Florida Senate - 2020                                    SB 1854
       
       
        
       By Senator Rodriguez
       
       
       
       
       
       37-01172D-20                                          20201854__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the Instructional Personnel and
    3         Educational Support Employee Pay Raise Initiative;
    4         creating s. 1011.687, F.S.; providing a short title;
    5         establishing the Instructional Personnel and
    6         Educational Support Employee Pay Raise Initiative and
    7         providing its purpose; requiring that the initiative
    8         be funded at a level sufficient to provide a specified
    9         annual salary increase for all instructional personnel
   10         and educational support employees, plus a specified
   11         cost-of-living adjustment, beginning in a specified
   12         fiscal year and continuing through a specified fiscal
   13         year; providing construction; requiring that a school
   14         district that provides the authorized salary increase
   15         or that enters into an agreement with bargaining units
   16         to provide a salary increase receive funds made
   17         available through the initiative to cover the
   18         incremental cost to the district; requiring that such
   19         funds be incorporated into the base student allocation
   20         and that they be distributed through the Florida
   21         Education Finance Program; authorizing charter schools
   22         to receive funds from the Instructional Personnel and
   23         Educational Support Employee Pay Raise Initiative
   24         under certain circumstances; requiring that a charter
   25         school return the funds and pay a certain penalty
   26         under certain circumstances; providing legislative
   27         intent with regard to such penalties; providing an
   28         effective date.
   29          
   30  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   31  
   32         Section 1. Section 1011.687, Florida Statutes, is created
   33  to read:
   34         1011.687Instructional Personnel and Educational Support
   35  Employee Pay Raise Initiative; operating categorical fund.—
   36         (1)This section may be cited as the “Instructional
   37  Personnel and Educational Support Employee Pay Raise
   38  Initiative.”
   39         (2)The Instructional Personnel and Educational Support
   40  Employee Pay Raise Initiative is established for the purpose of
   41  affording school districts the opportunity to raise the salaries
   42  of instructional personnel as defined in s. 1012.01(2) and
   43  education support employees as defined in s. 1012.40(1)(a) to
   44  address challenges with retention and recruitment of
   45  instructional personnel and education support employees in the
   46  state’s K-20 education system. The initiative must be funded at
   47  a level sufficient to provide a 4.5 percent annual salary
   48  increase for all instructional personnel and educational support
   49  employees, plus a cost-of-living adjustment, beginning with the
   50  2020-2021 fiscal year and continuing through the 2028-2029
   51  fiscal year. This section may not be construed to abridge the
   52  membership of any instructional personnel and educational
   53  support employees in any labor organization or to impact the
   54  right of instructional personnel and educational support
   55  employees to bargain collectively through a labor organization,
   56  and the voluntary salary increases provided under this section
   57  may not be construed to interfere with the right of school
   58  boards to set the wages, hours, and terms and conditions of
   59  employment for all school board employees.
   60         (a)Beginning with the 2020-2021 fiscal year, funding
   61  sufficient to provide for at least the 4.5 percent annual salary
   62  increase and the cost of living adjustment authorized by this
   63  section must be calculated using aggregate data on the payments
   64  disbursed to instructional personnel as defined in s. 1012.01(2)
   65  and educational support employees as defined in s.
   66  1012.40(1)(a), as reported by the Department of Education.
   67  Subject to s. 6, Art. I of the State Constitution, for each year
   68  during which a school district provides the salary increase and
   69  the cost of living adjustment authorized by this subsection, or
   70  when a school district and appropriate bargaining units agree to
   71  a salary increase, the school district must receive funds as
   72  authorized under this section to cover the incremental cost to
   73  the district of the raise. Funds provided pursuant to this
   74  subsection must be incorporated into the base student allocation
   75  for the subsequent fiscal year.
   76         (b)Instructional Personnel and Education Support Employee
   77  Pay Raise Initiative funds must be distributed through the
   78  Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP).
   79         (c)Each district school board, in consultation with each
   80  charter school governing board in the district, may provide
   81  salary increases for charter school instructional personnel and
   82  education support employees under this section if the
   83  participating charter school reports pay schedules adopted
   84  pursuant to s. 1012.22, documents expenditures related to
   85  categorical funds to the department at least 30 days before the
   86  start of each legislative session, and agrees to return all
   87  funds received under this section plus pay a 5 percent penalty
   88  if pay schedules do not reflect that instructional personnel and
   89  educational support employees actually received the 4.5 percent
   90  raise. A charter school that fails to report pay schedules must
   91  return all funds received under this section plus pay a 10
   92  percent penalty.
   93         (d)The Legislature intends that any financial penalty
   94  assessed against a charter school governing board pursuant to
   95  paragraph (c) directly impact funding for that charter school
   96  and not impact funding for the district school board.
   97         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.