| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to service learning in the public school |
| 3 | system; creating s. 1003.497, F.S.; providing legislative |
| 4 | intent; defining service learning and its components; |
| 5 | requiring each school district to adopt a plan to provide |
| 6 | multiple service learning opportunities for students; |
| 7 | providing requirements for service learning plans and |
| 8 | projects; providing for Department of Education |
| 9 | administration, plan approval, technical assistance, and |
| 10 | reporting; providing for grants to school districts and |
| 11 | disbursement thereof; authorizing credit toward high |
| 12 | school graduation and scholarship community service |
| 13 | requirements; providing for phased-in implementation; |
| 14 | authorizing rules; providing an appropriation; providing |
| 15 | an effective date. |
| 16 |
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| 17 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 18 |
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| 19 | Section 1. Section 1003.497, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 20 | to read: |
| 21 | 1003.497 Service learning.-- |
| 22 | (1) SHORT TITLE.--This section may be cited as the |
| 23 | "Florida Service Learning Act of 2007." |
| 24 | (2) INTENT.--It is the intent of the Legislature to: |
| 25 | (a) Promote and support policies and activities at the |
| 26 | school district level that help students gain the knowledge, |
| 27 | skills, behaviors, and habits of citizenship in school to allow |
| 28 | them to be productive and contributing citizens. |
| 29 | (b) Emphasize increasing rigor, relevance, and |
| 30 | relationships in K-12 education. |
| 31 | (c) Continue public schools' historic tradition of |
| 32 | teaching citizenship, values, and character education to |
| 33 | students. |
| 34 | (d) Promote effective education strategies that provide |
| 35 | students with hands-on opportunities to apply and practice |
| 36 | skills and behaviors that the students need to learn. When |
| 37 | students use these hands-on strategies to actually help others |
| 38 | and meet real community needs, learning has enhanced rigor, |
| 39 | relevance, and relationship-building potential for students. |
| 40 | (3) SERVICE LEARNING.-- |
| 41 | (a) Service learning is a teaching and learning strategy |
| 42 | in which students, as a formal part of one or more courses, |
| 43 | learn about community needs and then help design and conduct |
| 44 | service activities to address those needs. The service is both a |
| 45 | means and an application of learning. |
| 46 | (b) "Service learning" means a method under which students |
| 47 | learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully |
| 48 | organized service that is conducted in and meets the needs of a |
| 49 | community; that is coordinated with an elementary school, middle |
| 50 | school, secondary school, or institution of higher education and |
| 51 | the community; that helps foster civic responsibility; and that |
| 52 | is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the |
| 53 | students and provides structured time for the students or |
| 54 | participants to reflect on the service experience. |
| 55 | (c) Effective service learning projects include |
| 56 | assignments in which students prepare for service through data |
| 57 | gathering, research, and project design; conduct service |
| 58 | activities based on the students' preparation; demonstrate |
| 59 | learning in ways that can be assessed by teachers; reflect on |
| 60 | their projects and activities and the impact the projects and |
| 61 | activities have; and are recognized for their efforts. |
| 62 | (d) Service learning activities may be: |
| 63 | 1. Direct activities, including, but not limited to, |
| 64 | tutoring, working with elders, or providing translations for new |
| 65 | immigrants. |
| 66 | 2. Indirect activities, including, but not limited to, |
| 67 | publishing a town history, environmental activities, or creating |
| 68 | a new student guide for a school. |
| 69 | 3. Advocacy activities, including, but not limited to, |
| 70 | performing plays on drug prevention, teaching bicycle safety, or |
| 71 | giving lessons on healthy eating habits. |
| 72 | 4. Research activities, including, but not limited to, |
| 73 | conducting a school energy audit, testing local water, or |
| 74 | performing flora or fauna studies. |
| 75 | 5. A combination of activities listed in subparagraphs 1.- |
| 76 | 4. |
| 77 | (e) Research indicates that well-designed projects |
| 78 | positively impact participating students in four domains: |
| 79 | academic, social, civic, and career preparation. Research also |
| 80 | shows that students who participate in service learning projects |
| 81 | have a stronger sense of personal efficacy and are much more |
| 82 | likely to volunteer and be actively engaged in their communities |
| 83 | than students who do not serve. |
| 84 | (4) OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS TO ENGAGE IN SERVICE |
| 85 | LEARNING.-- |
| 86 | (a) Each school district must develop and adopt an |
| 87 | approved plan to provide multiple opportunities for all students |
| 88 | to engage in quality curriculum-based and course-based service |
| 89 | learning. |
| 90 | (b) District plans shall include one or more service |
| 91 | learning opportunities in elementary school, one or more service |
| 92 | learning opportunities in middle school, and three or more |
| 93 | service learning opportunities in high school, for a total of at |
| 94 | least five service learning opportunities in K-12. |
| 95 | (c) Each service learning project must be of sufficient |
| 96 | depth and duration to include the components of service learning |
| 97 | described in paragraphs (3)(b)-(d) and include an average of at |
| 98 | least 20 hours per project per student. Each district plan, |
| 99 | therefore, must provide at least 100 total hours of service |
| 100 | learning for students in K-12. Time spent by students on the |
| 101 | elements of service learning preparation, action, demonstration, |
| 102 | and reflection may be counted as service learning hours. Time |
| 103 | spent by students on service learning recognition may not be |
| 104 | counted as service learning hours. |
| 105 | (d) The teacher of a relevant course shall verify the |
