| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to public school assessment and |
| 3 | accountability; creating s. 1008.365, F.S.; creating the |
| 4 | Total Local Control and Accountability Pilot Project; |
| 5 | providing for exemption from certain statutes and |
| 6 | requiring development and implementation of local |
| 7 | assessment and accountability programs; providing for |
| 8 | Department of Education selection and State Board of |
| 9 | Education approval of school district participants; |
| 10 | requiring reporting; providing an effective date. |
| 11 |
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| 12 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 13 |
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| 14 | Section 1. Section 1008.365, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 15 | to read: |
| 16 | 1008.365 Total Local Control and Accountability Pilot |
| 17 | Project.-- |
| 18 | (1) The Legislature recognizes that assessment and |
| 19 | accountability measures to improve school and student |
| 20 | performance may be better addressed at the local level by school |
| 21 | districts than at the state level. With this in mind, there is |
| 22 | created the Total Local Control and Accountability Pilot Project |
| 23 | to allow up to three school districts to be exempt from many of |
| 24 | the assessment and accountability provisions of this chapter. |
| 25 | Specifically, school districts selected for the pilot project |
| 26 | shall be exempt from ss. 1008.22, 1008.25, 1008.31, 1008.32, |
| 27 | 1008.33, 1008.34, 1008.341, 1008.345, and 1008.36. In exchange, |
| 28 | each selected school district shall be responsible for |
| 29 | developing and implementing its own assessment and |
| 30 | accountability program to improve school and student performance |
| 31 | and provide a means by which to measure improvement. |
| 32 | (2) School districts shall volunteer to participate in the |
| 33 | pilot project by submitting to the Department of Education a |
| 34 | local assessment and accountability program proposal. The |
| 35 | department shall select, and submit to the State Board of |
| 36 | Education for approval, up to three school districts for |
| 37 | participation in the pilot project: one in a county with a |
| 38 | population of 1 million or more residents; one in a county with |
| 39 | a population of 250,000 to 999,999 residents; and one in a |
| 40 | county with a population of under 250,000 residents. School |
| 41 | districts selected for the pilot project must represent |
| 42 | different geographic regions of the state: north, central, and |
| 43 | south. The state board may not deny approval of a local |
| 44 | assessment and accountability program proposal unless it finds |
| 45 | that the local assessment and accountability program is likely |
| 46 | to result in a decrease in school and student performance as |
| 47 | measured under the current state assessment and accountability |
| 48 | system under this chapter. |
| 49 | (3) The pilot project shall commence at the beginning of |
| 50 | the 2007-2008 school year and conclude at the end of the 2009- |
| 51 | 2010 school year. |
| 52 | (4) Each school district participating in the pilot |
| 53 | project shall submit an annual report on the progress and |
| 54 | results of its local assessment and accountability program to |
| 55 | the Governor, the State Board of Education, the President of the |
| 56 | Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives by June |
| 57 | 1 of each year it participates in the pilot project. |
| 58 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007. |