Florida Senate - 2016                          SENATOR AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS/CS/HB 7029, 1st Eng.
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì880320jÎ880320                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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                 Floor: WD/2R          .                                
             03/04/2016 05:06 PM       .                                
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       Senator Soto moved the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment to Amendment (274472) (with title
    2  amendment)
    3  
    4         Between lines 2449 and 2450
    5  insert:
    6         Section 22. Section 1012.731, Florida Statutes, is created
    7  to read:
    8         1012.731 The Florida Best and Brightest Instructional
    9  Personnel Scholarship Program.—
   10         (1) LEGISLATIVE INTENT.—The Legislature recognizes that
   11  instructional personnel play a critical role in preparing
   12  students to achieve a high level of academic performance. The
   13  Legislature further recognizes that research has linked student
   14  performance to an instructional personnel’s own academic
   15  achievements. Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to
   16  designate instructional personnel who have achieved high
   17  academic standards during their own education as Florida’s Best
   18  and Brightest Instructional Personnel scholars.
   19         (2) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the term
   20  “school district” includes the Florida School for the Deaf and
   21  the Blind and a charter school governing board.
   22         (3) PROGRAM.—There is created the Florida Best and
   23  Brightest Instructional Personnel Scholarship Program to be
   24  administered by the Department of Education. Beginning in the
   25  2016-2017 school year, the scholarship program shall provide
   26  categorical funding for scholarships to be awarded to
   27  instructional personnel who have demonstrated a high level of
   28  academic achievement.
   29         (4) INSTRUCTIONAL PERSONNEL ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA.—
   30         (a) To be eligible for a Florida Best and Brightest
   31  Instructional Personnel scholarship, the instructional personnel
   32  must be in their third year of teaching; must have scored at or
   33  above the 65th percentile on the SAT or the ACT, based upon the
   34  percentile ranks in effect when the instructional personnel took
   35  the assessment; and must have been evaluated as highly effective
   36  pursuant to s. 1012.34.
   37         (b) In order to demonstrate eligibility for an award, the
   38  instructional personnel must submit to the school district no
   39  later than October 1 an official record of his or her SAT or ACT
   40  score demonstrating that he or she scored at or above the 65th
   41  percentile, based upon the percentile ranks in effect when he or
   42  she took the assessment. If instructional personnel are deemed
   43  eligible by the school district, the instructional personnel
   44  will remain eligible as long as he or she is employed by the
   45  school district and maintains the highly effective level
   46  pursuant to s. 1012.34.
   47         (5) ELIGIBILITY NOTIFICATION; FUNDING AND DISBURSEMENT OF
   48  FUNDS.—
   49         (a) By December 1 of each year, each school district shall
   50  submit to the department the number of eligible instructional
   51  personnel who qualify for the scholarship.
   52         (b) By February 1 of each year, the department shall
   53  disburse scholarship funds, in an amount prescribed by the
   54  Legislature in the General Appropriations Act, to each school
   55  district for eligible instructional personnel to receive a
   56  scholarship. If the number of eligible instructional personnel
   57  exceeds the total appropriation authorized in the General
   58  Appropriation Act, the department shall prorate the per-person
   59  scholarship amount.
   60         (c) By April 1 of each year, each school district shall
   61  provide payment of the scholarship to each eligible
   62  instructional personnel.
   63  
   64  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   65  And the title is amended as follows:
   66         Delete line 2765
   67  and insert:
   68         providing for rulemaking; creating s. 1012.731, F.S.;
   69         providing legislative intent; defining the term
   70         “school district”; establishing the Florida Best and
   71         Brightest Instructional Personnel Scholarship Program;
   72         providing eligibility criteria; requiring a school
   73         district to annually submit the number of eligible
   74         instructional personnel to the Department of
   75         Education; providing for funding and disbursement of
   76         funds; amending ss. 1012.795 and