| 106 | accumulation of hours, which may occur in or out of the |
| 107 | classroom and during or outside of school hours. A student who |
| 108 | satisfactorily completes a relevant course shall automatically |
| 109 | receive credit for the service learning hours in the course. |
| 110 | (e) Because of student mobility, potential failure by a |
| 111 | student to complete a course, scheduling conflicts, and other |
| 112 | factors, students are not required to complete 100 hours of |
| 113 | course-based service learning in order to graduate from high |
| 114 | school. Each district must, however, provide opportunities for |
| 115 | all of its students to engage in at least five service learning |
| 116 | projects in K-12 and record those hours. |
| 117 | (f) Each district may develop its own plan to address the |
| 118 | requirements of this section. Districts may: |
| 119 | 1. Integrate service learning into required courses or |
| 120 | subjects that all students must take in a given grade; |
| 121 | 2. Encourage individual teachers to integrate service |
| 122 | learning into coursework until all students have the requisite |
| 123 | service learning opportunities at a school; |
| 124 | 3. Provide opportunities for older students to tutor |
| 125 | younger students during or after school provided that the older |
| 126 | students receive course credit for tutoring; |
| 127 | 4. Facilitate participation of large numbers of students |
| 128 | in service learning events during or outside of school, such as |
| 129 | the National & Global Youth Service Day or the Dr. Martin Luther |
| 130 | King, Jr., National Holiday Day of Service; |
| 131 | 5. Count individual service learning activities if they |
| 132 | are tied to a required or elective credit course and include the |
| 133 | components of service learning described in paragraphs (3)(b)- |
| 134 | (d); |
| 135 | 6. Develop "cascading" service learning projects in which |
| 136 | older students conduct joint service learning activities with |
| 137 | younger students within the school's feeder pattern; or |
| 138 | 7. Develop some combination of the activities listed in |
| 139 | this paragraph or offer other activities as part of its adopted |
| 140 | plan. |
| 141 | (5) DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION; ADMINISTRATION; PLAN |
| 142 | APPROVAL; FUNDING.-- |
| 143 | (a) The Department of Education shall administer and |
| 144 | oversee implementation of this section and district adherence to |
| 145 | its requirements. |
| 146 | (b) Each district must submit to the department for |
| 147 | approval a plan for implementing the requirements of this |
| 148 | section. The plan shall strive to ensure that the district's |
| 149 | service learning projects do not duplicate services offered by |
| 150 | other entities or school programs. Existing district consortia |
| 151 | may submit consortia plans in lieu of individual district plans. |
| 152 | (c) Funds shall be appropriated by the Legislature to |
| 153 | provide seed and implementation grants to districts or district |
| 154 | consortia; to support district and school-level coordination, |
| 155 | training, development, and dissemination of resource materials; |
| 156 | to provide incentives for special and unique district |
| 157 | initiatives; and to support state-level coordination. A school |
| 158 | district may receive other public and private funds for the |
| 159 | support of its program or any component thereof. |
| 160 | (d) A portion of grant funds shall be disbursed to: |
| 161 | 1. Districts on a formula basis to ensure that all |
| 162 | districts receive resources. |
| 163 | 2. Districts on a competitive basis to support innovative |
| 164 | ideas and development and dissemination of model and pilot |
| 165 | programs. |
| 166 | 3. Institutions of higher education on a competitive basis |
| 167 | to support the participation of teacher education students in K- |
| 168 | 12 service learning projects and to provide teacher education |
| 169 | students the training and experiences to use service learning as |
| 170 | an instructional strategy when they become teachers. |
| 171 | (e) The department shall provide technical assistance to |
| 172 | districts in implementing this section. |
| 173 | (f) The department shall review, negotiate, approve, and |
| 174 | monitor district implementation plans and report annually to the |
| 175 | President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of |
| 176 | Representatives on the progress of implementation of the plans. |
| 177 | (6) CREDIT TOWARD COMMUNITY SERVICE REQUIREMENTS.--The |
| 178 | hours that high school students devote to course-based service |
| 179 | learning projects address community needs and provide for the |
| 180 | development of students as effectively as those in standard |
| 181 | community service projects. Therefore, service learning hours |
| 182 | are eligible to be counted toward district community-service- |
| 183 | hour high school graduation requirements and community-service- |
| 184 | hour requirements of the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship |
| 185 | Program. |
| 186 | (7) PHASED-IN IMPLEMENTATION.-- |
| 187 | (a) It is anticipated that 10 to 20 districts will submit |
| 188 | plans each year during the 2007-2008 through 2010-2011 school |
| 189 | years. A district may submit a plan and be approved to begin |
| 190 | implementation by the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year. |
| 191 | Incentives shall be provided to districts that submit plans that |
| 192 | include creation of curricula, lesson plans, and other resources |
| 193 | that may be disseminated to help other districts adopt or adapt |
| 194 | similar strategies. |
| 195 | (b) All districts must submit and have an approved plan by |
| 196 | the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year. |
| 197 | (8) RULES.--The Department of Education may adopt rules |
| 198 | pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54 to implement the |
| 199 | provisions of this section. |
| 200 | Section 2. There is appropriated from the General Revenue |
| 201 | Fund to the Department of Education for fiscal year 2007-2008 |
| 202 | the sum of $2 million to implement the provisions of s. |
| 203 | 1003.497, Florida Statutes, as created by this act. |
| 204 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007. |