Florida Senate - 2016                                     SB 470
       
       
        
       By Senator Brandes
       
       
       
       
       
       22-00483-16                                            2016470__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to blended learning courses; amending
    3         s. 1003.498, F.S.; deleting a requirement that
    4         students in a blended learning course be full-time
    5         students and receive online instruction in a classroom
    6         setting at their schools; providing an effective date.
    7          
    8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    9  
   10         Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 1003.498, Florida
   11  Statutes, is amended to read:
   12         1003.498 School district virtual course offerings.—
   13         (1) School districts may deliver courses in the traditional
   14  school setting by personnel certified pursuant to s. 1012.55 who
   15  provide direct instruction through virtual instruction or
   16  through blended learning courses consisting of both traditional
   17  classroom and online instructional techniques. Students in a
   18  blended learning course must be full-time students of the school
   19  and receive the online instruction in a classroom setting at the
   20  school. The funding, performance, and accountability
   21  requirements for blended learning courses are the same as those
   22  for traditional courses. To facilitate the delivery and coding
   23  of blended learning courses, the department shall provide
   24  identifiers for existing courses to designate that they are
   25  being used for blended learning courses for the purpose of
   26  ensuring the efficient reporting of such courses. A district may
   27  report full-time equivalent student membership for credit earned
   28  by a student who is enrolled in a virtual education course
   29  provided by the district which is completed after the end of the
   30  regular school year if the FTE is reported no later than the
   31  deadline for amending the final student membership report for
   32  that year.
   33         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.