Florida Senate - 2016                       CS for CS for SB 468
       
       
        
       By the Committees on Appropriations; and Education Pre-K - 12;
       and Senators Ring, Brandes, and Galvano
       
       576-02998-16                                           2016468c2
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to computer coding instruction;
    3         amending s. 1007.2616, F.S.; requiring high schools to
    4         offer student opportunities to take specified computer
    5         coding courses by a specified school year; requiring
    6         the Commissioner of Education to identify the computer
    7         coding courses that satisfy two credits of foreign
    8         language instruction under certain circumstances;
    9         requiring Florida College System institutions and
   10         state universities to recognize the credits as foreign
   11         language credits; requiring each student and his or
   12         her parent to sign a statement acknowledging and
   13         accepting that taking a computer coding course as a
   14         foreign language may not meet certain out-of-state
   15         requirements; requiring the inclusion of certain
   16         computer coding courses in the Course Code Directory;
   17         providing an effective date.
   18          
   19  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   20  
   21         Section 1. Present subsection (4) of section 1007.2616,
   22  Florida Statutes, is redesignated as subsection (5), and a new
   23  subsection (4) is added to that section, to read:
   24         1007.2616 Computer science and technology instruction.—
   25         (4) Beginning with the 2018-2019 school year, high schools
   26  must provide students opportunities to take computer coding
   27  courses of sufficient rigor, as identified by the commissioner,
   28  such that two credits in such courses and the earning of a
   29  related industry certification satisfies two credits of
   30  sequential foreign language instruction. Florida College System
   31  institutions and state universities must recognize the credits
   32  as foreign language credits; however, each student and his or
   33  her parent must sign a statement acknowledging and accepting
   34  that taking a computer coding course as a foreign language may
   35  not meet out-of-state college and university foreign language
   36  requirements. Computer coding courses created and identified by
   37  the commissioner and computer coding courses taken to earn the
   38  related industry certification shall be included in the Course
   39  Code Directory.
   40         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.