| 1 | The Education Council recommends the following: |
| 2 |
|
| 3 | Council/Committee Substitute |
| 4 | Remove the entire bill and insert: |
| 5 | A bill to be entitled |
| 6 | An act relating to supplemental educational services; |
| 7 | requiring the Department of Education to establish a |
| 8 | committee of practitioners; providing for appointments and |
| 9 | authority; authorizing incentives for student performance |
| 10 | or attendance and establishing limits; establishing |
| 11 | responsibilities of school districts and providers; |
| 12 | providing requirements for school district and provider |
| 13 | compliance; providing penalties for noncompliance; |
| 14 | authorizing application for reallocation of funds and |
| 15 | providing for appeal; authorizing adoption of rules and |
| 16 | providing for enforcement; providing an effective date. |
| 17 |
|
| 18 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 19 |
|
| 20 | Section 1. Supplemental educational services in Title I |
| 21 | schools; school district and provider responsibilities.-- |
| 22 | (1) COMMITTEE OF PRACTITIONERS.--The Department of |
| 23 | Education shall establish a committee of practitioners pursuant |
| 24 | to federal requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. |
| 25 | The committee members shall be appointed by the Commissioner of |
| 26 | Education and shall annually report to the Governor, the |
| 27 | President of Senate, and the Speaker of the House of |
| 28 | Representatives by January 1. The committee is authorized to |
| 29 | review potential rules that will be considered by the State |
| 30 | Board of Education. |
| 31 | (2) INCENTIVES.--A provider or school district may not |
| 32 | provide incentives to entice a student or a student's parent to |
| 33 | choose a provider. After a provider has been chosen, the student |
| 34 | may be awarded incentives for performance or attendance, the |
| 35 | total value of which may not exceed $50. |
| 36 | (3) RESPONSIBILITIES OF SCHOOL DISTRICT AND PROVIDER.-- |
| 37 | (a) School districts must establish processes for eligible |
| 38 | students to begin receiving supplemental educational services no |
| 39 | later than October 15 of each school year. |
| 40 | (b) State-approved supplemental educational services |
| 41 | providers must be able to provide services to eligible students |
| 42 | no later than October 15 of each school year. |
| 43 | (c) School districts, using the same policies applied to |
| 44 | other organizations that have access to school sites, shall |
| 45 | provide access to school facilities to providers that wish to |
| 46 | use these sites for supplemental educational services. |
| 47 | (4) COMPLIANCE; PENALTIES FOR NONCOMPLIANCE.-- |
| 48 | (a) Compliance is met when the school district has |
| 49 | obtained a written election to receive or reject services from |
| 50 | the parents of at least 80 percent of the students receiving |
| 51 | free or reduced-price lunch in Title I schools that are eligible |
| 52 | for parental choice of transportation or supplemental |
| 53 | educational services unless a waiver is granted by the State |
| 54 | Board of Education. A waiver shall only be granted if there is |
| 55 | clear and convincing evidence of the district's efforts to |
| 56 | secure parents' written election. Requirements for parental |
| 57 | election to receive supplemental educational services shall not |
| 58 | exceed the election requirements for the free and reduced-price |
| 59 | lunch program. |
| 60 | (b) A provider must be able to deliver supplemental |
| 61 | educational services to school districts in which the provider |
| 62 | is approved by the state. If a state-approved provider withdraws |
| 63 | from offering services to students in a school district in which |
| 64 | it is approved and in which it has signed either a contract to |
| 65 | provide services or a letter of intent and the minimums per site |
| 66 | set by the provider have been met, the school district must |
| 67 | report the provider to the department. The provider shall be |
| 68 | immediately removed from the state-approved list for the current |
| 69 | school year for that school district. Upon the second such |
| 70 | withdrawal in any school district, the provider shall be |
| 71 | ineligible to provide services in the state the following year. |
| 72 | (5) REALLOCATION OF FUNDS.--If a school district has not |
| 73 | spent the required supplemental educational services set-aside |
| 74 | funding, the district may apply to the Department of Education |
| 75 | after January 1 for authorization to reallocate the funds. If |
| 76 | the Commissioner of Education does not approve the reallocation |
| 77 | of funds, the district may appeal to the State Board of |
| 78 | Education. The State Board of Education must consider the appeal |
| 79 | within 60 days of its receipt and the decision of the state |
| 80 | board shall be final. |
| 81 | (6) RULES.--The State Board of Education may adopt rules |
| 82 | pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54, Florida Statutes, to |
| 83 | implement the provisions of this section and may enforce the |
| 84 | provisions of this section pursuant to s. 1008.32, Florida |
| 85 | Statutes. |
| 86 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2006. |