing
31	public school that has been in operation for at least 2 years
32	prior to the application to convert, including a public school-
33	within-a-school that is designated as a school by the district
34	school board, or by an educational facilities benefit district.
35	An application submitted proposing to convert an existing public
36	school to a charter school shall demonstrate the support of at
37	least 50 percent of the teachers employed at the school and 50
38	percent of the parents voting whose children are enrolled at the
39	school, provided that a majority of the parents eligible to vote
40	participate in the ballot process, according to rules adopted by
41	the State Board of Education. A district school board denying an
42	application for a conversion charter school shall provide notice
43	of denial to the applicants in writing within 30 days after the
44	meeting at which the district school board denied the
45	application. The notice must specify the exact reasons for
46	denial and must provide documentation supporting those reasons.
47	A private school, parochial school, or home education program
48	shall not be eligible for charter school status.
49	(c) District school boards in counties with populations in
50	excess of 1.5 million persons, as reported on the most recent
51	United States Census or by the University of Florida Bureau of
52	Business and Economic Research, are authorized to accept
53	applications from educational facilities benefit districts for
54	the purpose of establishing a pilot program in each such county
55	to convert no more than five feeder systems of public schools
56	per county to conversion charter-school-feeder systems.
57	Applications for up to four of the conversion charter-school-
58	feeder systems must be from educational facilities benefit
59	districts located within municipalities with populations in
60	excess of 58,000 persons, as reported on the most recent United
61	States Census or by the University of Florida Bureau of Business
62	and Economic Research. At least one application must be from an
63	educational facilities benefit district located in the
64	unincorporated area of each county. Not more than one
65	educational facilities benefit district within a municipality
66	may be awarded a conversion charter-school-feeder system. In
67	evaluating applications, priority shall be given to applications
68	to convert poorly performing feeder systems in which the high
69	school received a performance grade category "D" or "F," as
70	reported in the most recent annual report of school performance
71	grades pursuant to s. 1008.34, unless no high school within any
72	feeder system in the municipality or unincorporated area
73	received a performance grade category "D" or "F."
74	1. For purposes of this section, a conversion charter-
75	school-feeder system is defined as one high school and the
76	middle schools and elementary schools where more than one-half
77	of the students are zoned to attend that high school and must
78	include at least one high school, one middle school, and one
79	elementary school.
80	2. To participate in the pilot program, all schools
81	included in the conversion charter-school-feeder system must be
82	located within the boundaries of the educational facilities
83	benefit district applying to participate in the conversion pilot
84	program.
85	3. Decisions of the school district regarding the
86	establishment of a conversion charter-school-feeder system may
87	be appealed to the State Board of Education.
88	4. If the educational facilities benefit district provides
89	operational funding for the conversion charter-school-feeder
90	system, the district's contribution per full-time equivalent
91	(FTE) shall be reduced on a dollar-for-dollar basis to maintain
92	equal funding per FTE throughout the district.
93	5. If the educational facilities benefit district provides
94	capital outlay funding for the conversion charter-school-feeder
95	system, the district's contribution per FTE shall be reduced on
96	a dollar-for-dollar basis to maintain equal funding per FTE
97	throughout the district.
98	6. Notwithstanding s. 1013.355(3)(b), for purposes of
99	participating in the pilot program, an educational facilities
100	benefit district may be created by the county or municipality
101	within whose jurisdiction the educational facilities benefit
102	district is located, pursuant to the adoption of an ordinance
103	establishing the educational facilities benefit district and
104	approval by the electors within the educational facilities
105	benefit district at a general election.
106	(10) ELIGIBLE STUDENTS.--
107	(a) A charter school shall be open to any student covered
108	in an interdistrict agreement or residing in the school district
109	in which the charter school is located; however, in the case of
110	a charter lab school, the charter lab school shall be open to
111	any student eligible to attend the lab school as provided in s.
112	1002.32 or who resides in the school district in which the
113	charter lab school is located. Any eligible student shall be
114	allowed interdistrict transfer to attend a charter school when
115	based on good cause.
116	(b) The charter school shall enroll an eligible student
117	who submits a timely application, unless the number of
118	applications exceeds the capacity of a program, class, grade
119	level, or building. In such case, all applicants shall have an
120	equal chance of being admitted through a random selection
121	process.
122	(c) When a public school converts to charter status, or in
123	schools that are part of a conversion charter-school-feeder
124	system,enrollment preference shall be given to students who
125	would have otherwise attended that public school.
126	(d) A charter school may give enrollment preference to the
127	following student populations:
128	1. Students who are siblings of a student enrolled in the
129	charter school.
130	2. Students who are the children of a member of the
131	governing board of the charter school.
132	3. Students who are the children of an employee of the
133	charter school.
134	(e) A charter school may limit the enrollment process only
135	to target the following student populations:
136	1. Students within specific age groups or grade levels.
137	2. Students considered at risk of dropping out of school
138	or academic failure. Such students shall include exceptional
139	education students.
140	3. Students enrolling in a charter school-in-the-workplace
141	or charter school-in-a-municipality established pursuant to
142	subsection (15).
143	4. Students residing within a reasonable distance of the
144	charter school, as described in paragraph (20)(c). Such students
145	shall be subject to a random lottery and to the racial/ethnic
146	balance provisions described in subparagraph (7)(a)8. or any
147	federal provisions that require a school to achieve a
148	racial/ethnic balance reflective of the community it serves or
149	within the racial/ethnic range of other public schools in the
150	same school district.
151	5. Students who meet reasonable academic, artistic, or
152	other eligibility standards established by the charter school
153	and included in the charter school application and charter or,
154	in the case of existing charter schools, standards that are
155	consistent with the school's mission and purpose. Such standards
156	shall be in accordance with current state law and practice in
157	public schools and may not discriminate against otherwise
158	qualified individuals.
159	6. Students articulating from one charter school to
160	another pursuant to an articulation agreement between the
161	charter schools that has been approved by the sponsor.
162	(f) Students with handicapping conditions and students
163	served in English for Speakers of Other Languages programs shall
164	have an equal opportunity of being selected for enrollment in a
165	charter school.
166	(g) A student may withdraw from a charter school at any
167	time and enroll in another public school as determined by
168	district school board rule.
169	(h) The capacity of the charter school shall be determined
170	annually by the governing board, in conjunction with the
171	sponsor, of the charter school in consideration of the factors
172	identified in this subsection.
173	Section 2. If any law amended by this act was also amended
174	by a law enacted at the 2003 Regular Session, the 2003 Special
175	Session A, or the 2003 Special Session B of the Legislature,
176	such laws shall be construed as if they had been enacted at the
177	same session of the Legislature, and full effect shall be given
178	to each if possible.
179	Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.