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