| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to the Florida Virtual School; amending s. |
| 3 | 1002.37, F.S.; establishing the Students Earning |
| 4 | Additional Recovery Credits and Honors (SEARCH) Program to |
| 5 | provide opportunities for students to recover credits |
| 6 | needed for graduation or to earn honors course credit or |
| 7 | other course credit; providing for payment for additional |
| 8 | full-time equivalent student credit to the extent funded |
| 9 | in the General Appropriations Act; providing eligibility |
| 10 | requirements for participation by a school district |
| 11 | operating a virtual school that is an approved franchise |
| 12 | of the Florida Virtual School; providing for use of funds; |
| 13 | providing a limitation on school district funding; |
| 14 | 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. Subsections (5), (6), and (7) of section |
| 19 | 1002.37, Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (6), |
| 20 | (7), and (8), respectively, and a new subsection (5) is added to |
| 21 | that section to read: |
| 22 | 1002.37 The Florida Virtual School.-- |
| 23 | (5)(a) There is established the Students Earning |
| 24 | Additional Recovery Credits and Honors (SEARCH) Program to |
| 25 | provide additional opportunities for students to recover credits |
| 26 | needed for graduation or to earn honors course credit or other |
| 27 | course credit. |
| 28 | (b) To the extent funded in the General Appropriations |
| 29 | Act, the SEARCH Program shall pay for full-time equivalent |
| 30 | student credit in addition to credit funded by the Florida |
| 31 | Education Finance Program under subsections (3) and (4). |
| 32 | (c) School districts operating a virtual school that is an |
| 33 | approved franchise of the Florida Virtual School as described in |
| 34 | subsection (4) and that operated the franchise for the 2004-2005 |
| 35 | and 2005-2006 fiscal years shall be eligible in the 2006-2007 |
| 36 | fiscal year and thereafter to participate in the SEARCH Program. |
| 37 | (d) SEARCH Program funds earned by students enrolled in |
| 38 | Florida Virtual School franchises as described in subsection (4) |
| 39 | may only be used to pay for credits earned in excess of the 25 |
| 40 | hours per week funded by the Florida Education Finance Program |
| 41 | to: |
| 42 | 1. Replace credits needed for graduation; |
| 43 | 2. Earn credits in an honors level course or other course |
| 44 | that would not be otherwise available to the student; |
| 45 | 3. Serve students scoring at Level 1 or Level 2 on any |
| 46 | subject tested on the FCAT; |
| 47 | 4. Serve homebound students; or |
| 48 | 5. Serve students currently assigned to a Department of |
| 49 | Juvenile Justice facility. |
| 50 | (e) A student may not earn funding for more than two |
| 51 | credits in the SEARCH Program. |
| 52 | (f) A school district's portion of the SEARCH Program |
| 53 | funds may not exceed the district's portion of the total |
| 54 | unweighted full-time equivalent students enrolled in grades 9 |
| 55 | through 12 in the participating school districts. |
| 56 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2006. |