Florida Senate - 2016 SB 1612
By Senator Sobel
33-01555-16 20161612__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the Voluntary Prekindergarten
3 Education Program; amending s. 1002.55, F.S.; revising
4 requirements for prekindergarten instructors employed
5 by a private prekindergarten provider; providing that
6 private prekindergarten providers meeting certain
7 criteria are eligible for additional funding; amending
8 s. 1002.67, F.S.; revising requirements for the pre-
9 and post-assessment administered to students enrolled
10 in the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program;
11 providing an effective date.
12
13 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
14
15 Section 1. Paragraph (c) of subsection (3) and subsection
16 (4) of section 1002.55, Florida Statutes, are amended, and
17 subsection (6) is added to that section, to read:
18 1002.55 School-year prekindergarten program delivered by
19 private prekindergarten providers.—
20 (3) To be eligible to deliver the prekindergarten program,
21 a private prekindergarten provider must meet each of the
22 following requirements:
23 (c) The private prekindergarten provider must have, for
24 each prekindergarten class of 11 children or fewer, at least one
25 prekindergarten instructor who meets each of the following
26 requirements:
27 1. The prekindergarten instructor must hold, at a minimum,
28 one of the following credentials:
29 a. A child development associate credential issued by the
30 National Credentialing Program of the Council for Professional
31 Recognition; or
32 b. A credential approved by the Department of Children and
33 Families as being equivalent to or greater than the credential
34 described in sub-subparagraph a.
35
36 The Department of Children and Families may adopt rules under
37 ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54 which provide criteria and procedures
38 for approving equivalent credentials under sub-subparagraph b.
39 2. The prekindergarten instructor must successfully
40 complete an emergent literacy training course and a student
41 performance standards training course approved by the office as
42 meeting or exceeding the minimum standards adopted under s.
43 1002.59. The requirement for completion of the standards
44 training course shall take effect July 1, 2014, and the course
45 shall be available online.
46 3. The prekindergarten instructor must annually complete a
47 minimum of 1.5 continuing education units of approved inservice
48 training, or 15 clock hours of equivalent training, as approved
49 by the office.
50 (4) A prekindergarten instructor, in lieu of the minimum
51 credentials and courses required under paragraph (3)(c), may
52 hold one of the following educational credentials:
53 (a) A bachelor’s or higher degree in early childhood
54 education, prekindergarten through 3rd grade or primary
55 education, preschool education, or family and consumer science;
56 (b) A bachelor’s or higher degree in elementary education,
57 if the prekindergarten instructor has been certified to teach
58 children any age from birth through kindergarten 6th grade,
59 regardless of whether the instructor’s educator certificate is
60 current, and if the instructor is not ineligible to teach in a
61 public school because his or her educator certificate is
62 suspended or revoked;
63 (c) An associate’s or higher degree in early childhood
64 education or child development;
65 (d) An associate’s or higher degree in an unrelated field,
66 at least 6 credit hours in early childhood education or child
67 development, and at least 480 hours of experience in teaching or
68 providing child care services for children any age from birth
69 through 6 8 years of age; or
70 (e) An educational credential approved by the department as
71 being equivalent to or greater than an educational credential
72 described in this subsection. The department may adopt criteria
73 and procedures for approving equivalent educational credentials
74 under this paragraph.
75 (6) A private prekindergarten provider serving children in
76 an area designated as an enterprise zone pursuant to s. 290.0065
77 with instructors who meet the requirements of paragraph (4)(a)
78 or paragraph (4)(c) is eligible for additional funding as
79 provided in the General Appropriations Act.
80 Section 2. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (3) of
81 section 1002.67, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
82 1002.67 Performance standards; curricula and
83 accountability.—
84 (3)(a) Contingent upon legislative appropriation, each
85 private prekindergarten provider and public school in the
86 Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program must implement a
87 single, an evidence-based pre- and post-assessment that has been
88 approved by rule of the State Board of Education.
89 (b) In order to be approved, the assessment must be
90 observational, valid, reliable, developmentally appropriate, and
91 designed to measure student progress on domains which must
92 include, but are not limited to, early literacy, numeracy, and
93 language.
94 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.