Florida Senate - 2011                                    SB 1832
       
       
       
       By Senator Wise
       
       
       
       
       5-01090B-11                                           20111832__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the Voluntary Prekindergarten
    3         Program; amending s. 1002.69, F.S.; authorizing
    4         nonpublic schools to administer the statewide
    5         kindergarten screening to kindergarten students who
    6         were enrolled in the Voluntary Prekindergarten
    7         Program; requiring the Department of Education to
    8         include the percentage of students who meet all state
    9         readiness measures in its provider rating methodology;
   10         removing a limitation on the minimum kindergarten
   11         readiness rate for private and public prekindergarten
   12         providers; amending s. 1002.73, F.S.; requiring the
   13         department to adopt procedures for annually reporting
   14         the percentage of students who meet all state
   15         readiness measures; providing an effective date.
   16  
   17  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   18  
   19         Section 1. Subsections (1), (5), and (6) of section
   20  1002.69, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   21         1002.69 Statewide kindergarten screening; kindergarten
   22  readiness rates.—
   23         (1) The department shall adopt a statewide kindergarten
   24  screening that assesses the readiness of each student for
   25  kindergarten based upon the performance standards adopted by the
   26  department under s. 1002.67(1) for the Voluntary Prekindergarten
   27  Education Program. The department shall require that each school
   28  district administer the statewide kindergarten screening to each
   29  kindergarten student in the school district within the first 30
   30  school days of each school year. Nonpublic schools may
   31  administer the statewide kindergarten screening to each
   32  kindergarten student in a nonpublic school who was enrolled in
   33  the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program.
   34         (5) The State Board of Education shall adopt procedures for
   35  the department to annually calculate each private
   36  prekindergarten provider’s and public school’s kindergarten
   37  readiness rate, which must be expressed as the percentage of the
   38  provider’s or school’s students who are assessed as ready for
   39  kindergarten. The kindergarten readiness rates must be based
   40  exclusively upon the results of the statewide kindergarten
   41  screening for students completing the Voluntary Prekindergarten
   42  Education Program, beginning with students completing the
   43  program during the 2005-2006 school year who are administered
   44  the statewide kindergarten screening during the 2006-2007 school
   45  year. The methodology for calculating each provider’s readiness
   46  rate must include the percentage of students who meet all state
   47  readiness measures. The rates must not include students who are
   48  not administered the statewide kindergarten screening.
   49         (6)(a) The State Board of Education shall periodically
   50  adopt a minimum kindergarten readiness rate that, if achieved by
   51  a private prekindergarten provider or public school, would
   52  demonstrate the provider’s or school’s satisfactory delivery of
   53  the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program.
   54         (b) The minimum rate must not exceed the rate at which more
   55  than 15 percent of the kindergarten readiness rates of all
   56  private prekindergarten providers and public schools delivering
   57  the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program in the state
   58  would fall below the minimum rate.
   59         Section 3. Paragraph (f) is added to subsection (2) of
   60  section 1002.73, Florida Statutes, to read:
   61         1002.73 Department of Education; powers and duties;
   62  accountability requirements.—
   63         (2) The department shall adopt procedures for its:
   64         (f) Annual reporting of the percentage of kindergarten
   65  students who meet all state readiness measures.
   66         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.