| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to the Office of Public Inspector; |
| 3 | creating s. 1001.15, F.S.; creating the Office of Public |
| 4 | Inspector in the Office of the Commissioner of Education; |
| 5 | providing duties to track and report incidents of fraud, |
| 6 | waste, and abuse and occurrences of specified crimes by |
| 7 | teachers or other school district employees; providing for |
| 8 | availability of weekly reports; providing definitions; |
| 9 | requiring collaboration to identify certain incidents; |
| 10 | providing an effective date. |
| 11 |
|
| 12 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 13 |
|
| 14 | Section 1. Section 1001.15, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 15 | to read: |
| 16 | 1001.15 Office of Public Inspector.-- |
| 17 | (1) It is the intent of the Legislature to create an |
| 18 | office within the Office of the Commissioner of Education to |
| 19 | track incidents of fraud, waste, and abuse that occur each year |
| 20 | in Florida public schools, to track the occurrence of selected |
| 21 | crimes committed by teachers, and to make that information |
| 22 | available to the public in a simple and easy to understand |
| 23 | format. |
| 24 | (2) There is created the Office of Public Inspector in the |
| 25 | Office of the Commissioner of Education. The Public Inspector |
| 26 | shall gather and report information on the following incidents |
| 27 | as defined in this section: reported teacher abuse, molestation, |
| 28 | and sex offenses; reported fraud in school construction and |
| 29 | overpayments for school contracts; reported cases of teachers or |
| 30 | noninstructional school district employees charged with driving |
| 31 | under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances, theft, |
| 32 | robbery, or FCAT cheating; and reported district school board, |
| 33 | district school superintendent, or administrative personnel |
| 34 | impropriety. The report must be in a simple and easy to |
| 35 | understand format to be developed by the Public Inspector and |
| 36 | shall be for informational tracking purposes only. The report, |
| 37 | which must be updated on a weekly basis, must list incidents by |
| 38 | county and be made readily available to the public through an |
| 39 | Internet website maintained by the Department of Education. The |
| 40 | report must also be available to the public in printed form upon |
| 41 | written request to the Office of Public Inspector. The Public |
| 42 | Inspector shall work cooperatively with, but independently of, |
| 43 | the Inspector General and shall not duplicate or carry out the |
| 44 | responsibilities of the Inspector General as set forth in s. |
| 45 | 1001.20(4)(e). |
| 46 | (3) For purposes of gathering, tracking, and reporting the |
| 47 | incidents described in subsection (2), the following definitions |
| 48 | apply: |
| 49 | (a) "Charged" means formally charged by information or |
| 50 | indictment filed by a state attorney regardless of the final |
| 51 | disposition. |
| 52 | (b) "Driving under the influence of alcohol or controlled |
| 53 | substances" means an offense under s. 316.193 or similar law of |
| 54 | another state or territory of the United States. |
| 55 | (c) "Molestation" means an offense under s. 800.04 or |
| 56 | similar law of another state or territory of the United States. |
| 57 | (d) "Reported" means any sworn complaint filed with any |
| 58 | law enforcement agency, state attorney, public or private |
| 59 | school, district school board, or the Inspector General, |
| 60 | including any incident reported to law enforcement resulting in |
| 61 | arrest. |
| 62 | (e) "Robbery" means any robbery under s. 812.13, robbery |
| 63 | by sudden snatching under s. 812.131, carjacking under s. |
| 64 | 812.133, or home-invasion robbery under s. 812.135, or any |
| 65 | similar law of another state or territory of the United States. |
| 66 | (f) "Sex offense" means any violation of s. 794.011, s. |
| 67 | 794.05, s. 800.02, s. 800.03, or s. 827.071 or any felony |
| 68 | violation of chapter 847, or any similar law of another state or |
| 69 | territory of the United States. |
| 70 | (g) "Teacher abuse" means any violation under s. 827.03 or |
| 71 | s. 827.04, or any similar law of another state or territory of |
| 72 | the United States, committed by a teacher. |
| 73 | (h) "Theft" means any offense described as a theft under |
| 74 | chapter 812. |
| 75 | (4) In addition to the incidents defined in subsection |
| 76 | (3), the Public Inspector shall collaborate with the Inspector |
| 77 | General, district school boards, and other interested parties to |
| 78 | identify incidents of reported district school board, district |
| 79 | school superintendent, or administrative personnel impropriety; |
| 80 | fraud in school construction; overpayments for school contracts; |
| 81 | and FCAT cheating, for the purpose of inclusion of data |
| 82 | regarding such incidents in the Public Inspector's weekly |
| 83 | report. |
| 84 | (5) The first weekly report required under this section |
| 85 | shall be due for publication by January 31, 2008. |
| 86 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007. |