Senate Bill sb2642
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Florida Senate - 2007 SB 2642
By Senator Justice
16-1781A-07 See HB 1253
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to service learning in the
3 public school system; creating s. 1003.497,
4 F.S.; providing legislative intent; defining
5 service learning and its components; requiring
6 each school district to adopt a plan to provide
7 multiple service learning opportunities for
8 students; providing requirements for service
9 learning plans and projects; providing for
10 Department of Education administration, plan
11 approval, technical assistance, and reporting;
12 providing for grants to school districts and
13 disbursement thereof; authorizing credit toward
14 high school graduation and scholarship
15 community service requirements; providing for
16 phased-in implementation; authorizing rules;
17 providing an appropriation; providing an
18 effective date.
19
20 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
21
22 Section 1. Section 1003.497, Florida Statutes, is
23 created to read:
24 1003.497 Service learning.--
25 (1) SHORT TITLE.--This section may be cited as the
26 "Florida Service Learning Act of 2007."
27 (2) INTENT.--It is the intent of the Legislature to:
28 (a) Promote and support policies and activities at the
29 school district level that help students gain the knowledge,
30 skills, behaviors, and habits of citizenship in school to
31 allow them to be productive and contributing citizens.
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Florida Senate - 2007 SB 2642
16-1781A-07 See HB 1253
1 (b) Emphasize increasing rigor, relevance, and
2 relationships in K-12 education.
3 (c) Continue public schools' historic tradition of
4 teaching citizenship, values, and character education to
5 students.
6 (d) Promote effective education strategies that
7 provide students with hands-on opportunities to apply and
8 practice skills and behaviors that the students need to learn.
9 When students use these hands-on strategies to actually help
10 others and meet real community needs, learning has enhanced
11 rigor, relevance, and relationship-building potential for
12 students.
13 (3) SERVICE LEARNING.--
14 (a) Service learning is a teaching and learning
15 strategy in which students, as a formal part of one or more
16 courses, learn about community needs and then help design and
17 conduct service activities to address those needs. The service
18 is both a means and an application of learning.
19 (b) "Service learning" means a method under which
20 students learn and develop through active participation in
21 thoughtfully organized service that is conducted in and meets
22 the needs of a community; that is coordinated with an
23 elementary school, middle school, secondary school, or
24 institution of higher education and the community; that helps
25 foster civic responsibility; and that is integrated into and
26 enhances the academic curriculum of the students and provides
27 structured time for the students or participants to reflect on
28 the service experience.
29 (c) Effective service learning projects include
30 assignments in which students prepare for service through data
31 gathering, research, and project design; conduct service
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Florida Senate - 2007 SB 2642
16-1781A-07 See HB 1253
1 activities based on the students' preparation; demonstrate
2 learning in ways that can be assessed by teachers; reflect on
3 their projects and activities and the impact the projects and
4 activities have; and are recognized for their efforts.
5 (d) Service learning activities may be:
6 1. Direct activities, including, but not limited to,
7 tutoring, working with elders, or providing translations for
8 new immigrants.
9 2. Indirect activities, including, but not limited to,
10 publishing a town history, environmental activities, or
11 creating a new student guide for a school.
12 3. Advocacy activities, including, but not limited to,
13 performing plays on drug prevention, teaching bicycle safety,
14 or giving lessons on healthy eating habits.
15 4. Research activities, including, but not limited to,
16 conducting a school energy audit, testing local water, or
17 performing flora or fauna studies.
18 5. A combination of activities listed in subparagraphs
19 1.-4.
20 (e) Research indicates that well-designed projects
21 positively impact participating students in four domains:
22 academic, social, civic, and career preparation. Research also
23 shows that students who participate in service learning
24 projects have a stronger sense of personal efficacy and are
25 much more likely to volunteer and be actively engaged in their
26 communities than students who do not serve.
27 (4) OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS TO ENGAGE IN SERVICE
28 LEARNING.--
29 (a) Each school district must develop and adopt an
30 approved plan to provide multiple opportunities for all
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Florida Senate - 2007 SB 2642
16-1781A-07 See HB 1253
1 students to engage in quality curriculum-based and
2 course-based service learning.
3 (b) District plans shall include one or more service
4 learning opportunities in elementary school, one or more
5 service learning opportunities in middle school, and three or
6 more service learning opportunities in high school, for a
7 total of at least five service learning opportunities in K-12.
8 (c) Each service learning project must be of
9 sufficient depth and duration to include the components of
10 service learning described in paragraphs (3)(b)-(d) and
11 include an average of at least 20 hours per project per
12 student. Each district plan, therefore, must provide at least
13 100 total hours of service learning for students in K-12. Time
14 spent by students on the elements of service learning
15 preparation, action, demonstration, and reflection may be
16 counted as service learning hours. Time spent by students on
17 service learning recognition may not be counted as service
18 learning hours.
