Senate Bill sb2914

    Florida Senate - 2007                                  SB 2914

    By Senator Diaz de la Portilla





    36-1699-07                                          See HB 795

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to the Office of Public

  3         Inspector; creating s. 1001.15, F.S.; creating

  4         the Office of Public Inspector in the Office of

  5         the Commissioner of Education; providing duties

  6         to track and report incidents of fraud, waste,

  7         and abuse and occurrences of specified crimes

  8         by teachers or other school district employees;

  9         providing for availability of weekly reports;

10         providing definitions; requiring collaboration

11         to identify certain incidents; providing an

12         effective date.

13  

14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

15  

16         Section 1.  Section 1001.15, Florida Statutes, is

17  created to read:

18         1001.15  Office of Public Inspector.--

19         (1)  It is the intent of the Legislature to create an

20  office within the Office of the Commissioner of Education to

21  track incidents of fraud, waste, and abuse that occur each

22  year in Florida public schools, to track the occurrence of

23  selected crimes committed by teachers, and to make that

24  information available to the public in a simple and easy to

25  understand format.

26         (2)  There is created the Office of Public Inspector in

27  the Office of the Commissioner of Education. The Public

28  Inspector shall gather and report information on the following

29  incidents as defined in this section: reported teacher abuse,

30  molestation, and sex offenses; reported fraud in school

31  construction and overpayments for school contracts; reported

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 2007                                  SB 2914
    36-1699-07                                          See HB 795




 1  cases of teachers or noninstructional school district

 2  employees charged with driving under the influence of alcohol

 3  or controlled substances, theft, robbery, or FCAT cheating;

 4  and reported district school board, district school

 5  superintendent, or administrative personnel impropriety. The

 6  report must be in a simple and easy to understand format to be

 7  developed by the Public Inspector and shall be for

 8  informational tracking purposes only. The report, which must

 9  be updated on a weekly basis, must list incidents by county

10  and be made readily available to the public through an

11  Internet website maintained by the Department of Education.

12  The report must also be available to the public in printed

13  form upon written request to the Office of Public Inspector.

14  The Public Inspector shall work cooperatively with, but

15  independently of, the Inspector General and shall not

16  duplicate or carry out the responsibilities of the Inspector

17  General as set forth in s. 1001.20(4)(e).

18         (3)  For purposes of gathering, tracking, and reporting

19  the incidents described in subsection (2), the following

20  definitions apply:

21         (a)  "Charged" means formally charged by information or

22  indictment filed by a state attorney regardless of the final

23  disposition.

24         (b)  "Driving under the influence of alcohol or

25  controlled substances" means an offense under s. 316.193 or

26  similar law of another state or territory of the United

27  States.

28         (c)  "Molestation" means an offense under s. 800.04 or

29  similar law of another state or territory of the United

30  States.

31  

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 2007                                  SB 2914
    36-1699-07                                          See HB 795




 1         (d)  "Reported" means any sworn complaint filed with

 2  any law enforcement agency, state attorney, public or private

 3  school, district school board, or the Inspector General,

 4  including any incident reported to law enforcement resulting

 5  in arrest.

 6         (e)  "Robbery" means any robbery under s. 812.13,

 7  robbery by sudden snatching under s. 812.131, carjacking under

 8  s. 812.133, or home-invasion robbery under s. 812.135, or any

 9  similar law of another state or territory of the United

10  States.

11         (f)  "Sex offense" means any violation of s. 794.011,

12  s. 794.05, s. 800.02, s. 800.03, or s. 827.071 or any felony

13  violation of chapter 847, or any similar law of another state

14  or territory of the United States.

15         (g)  "Teacher abuse" means any violation under s.

16  827.03 or s. 827.04, or any similar law of another state or

17  territory of the United States, committed by a teacher.

18         (h)  "Theft" means any offense described as a theft

19  under chapter 812.

20         (4)  In addition to the incidents defined in subsection

21  (3), the Public Inspector shall collaborate with the Inspector

22  General, district school boards, and other interested parties

23  to identify incidents of reported district school board,

24  district school superintendent, or administrative personnel

25  impropriety; fraud in school construction; overpayments for

26  school contracts; and FCAT cheating, for the purpose of

27  inclusion of data regarding such incidents in the Public

28  Inspector's weekly report.

29         (5)  The first weekly report required under this

30  section shall be due for publication by January 31, 2008.

31         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.