Florida Senate - 2012 SB 1162
By Senator Simmons
22-00820A-12 20121162__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to family charter academies; creating
3 s. 1002.333, F.S.; providing legislative intent;
4 authorizing the formation of family charter academies
5 as part of the state’s public school system; providing
6 guiding principles and purposes for family charter
7 academies; providing that certain entities may submit
8 an application to a school district or a Florida
9 College System institution to open a family charter
10 academy; requiring that a family charter academy
11 applicant negotiate and enter into a contract for
12 funding with the school district or Florida College
13 System institution; providing requirements for
14 applications; authorizing a district school board or a
15 Florida College System institution to sponsor a family
16 charter academy; providing duties of sponsors;
17 providing that a sponsor is encouraged to set up a
18 performance-based contract for each family charter
19 academy; providing an effective date.
20
21 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
22
23 Section 1. Section 1002.333, Florida Statutes, is created
24 to read:
25 1002.333 Family charter academies.—
26 (1) INTENT.—The legislative intent of this section is to
27 assist the state in greater cost efficiencies in family
28 education and, at the same time, to increase the academic
29 achievement outcomes in family education.
30 (2) AUTHORIZATION.—Family charter academies shall be part
31 of the state’s public school system. All family charter
32 academies in the state are public schools. A family charter
33 academy may be formed by creating a new school or by allowing an
34 existing charter school or an existing nonprofit organization to
35 add a family charter component.
36 (3) GUIDING PRINCIPLES; PURPOSES.—
37 (a) A family charter academy shall be guided by the
38 following principles:
39 1. Meet high standards of student achievement while
40 providing family members flexibility to choose among diverse
41 educational opportunities within the state’s public school
42 system.
43 2. Promote enhanced academic success and financial
44 efficiency by aligning responsibility with accountability.
45 3. Provide parents with the opportunity to attend the same
46 school as their children or to better support their children’s
47 education.
48 (b) A family charter academy shall fulfill the following
49 purposes:
50 1. Improve the efficacy of student learning and academic
51 achievement.
52 2. Increase learning opportunities for all students, with
53 special emphasis on English language learners and parents.
54 3. Encourage the use of innovative learning methods.
55 4. Require the measurement of learning outcomes.
56 (c) A family charter academy may fulfill the following
57 purposes:
58 1. Stimulate integration of learning between parents and
59 their children and provide incentives for K-12 teachers and
60 family education teachers to seek cooperative learning
61 opportunities.
62 2. Encourage a performance-based system that rewards
63 programs for the efficient and effective teaching of adults.
64 (4) APPLICATION FOR CHARTER STATUS; REQUIREMENTS.—
65 (a) A nonprofit organization that has expertise in literacy
66 or family education services, an existing K-12 charter school, a
67 municipality, or a legal entity organized under the laws of the
68 state may submit an application to a school district or a
69 Florida College System institution to open a family charter
70 academy.
71 (b) A family charter academy applicant shall negotiate and
72 enter into a contract for funding with the school district or
73 the Florida College System institution. School districts and
74 Florida College System institutions are encouraged to develop
75 performance-based contracts that assist adults and parents in
76 setting and obtaining goals for helping their children with
77 homework, obtaining a job, enrolling in vocational training, or
78 earning a GED certificate.
79 (c) A person or entity wishing to open a family charter
80 academy shall prepare and submit an application that:
81 1. Contains goals and objectives for improving and
82 measuring student learning gains. The goals and objectives must
83 indicate how much academic improvement the students are expected
84 to show each year, how success will be evaluated, and what
85 specific results will be attained through instruction.
86 2. Describes the differentiated learning strategies that
87 will be used to increase learning gains for students. The
88 learning strategies may include online learning opportunities,
89 the joint issuance of parent and child report cards, employment
90 fairs, or other innovative offerings to spur learning gains.
91 3. Contains a viable initial startup and an annual
92 financial plan that includes the anticipated cost per student
93 and the anticipated fund balances based on revenue projections,
94 a spending plan based on projected revenues and expenses, and a
95 description of controls that will safeguard finances and
96 projected enrollment trends.
97 4. Contains a full accounting of expected assets; a
98 projection of expected sources and amounts of income, including
99 income derived from projected student enrollment and community
100 support; and an expense projection that includes a full
101 accounting of the costs of operation and startup costs.
102 5. Describes the facilities to be used and their location
103 and cost. The application may also include any perceived
104 advantages to site location, including the benefits to students,
105 shared bus lines, programming during after-school hours with
106 children, or blended learning opportunities.
107 6. Contains the qualifications required of the teachers and
108 the potential strategies used to recruit, hire, train, and
109 retain qualified staff to achieve the best value.
110 7. If applicable, documents that the applicant has
111 contracted with a provider of virtual instruction services. A
112 family charter academy may implement blended learning courses
113 that combine traditional classroom instruction and virtual
114 instruction.
115 (5) SPONSOR; DUTIES.—
116 (a) Sponsoring entities.—
117 1. A district school board may sponsor a family charter
118 academy in the county over which the district school board has
119 jurisdiction.
120 2. A Florida College System institution may sponsor a
121 family charter academy in its designated service area.
122 (b) Sponsor duties.—
123 1. The sponsor shall monitor and review the family charter
124 academy in its progress toward the goals established in the
125 charter.
126 2. The sponsor shall ensure that the family charter academy
127 participates in the state’s education accountability system. All
128 pretest and posttest scores on the Tests of Adult Basic
129 Education (TABE) or the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment
130 System (CASAS) shall be reported to the sponsor for the purpose
131 of providing an annual assessment of gain scores by students.
132 3. A sponsor’s decision to grant or deny an application is
133 in the sole discretion of the sponsor. The sponsor’s decision is
134 not appealable and is not subject to further review.
135 (6) PERFORMANCE-BASED CONTRACT; BUDGET.—
136 (a) A sponsor is encouraged to establish a performance
137 based contract for each family charter academy that is created.
138 Performance measures may include assessment scores, attendance
139 data, or other indicia of performance.
140 (b) In order to facilitate an accurate performance-based
141 budget projection process, a sponsor is encouraged to provide in
142 writing to a family charter academy applicant the sponsor’s
143 previous year’s average cost per adult student and the average
144 annual gain scores on the TABE and the CASAS. The average cost
145 shall be based on the annual cost, and the outcomes must include
146 an average increase in TABE or CASAS scores.
147 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.