19 (d) The teacher of a relevant course shall verify the
20 accumulation of hours, which may occur in or out of the
21 classroom and during or outside of school hours. A student who
22 satisfactorily completes a relevant course shall automatically
23 receive credit for the service learning hours in the course.
24 (e) Because of student mobility, potential failure by
25 a student to complete a course, scheduling conflicts, and
26 other factors, students are not required to complete 100 hours
27 of course-based service learning in order to graduate from
28 high school. Each district must, however, provide
29 opportunities for all of its students to engage in at least
30 five service learning projects in K-12 and record those hours.
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Florida Senate - 2007 SB 2642
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1 (f) Each district may develop its own plan to address
2 the requirements of this section. Districts may:
3 1. Integrate service learning into required courses or
4 subjects that all students must take in a given grade;
5 2. Encourage individual teachers to integrate service
6 learning into coursework until all students have the requisite
7 service learning opportunities at a school;
8 3. Provide opportunities for older students to tutor
9 younger students during or after school provided that the
10 older students receive course credit for tutoring;
11 4. Facilitate participation of large numbers of
12 students in service learning events during or outside of
13 school, such as the National & Global Youth Service Day or the
14 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., National Holiday Day of Service;
15 5. Count individual service learning activities if
16 they are tied to a required or elective credit course and
17 include the components of service learning described in
18 paragraphs (3)(b)-(d);
19 6. Develop "cascading" service learning projects in
20 which older students conduct joint service learning activities
21 with younger students within the school's feeder pattern; or
22 7. Develop some combination of the activities listed
23 in this paragraph or offer other activities as part of its
24 adopted plan.
25 (5) DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION; ADMINISTRATION; PLAN
26 APPROVAL; FUNDING.--
27 (a) The Department of Education shall administer and
28 oversee implementation of this section and district adherence
29 to its requirements.
30 (b) Each district must submit to the department for
31 approval a plan for implementing the requirements of this
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Florida Senate - 2007 SB 2642
16-1781A-07 See HB 1253
1 section. The plan shall strive to ensure that the district's
2 service learning projects do not duplicate services offered by
3 other entities or school programs. Existing district consortia
4 may submit consortia plans in lieu of individual district
5 plans.
6 (c) Funds shall be appropriated by the Legislature to
7 provide seed and implementation grants to districts or
8 district consortia; to support district and school-level
9 coordination, training, development, and dissemination of
10 resource materials; to provide incentives for special and
11 unique district initiatives; and to support state-level
12 coordination. A school district may receive other public and
13 private funds for the support of its program or any component
14 thereof.
15 (d) A portion of grant funds shall be disbursed to:
16 1. Districts on a formula basis to ensure that all
17 districts receive resources.
18 2. Districts on a competitive basis to support
19 innovative ideas and development and dissemination of model
20 and pilot programs.
21 3. Institutions of higher education on a competitive
22 basis to support the participation of teacher education
23 students in K-12 service learning projects and to provide
24 teacher education students the training and experiences to use
25 service learning as an instructional strategy when they become
26 teachers.
27 (e) The department shall provide technical assistance
28 to districts in implementing this section.
29 (f) The department shall review, negotiate, approve,
30 and monitor district implementation plans and report annually
31 to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
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Florida Senate - 2007 SB 2642
16-1781A-07 See HB 1253
1 Representatives on the progress of implementation of the
2 plans.
3 (6) CREDIT TOWARD COMMUNITY SERVICE REQUIREMENTS.--The
4 hours that high school students devote to course-based service
5 learning projects address community needs and provide for the
6 development of students as effectively as those in standard
7 community service projects. Therefore, service learning hours
8 are eligible to be counted toward district
9 community-service-hour high school graduation requirements and
10 community-service-hour requirements of the Florida Bright
11 Futures Scholarship Program.
12 (7) PHASED-IN IMPLEMENTATION.--
13 (a) It is anticipated that 10 to 20 districts will
14 submit plans each year during the 2007-2008 through 2010-2011
15 school years. A district may submit a plan and be approved to
16 begin implementation by the beginning of the 2007-2008 school
17 year. Incentives shall be provided to districts that submit
18 plans that include creation of curricula, lesson plans, and
19 other resources that may be disseminated to help other
20 districts adopt or adapt similar strategies.
21 (b) All districts must submit and have an approved
22 plan by the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year.
23 (8) RULES.--The Department of Education may adopt
24 rules pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54 to implement the
25 provisions of this section.
26 Section 2. There is appropriated from the General
27 Revenue Fund to the Department of Education for fiscal year
28 2007-2008 the sum of $2 million to implement the provisions of
29 s. 1003.497, Florida Statutes, as created by this act.
30 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.
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