Florida Senate - 2011                                    SB 1950
       
       
       
       By Senator Garcia
       
       
       
       
       40-01576-11                                           20111950__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the authority to enforce public
    3         school improvement; repealing s. 1008.33, F.S., which
    4         establishes the authority of the State Board of
    5         Education and the Department of Education to enforce
    6         accountability requirements, categorize public schools
    7         based on student performance, and apply intervention
    8         and support strategies to improve student performance;
    9         amending ss. 1001.42, 1002.33, 1006.40, 1008.345, and
   10         1012.2315, F.S.; conforming provisions and cross
   11         references; providing an effective date.
   12  
   13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   14  
   15         Section 1. Section 1008.33, Florida Statutes, is repealed.
   16         Section 2. Subsection (18) of section 1001.42, Florida
   17  Statutes, is amended to read:
   18         1001.42 Powers and duties of district school board.—The
   19  district school board, acting as a board, shall exercise all
   20  powers and perform all duties listed below:
   21         (18) IMPLEMENT SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY.
   22  Maintain a state system of school improvement and education
   23  accountability as provided by statute and State Board of
   24  Education rule. This system of school improvement and education
   25  accountability shall be consistent with, and implemented
   26  through, the district’s continuing system of planning and
   27  budgeting required by this section and ss. 1008.385, 1010.01,
   28  and 1011.01. This system of school improvement and education
   29  accountability shall comply with the provisions of ss. 1008.33,
   30  1008.34, 1008.345, and 1008.385 and include the following:
   31         (a) School improvement plans.—The district school board
   32  shall annually approve and require implementation of a new,
   33  amended, or continuation school improvement plan for each school
   34  in the district.
   35         (b) Public disclosure.—The district school board shall
   36  provide information regarding the performance of students and
   37  educational programs as required pursuant to ss. 1008.22 and
   38  1008.385 and implement a system of school reports as required by
   39  statute and State Board of Education rule which shall include
   40  schools operating for the purpose of providing educational
   41  services to youth in Department of Juvenile Justice programs,
   42  and for those schools, report on the elements specified in s.
   43  1003.52(19). Annual public disclosure reports shall be in an
   44  easy-to-read report card format and shall include the school’s
   45  grade, high school graduation rate calculated without GED tests,
   46  disaggregated by student ethnicity, and performance data as
   47  specified in state board rule.
   48         (c) School improvement funds.—The district school board
   49  shall provide funds to schools for developing and implementing
   50  school improvement plans. Such funds shall include those funds
   51  appropriated for the purpose of school improvement pursuant to
   52  s. 24.121(5)(c).
   53         Section 3. Paragraph (o) of subsection (9) of section
   54  1002.33, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   55         1002.33 Charter schools.—
   56         (9) CHARTER SCHOOL REQUIREMENTS.—
   57         (o) Upon notification that a charter school receives a
   58  school grade of “D” for 2 consecutive years or a school grade of
   59  “F” under s. 1008.34(2), the charter school sponsor or the
   60  sponsor’s staff shall require the director and a representative
   61  of the governing body to submit to the sponsor for approval a
   62  school improvement plan to raise student achievement and to
   63  implement the plan. The sponsor has the authority to approve a
   64  school improvement plan that the charter school will implement
   65  in the following school year. The sponsor may also consider the
   66  State Board of Education’s recommended action pursuant to s.
   67  1008.33(1) as part of the school improvement plan. The
   68  Department of Education shall offer technical assistance and
   69  training to the charter school and its governing body and
   70  establish guidelines for developing, submitting, and approving
   71  such plans.
   72         1. If the charter school fails to improve its student
   73  performance from the year immediately prior to the
   74  implementation of the school improvement plan, the sponsor shall
   75  place the charter school on probation and shall require the
   76  charter school governing body to take one of the following
   77  corrective actions:
   78         a. Contract for the educational services of the charter
   79  school;
   80         b. Reorganize the school at the end of the school year
   81  under a new director or principal who is authorized to hire new
   82  staff and implement a plan that addresses the causes of
   83  inadequate progress; or
   84         c. Reconstitute the charter school.
   85         2. A charter school that is placed on probation shall
   86  continue the corrective actions required under subparagraph 1.
   87  until the charter school improves its student performance from
   88  the year prior to the implementation of the school improvement
   89  plan.
   90         3. Notwithstanding any provision of this paragraph, the
   91  sponsor may terminate the charter at any time pursuant to
   92  subsection (8).
