Florida Senate - 2009                              CS for SB 398
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability;
       and Senator Sobel
       
       
       
       585-05774-09                                           2009398c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to district and school advisory
    3         councils; amending s. 1001.452, F.S.; requiring that a
    4         district school board make a good faith effort to
    5         advertise and open the school advisory council to
    6         members of the community; providing that a majority of
    7         the members of a school advisory council not be
    8         employed by the school; providing an effective date.
    9  
   10  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   11  
   12         Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section
   13  1001.452, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   14         1001.452 District and school advisory councils.—
   15         (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—
   16         (a) The district school board shall establish an advisory
   17  council for each school in the district and shall develop
   18  procedures for the election and appointment of advisory council
   19  members. The district school board shall make a good faith
   20  effort to advertise and open the school advisory council to
   21  members of the community. Each school advisory council shall
   22  include in its name the words “school advisory council.” The
   23  school advisory council shall be the sole body responsible for
   24  the final decisionmaking at the school relating to the
   25  implementation of ss. 1001.42(18) and 1008.345. A majority of
   26  the members of each school advisory council must be persons who
   27  are not employed by the school district. Each advisory council
   28  shall be composed of the principal and an appropriately balanced
   29  number of teachers, education support employees, students,
   30  parents, and other business and community citizens who are
   31  representative of the ethnic, racial, and economic community
   32  served by the school. Career center and high school advisory
   33  councils shall include students, and middle and junior high
   34  school advisory councils may include students. School advisory
   35  councils of career centers and adult education centers are not
   36  required to include parents as members. Council members
   37  representing teachers, education support employees, students,
   38  and parents shall be elected by their respective peer groups at
   39  the school in a fair and equitable manner as follows:
   40         1. Teachers shall be elected by teachers.
   41         2. Education support employees shall be elected by
   42  education support employees.
   43         3. Students shall be elected by students.
   44         4. Parents shall be elected by parents.
   45  
   46  The district school board shall establish procedures to be used
   47  by schools in selecting business and community members that
   48  include means of ensuring wide notice of vacancies and of taking
   49  input on possible members from local business, chambers of
   50  commerce, community and civic organizations and groups, and the
   51  public at large. The district school board shall review the
   52  membership composition of each advisory council. If the district
   53  school board determines that the membership elected by the
   54  school is not representative of the ethnic, racial, and economic
   55  community served by the school, the district school board shall
   56  appoint additional members to achieve proper representation. The
   57  commissioner shall determine if schools have maximized their
   58  efforts to include on their advisory councils minority persons
   59  and persons of lower socioeconomic status. Although schools are
   60  strongly encouraged to establish school advisory councils, the
   61  district school board of any school district that has a student
   62  population of 10,000 or fewer may establish a district advisory
   63  council which includes at least one duly elected teacher from
   64  each school in the district. For the purposes of school advisory
   65  councils and district advisory councils, the term “teacher”
   66  includes classroom teachers, certified student services
   67  personnel, and media specialists. For purposes of this
   68  paragraph, “education support employee” means any person
   69  employed by a school who is not defined as instructional or
   70  administrative personnel pursuant to s. 1012.01 and whose duties
   71  require 20 or more hours in each normal working week.
   72         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.