Senate Bill sb0176

    Florida Senate - 2005                                   SB 176

    By Senator Lynn





    7-175-05

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to the Florida School

  3         Recognition Program; amending s. 1008.36, F.S.;

  4         revising the requirements for uses of funds

  5         awarded under the program; providing that all

  6         such awards must be used for bonuses to the

  7         faculty and staff of selected schools;

  8         requiring that the awards be counted in

  9         calculating retirement benefits; providing an

10         effective date.

11  

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

13  

14         Section 1.  Section 1008.36, Florida Statutes, is

15  amended to read:

16         1008.36  Florida School Recognition Program.--

17         (1)  The Legislature finds that there is a need for a

18  performance incentive program for outstanding faculty and

19  staff in highly productive schools. The Legislature further

20  finds that performance-based incentives are commonplace in the

21  private sector and should be infused into the public sector as

22  a reward for productivity.

23         (2)  The Florida School Recognition Program is created

24  to provide financial awards to public schools that:

25         (a)  Sustain high performance by receiving a school

26  grade of "A," making excellent progress; or

27         (b)  Demonstrate exemplary improvement due to

28  innovation and effort by improving a letter grade.

29         (3)  All public schools, including charter schools,

30  that receive a school grade pursuant to s. 1008.34 are

31  eligible to participate in the program.

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    Florida Senate - 2005                                   SB 176
    7-175-05




 1         (4)  All selected schools shall receive financial

 2  awards depending on the availability of funds appropriated and

 3  the number and size of schools selected to receive an award.

 4  Funds must be distributed to the school's fiscal agent and

 5  placed in the school's account and must be used for purposes

 6  listed in subsection (5) as determined jointly by the school's

 7  staff and school advisory council. If school staff and the

 8  school advisory council cannot reach agreement by November 1,

 9  the awards must be equally distributed to all classroom

10  teachers currently teaching in the school.

11         (5)  School recognition awards must be used for the

12  following:

13         (a)  Nonrecurring bonuses to the faculty and staff.

14  Such bonuses must be included in computing retirement

15  benefits.;

16         (b)  Nonrecurring expenditures for educational

17  equipment or materials to assist in maintaining and improving

18  student performance; or

19         (c)  Temporary personnel for the school to assist in

20  maintaining and improving student performance.

21  

22  Notwithstanding statutory provisions to the contrary,

23  incentive awards are not subject to collective bargaining.

24         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2005.

25  

26            *****************************************

27                          SENATE SUMMARY

28    Requires that funds awarded to schools selected under the
      Florida School Recognition Program be used to provide
29    bonuses to faculty and staff of those schools. Provides
      that the awards must be counted in calculating retirement
30    benefits.

31  

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.