Florida Senate - 2019 SB 194 By Senator Stargel 22-01521A-19 2019194__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to higher education; amending s. 3 1001.706, F.S.; requiring the Office of the Inspector 4 General of the Board of Governors to verify certain 5 information for accuracy; requiring the Board of 6 Governors to match specified information; requiring 7 the board to enter into a data-sharing agreement with 8 the Department of Economic Opportunity; providing 9 requirements for such agreement; amending s. 1007.23, 10 F.S.; requiring, by a specified academic year, Florida 11 College System institutions and state universities to 12 execute agreements to establish “2+2” targeted pathway 13 programs; providing requirements for such agreements; 14 specifying requirements for student participation; 15 requiring the State Board of Education and the Board 16 of Governors to collaborate to eliminate barriers in 17 executing pathway articulation agreements; amending s. 18 1007.27, F.S.; requiring district school boards to 19 notify students about credit-by-examination and dual 20 enrollment equivalency lists; providing an effective 21 date. 22 23 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 24 25 Section 1. Paragraph (e) of subsection (5) of section 26 1001.706, Florida Statutes, is amended, and paragraph (i) is 27 added to that subsection, to read: 28 1001.706 Powers and duties of the Board of Governors.— 29 (5) POWERS AND DUTIES RELATING TO ACCOUNTABILITY.— 30 (e) The Board of Governors shall maintain an effective 31 information system to provide accurate, timely, and cost 32 effective information about each university. The board shall 33 continue to collect and maintain, at a minimum, management 34 information as such information existed on June 30, 2002. The 35 Office of the Inspector General of the board shall annually 36 verify the accuracy of the data used to implement ss. 1001.7065 37 and 1001.92. 38 (i) The Board of Governors shall match individual student 39 information with information in the files of state and federal 40 agencies that maintain educational and employment records. The 41 board must enter into an agreement with the Department of 42 Economic Opportunity which allows access to the individual 43 reemployment assistance wage records maintained by the 44 department. The agreement must protect individual privacy and 45 require that student information be used only for the purposes 46 of auditing or evaluating higher education programs offered by 47 state universities. 48 Section 2. Subsection (7) is added to section 1007.23, 49 Florida Statutes, to read: 50 1007.23 Statewide articulation agreement.— 51 (7) By the 2019-2020 academic year, to strengthen Florida’s 52 “2+2” system of articulation and improve student retention and 53 on-time graduation, each Florida College System institution 54 shall execute at least one “2+2” targeted pathway articulation 55 agreement with one or more state universities, and each state 56 university shall execute at least one such agreement with one or 57 more Florida College System institutions to establish “2+2” 58 targeted pathway programs. The agreement must provide students 59 who graduate with an associate in arts degree and who meet 60 specified requirements guaranteed access to the state university 61 and a degree program at that university, in accordance with the 62 terms of the “2+2” targeted pathway articulation agreement. 63 (a) To participate in a “2+2” targeted pathway program, a 64 student must: 65 1. Enroll in the program before completing 30 credit hours, 66 including, but not limited to, college credits earned through 67 articulated acceleration mechanisms pursuant to s. 1007.27; 68 2. Complete an associate in arts degree; and 69 3. Meet the university’s transfer requirements. 70 (b) A state university that executes a “2+2” targeted 71 pathway articulation agreement must meet the following 72 requirements in order to implement a “2+2” targeted pathway 73 program in collaboration with its partner Florida College System 74 institution: 75 1. Establish a 4-year, on-time graduation plan for a 76 baccalaureate degree program, including, but not limited to, a 77 plan for students to complete associate in arts degree programs, 78 general education courses, common prerequisite courses, and 79 elective courses; 80 2. Advise students enrolled in the program about the 81 university’s transfer and degree program requirements; and 82 3. Provide students who meet the requirements under this 83 paragraph with access to academic advisors and campus events and 84 with guaranteed admittance to the state university and a degree 85 program of the state university, in accordance with the terms of 86 the agreement. 87 (c) To assist the state universities and Florida College 88 System institutions with implementing the “2+2” targeted pathway 89 programs effectively, the State Board of Education and the Board 90 of Governors shall collaborate to eliminate barriers in 91 executing “2+2” targeted pathway articulation agreements. 92 Section 3. Subsection (2) of section 1007.27, Florida 93 Statutes, is amended to read: 94 1007.27 Articulated acceleration mechanisms.— 95 (2)(a) The Department of Education shall annually identify 96 and publish the minimum scores, maximum credit, and course or 97 courses for which credit is to be awarded for each College Level 98 Examination Program (CLEP) subject examination, College Board 99 Advanced Placement Program examination, Advanced International 100 Certificate of Education examination, International 101 Baccalaureate examination, Excelsior College subject 102 examination, Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education 103 Support (DANTES) subject standardized test, and Defense Language 104 Proficiency Test (DLPT). The department shall use student 105 performance data in subsequent postsecondary courses to 106 determine the appropriate examination scores and courses for 107 which credit is to be granted. Minimum scores may vary by 108 subject area based on available performance data. In addition, 109 the department shall identify such courses in the general 110 education core curriculum of each state university and Florida 111 College System institution. 112 (b) Each district school board shall notify students who 113 enroll in articulated acceleration mechanism courses or who take 114 examinations pursuant to this section of the credit-by 115 examination equivalency list adopted by rule by the State Board 116 of Education and the dual enrollment course and high school 117 subject area equivalencies approved by the state board pursuant 118 to s. 1007.271. 119 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.