| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to supplemental educational services; |
| 3 | providing requirements with respect to the awarding of |
| 4 | incentives; authorizing incentives for student performance |
| 5 | or attendance and establishing limits; establishing |
| 6 | responsibilities of school districts and supplemental |
| 7 | educational services providers; providing requirements for |
| 8 | school district and provider compliance; providing |
| 9 | penalties for noncompliance; authorizing application for |
| 10 | reallocation of funds and providing for appeal; |
| 11 | authorizing adoption of rules and providing for |
| 12 | enforcement; requiring the Department of Education to |
| 13 | establish a committee of practitioners; providing for |
| 14 | appointment and authority; providing an effective date. |
| 15 |
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| 16 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 17 |
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| 18 | Section 1. Supplemental educational services in Title I |
| 19 | schools; school district and provider responsibilities.-- |
| 20 | (1) INCENTIVES.--A provider or school district may not |
| 21 | provide incentives to entice a student or a student's parent to |
| 22 | choose a provider. After a provider has been chosen, the student |
| 23 | may be awarded incentives for performance or attendance, the |
| 24 | total value of which may not exceed $50 per student per year. |
| 25 | (2) RESPONSIBILITIES OF SCHOOL DISTRICT AND PROVIDER.-- |
| 26 | (a) School districts must create a streamlined parent |
| 27 | enrollment and provider selection process for supplemental |
| 28 | educational services and ensure that the process enables |
| 29 | eligible students to begin receiving supplemental educational |
| 30 | services no later than October 15 of each school year. |
| 31 | (b) Supplemental educational services enrollment forms |
| 32 | must be made freely available to the parents of eligible |
| 33 | students and providers both prior to and after the start of the |
| 34 | school year. |
| 35 | (c) School districts must provide notification to parents |
| 36 | of students eligible to receive supplemental educational |
| 37 | services prior to and after the start of the school year. |
| 38 | Notification shall include contact information for state- |
| 39 | approved providers as well as the enrollment form, clear |
| 40 | instructions, and timeline for the selection of providers and |
| 41 | commencement of services. |
| 42 | (d) State-approved supplemental educational services |
| 43 | providers must be able to provide services to eligible students |
| 44 | no later than October 15 of each school year contingent upon |
| 45 | their receipt of their district-approved student enrollment |
| 46 | lists at least 20 days prior to the start date. |
| 47 | (e) In the event that the contract with a state-approved |
| 48 | provider is signed less than 20 days prior to October 15, the |
| 49 | provider shall be afforded no less than 20 days from the date |
| 50 | the contract was executed to begin delivering services. |
| 51 | (f) Each provider shall create a specific learning plan |
| 52 | for each student that shall be approved by the student's |
| 53 | parents. The development of this learning plan shall occur after |
| 54 | the tutoring program has begun and after the provider's |
| 55 | assessment of the student's academic needs. |
| 56 | (g) A school district must hold open student enrollment |
| 57 | for supplemental educational services unless or until it has |
| 58 | obtained a written election to receive or reject services from |
| 59 | parents in accordance with paragraph (3)(a). |
| 60 | (h) School districts, using the same policies applied to |
| 61 | other organizations that have access to school sites, shall |
| 62 | provide access to school facilities to providers that wish to |
| 63 | use these sites for supplemental educational services. |
| 64 | (3) COMPLIANCE; PENALTIES FOR NONCOMPLIANCE.-- |
| 65 | (a) Compliance is met when the school district has |
| 66 | obtained a written election to receive or reject services from |
| 67 | the parents of at least 80 percent of the students receiving |
| 68 | free or reduced-price lunch in Title I schools that are eligible |
| 69 | for parental choice of transportation or supplemental |
| 70 | educational services unless a waiver is granted by the State |
| 71 | Board of Education. Standard of compliance shall be known as the |
| 72 | Suwannee/Jefferson factor. A waiver shall only be granted if |
| 73 | there is clear and convincing evidence of the district's efforts |
| 74 | to secure parents' written election. Requirements for parental |
| 75 | election to receive supplemental educational services shall not |
| 76 | exceed the election requirements for the free and reduced-price |
| 77 | lunch program. |
| 78 | (b) A provider must be able to deliver supplemental |
| 79 | educational services to school districts in which the provider |
| 80 | is approved by the state. If a state-approved provider withdraws |
| 81 | from offering services to students in a school district in which |
| 82 | it is approved and in which it has signed either a contract to |
| 83 | provide services or a letter of intent and the minimums per site |
| 84 | set by the provider have been met, the school district must |
| 85 | report the provider to the department. The provider shall be |
| 86 | immediately removed from the state-approved list for the current |
| 87 | school year for that school district. Upon the second such |
| 88 | withdrawal in any school district, the provider shall be |
| 89 | ineligible to provide services in the state the following year. |
| 90 | (4) REALLOCATION OF FUNDS.--If a school district has not |
| 91 | spent the required supplemental educational services set-aside |
| 92 | funding, the district may apply to the Department of Education |
| 93 | after January 1 for authorization to reallocate the funds. If |
| 94 | the Commissioner of Education does not approve the reallocation |
| 95 | of funds, the district may appeal to the State Board of |
| 96 | Education. The State Board of Education must consider the appeal |
| 97 | within 60 days of its receipt and the decision of the state |
| 98 | board shall be final. |
| 99 | (5) RULES.--The State Board of Education may adopt rules |
| 100 | pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54, Florida Statutes, to |
| 101 | implement the provisions of this section and may enforce the |
| 102 | provisions of this section pursuant to s. 1008.32, Florida |
| 103 | Statutes. |
| 104 | Section 2. The Department of Education shall establish a |
| 105 | committee of practitioners pursuant to federal requirements of |
| 106 | the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The committee members |
| 107 | shall be appointed by the Commissioner of Education and shall |
| 108 | annually report to the Governor, the President of Senate, and |
| 109 | the Speaker of the House of Representatives by January 1. The |
| 110 | committee shall meet regularly and is authorized to review |
| 111 | potential rules and policies that will be considered by the |
| 112 | State Board of Education. |
| 113 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2006. |