   93         Section 4. Paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section
   94  1006.40, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   95         1006.40 Use of instructional materials allocation;
   96  instructional materials, library books, and reference books;
   97  repair of books.—
   98         (2)(a) Each district school board must purchase current
   99  instructional materials to provide each student with a textbook
  100  or other instructional materials as a major tool of instruction
  101  in core courses of the appropriate subject areas of mathematics,
  102  language arts, science, social studies, reading, and literature
  103  for kindergarten through grade 12. Such purchase must be made
  104  within the first 2 years after the effective date of the
  105  adoption cycle; however, this requirement is waived for the
  106  adoption cycle occurring in the 2008-2009 academic year for
  107  schools within the district which are identified in the top four
  108  categories of schools pursuant to s. 1008.33, as amended by
  109  chapter 2009-144, Laws of Florida. The Commissioner of Education
  110  may provide a waiver of this requirement for the adoption cycle
  111  occurring in the 2008-2009 academic year if the district
  112  demonstrates that it has intervention and support strategies to
  113  address the particular needs of schools in the lowest two
  114  categories. Unless specifically provided for in the General
  115  Appropriations Act, the cost of instructional materials
  116  purchases required by this paragraph shall not exceed the amount
  117  of the district’s allocation for instructional materials,
  118  pursuant to s. 1011.67, for the previous 2 years.
  119         Section 5. Paragraph (d) of subsection (6) of section
  120  1008.345, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
  121         1008.345 Implementation of state system of school
  122  improvement and education accountability.—
  123         (6)
  124         (d) The commissioner shall assign a community assessment
  125  team to each school district or governing board with a school
  126  graded “F” or a school in the lowest-performing category
  127  pursuant to s. 1008.33 to review the school performance data and
  128  determine causes for the low performance, including the role of
  129  school, area, and district administrative personnel. The
  130  community assessment team shall review a high school’s
  131  graduation rate calculated without GED tests for the past 3
  132  years, disaggregated by student ethnicity. The team shall make
  133  recommendations to the school board or the governing board and
  134  to the State Board of Education which address the causes of the
  135  school’s low performance and may be incorporated into the school
  136  improvement plan. The assessment team shall include, but not be
  137  limited to, a department representative, parents, business
  138  representatives, educators, representatives of local
  139  governments, and community activists, and shall represent the
  140  demographics of the community from which they are appointed.
  141         Section 6. Section 1012.2315, Florida Statutes, is amended
  142  to read:
  143         1012.2315 Assignment of teachers.—
  144         (1) LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT.—The Legislature finds
  145  disparities between teachers assigned to teach in a majority of
  146  schools that do not need improvement and schools that do need
  147  improvement pursuant to s. 1008.33. The disparities may be found
  148  in the assignment of temporarily certified teachers, teachers in
  149  need of improvement, and out-of-field teachers and in the
  150  performance of the students. It is the intent of the Legislature
  151  that district school boards have flexibility through the
  152  collective bargaining process to assign teachers more equitably
  153  across the schools in the district.
  154         (2) ASSIGNMENT TO SCHOOLS CATEGORIZED AS IN NEED OF
  155  IMPROVEMENT.—School districts may not assign a higher percentage
  156  than the school district average of temporarily certified
  157  teachers, teachers in need of improvement, or out-of-field
  158  teachers to schools in one of the three lowest-performing
  159  categories under s. 1008.33(3)(b). Each school district shall
  160  annually certify to the Commissioner of Education that this
  161  requirement has been met. If the commissioner determines that a
  162  school district is not in compliance with this subsection, the
  163  State Board of Education shall be notified and shall take action
  164  pursuant to s. 1008.32 in the next regularly scheduled meeting
  165  to require compliance.
  166         (3) SALARY INCENTIVES.—District school boards are
  167  authorized to provide salary incentives to meet the requirement
  168  of subsection (2). A district school board may not sign a
  169  collective bargaining agreement that precludes the school
  170  district from providing sufficient incentives to meet this
  171  requirement.
  172         (2)(4) COLLECTIVE BARGAINING.—Notwithstanding provisions of
  173  chapter 447 relating to district school board collective
  174  bargaining, collective bargaining provisions may not preclude a
  175  school district from providing incentives to high-quality
  176  teachers and assigning such teachers to low-performing schools.
  177         (3)(5) REPORT.—Schools graded “D” or “F” shall annually
  178  report their teacher-retention rate. Included in this report
  179  shall be reasons listed for leaving by each teacher who left the
  180  school for any reason.
  181         Section 7. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.