Florida Senate - 2024 SB 1026
By Senator Grall
29-00921B-24 20241026__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to early learning; amending s.
3 1002.61, F.S.; revising requirements for
4 prekindergarten instructors; amending s. 1002.67,
5 F.S.; prohibiting private prekindergarten provider and
6 public school curricula from using a coordinated
7 screening and progress monitoring program or other
8 specified methods for direct student instruction;
9 amending s. 1002.68, F.S.; authorizing alternative
10 methods for calculating program assessment composite
11 scores; requiring prekindergarten providers and public
12 schools to notify parents under certain circumstances;
13 revising exceptions for a good cause exemption; making
14 technical changes; amending s. 1002.71, F.S.; revising
15 the percentage of funds an early learning coalition
16 may retain and expend; amending s. 1002.82, F.S.;
17 revising the performance standards adopted by the
18 Department of Education relating to the Voluntary
19 Prekindergarten Education Program; amending s.
20 1002.83, F.S.; authorizing an early learning coalition
21 to appoint a certain additional board member; amending
22 s. 1002.89, F.S.; revising school readiness program
23 expenditures that are subject to certain cost
24 requirements; amending s. 1008.25, F.S.; providing
25 that certain Voluntary Prekindergarten Education
26 Program students are eligible to receive instructional
27 support in early literacy skills through a specified
28 program; providing specifications for the program;
29 providing for funding for the program; providing an
30 effective date.
31
32 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
33
34 Section 1. Subsection (4) of section 1002.61, Florida
35 Statutes, is amended to read:
36 1002.61 Summer prekindergarten program delivered by public
37 schools and private prekindergarten providers.—
38 (4) Notwithstanding ss. 1002.55(3)(c)1. and 1002.63(4),
39 each public school and private prekindergarten provider must
40 have, for each prekindergarten class, at least one
41 prekindergarten instructor who is a certified teacher or holds
42 one of the educational credentials specified in s. 1002.55(4)(a)
43 or (b), or an educational credential specified in s.
44 1002.55(3)(c)1. as long as the instructor has completed the
45 early literacy micro-credential program under s. 1003.485 or has
46 an instructional support score of 3 or higher on a program
47 assessment conducted under s. 1002.68(2) or s. 1002.82(2)(n). As
48 used in this subsection, the term “certified teacher” means a
49 teacher holding a valid Florida educator certificate under s.
50 1012.56 who has the qualifications required by the district
51 school board to instruct students in the summer prekindergarten
52 program. In selecting instructional staff for the summer
53 prekindergarten program, each school district shall give
54 priority to teachers who have experience or coursework in early
55 childhood education and have completed emergent literacy and
56 performance standards courses, as provided for in s.
57 1002.55(3)(c)2.
58 Section 2. Paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of section
59 1002.67, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
60 1002.67 Performance standards and curricula.—
61 (2)
62 (b) Each private prekindergarten provider’s and public
63 school’s curriculum must be developmentally appropriate and
64 must:
65 1. Be designed to prepare a student for early literacy and
66 provide for instruction in early math skills;
67 2. Develop students’ background knowledge through a
68 content-rich and sequential knowledge building early literacy
69 curriculum;
70 3. Enhance the age-appropriate progress of students in
71 attaining the performance standards adopted by the department
72 under subsection (1); and
73 4. Support student learning gains through differentiated
74 instruction that must shall be measured by the coordinated
75 screening and progress monitoring program under s. 1008.25(9). A
76 private prekindergarten provider’s or public school’s curriculum
77 may not use the coordinated screening and progress monitoring
78 program, any other progress monitoring program, or an
79 instructional program that requires one student to one device
80 for direct student instruction.
81 Section 3. Paragraphs (a) and (c) of subsection (4),
82 paragraph (a) of subsection (5), and paragraph (d) of subsection
83 (6) of section 1002.68, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
84 1002.68 Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program
85 accountability.—
86 (4)(a) Beginning with the 2024-2025 2023-2024 program year,
87 the department shall adopt a methodology for calculating each
88 private prekindergarten provider’s and public school provider’s
89 performance metric, which must be based on a combination of the
90 following:
91 1. Program assessment composite scores under subsection
92 (2), which may be calculated differently, based on the
93 methodology adopted by the department, than the program
94 assessment composite score required for contracting in paragraph
95 (5)(a), and which must be weighted at no less than 50 percent.
96 2. Learning gains operationalized as change-in-ability
97 scores from the initial and final progress monitoring results
98 described in subsection (1).
99 3. Norm-referenced developmental learning outcomes
100 described in subsection (1).
101 (c) The program assessment composite score in subsection
102 (5) and performance metric must be calculated for each private
103 prekindergarten or public school site.
104 (5)(a) Beginning with the 2024-2025 program year, if a
105 private prekindergarten provider’s or public school’s
106 performance metric or designation does not maintain falls below
107 the minimum performance metric or designation, the early
108 learning coalition shall:
109 1. Require the provider or school to submit for approval to
110 the early learning coalition an improvement plan and implement
111 the plan.
112 2. Place the provider or school on probation.
113 3. Require the provider or school to take certain
114 corrective actions, including notifying the parent of each
115 student enrolled in the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education
116 Program based on rules adopted by the department and the use of
117 a curriculum approved by the department under s. 1002.67(2)(c)
118 and a staff development plan approved by the department to
119 strengthen instructional practices in emotional support,
120 classroom organization, instructional support, language
121 development, phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, and
122 mathematical thinking.
123 (6)
124 (d) A good cause exemption may not be granted to any
125 private prekindergarten provider or public school that has any
126 class I violations or three two or more of the same class II
127 violations, as defined by rule of the Department of Children and
128 Families, within the 2 years preceding the provider’s or
129 school’s request for the exemption.
130 Section 4. Subsection (7) of section 1002.71, Florida
131 Statutes, is amended to read:
132 1002.71 Funding; financial and attendance reporting.—
133 (7) The department shall require that administrative
134 expenditures be kept to the minimum necessary for efficient and
135 effective administration of the Voluntary Prekindergarten
136 Education Program. Administrative policies and procedures shall
137 be revised, to the maximum extent practicable, to incorporate
138 the use of automation and electronic submission of forms,
139 including those required for child eligibility and enrollment,
140 provider and class registration, and monthly certification of
141 attendance for payment. A school district may use its automated
142 daily attendance reporting system for the purpose of
143 transmitting attendance records to the early learning coalition
144 in a mutually agreed-upon format. In addition, actions shall be
145 taken to reduce paperwork, eliminate the duplication of reports,
146 and eliminate other duplicative activities. Each early learning
147 coalition may retain and expend no more than 5 4.0 percent of
148 the funds paid by the coalition to private prekindergarten
149 providers and public schools under paragraph (5)(b). Funds
150 retained by an early learning coalition under this subsection
151 may be used only for administering the Voluntary Prekindergarten
152 Education Program and may not be used for the school readiness
153 program or other programs.
154 Section 5. Paragraph (j) of subsection (2) of section
155 1002.82, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
156 1002.82 Department of Education; powers and duties.—
157 (2) The department shall:
158 (j) Monitor the alignment and consistency of the standards
159 and benchmarks developed and adopted by the department that
160 address the age-appropriate progress of children in the
161 development of school readiness skills. The standards for
162 children from birth to kindergarten entry in the school
163 readiness program must be aligned with the performance standards
164 adopted for children in the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education
165 Program and must address the following domains:
166 1. Approaches to learning.
167 2. Cognitive development and general knowledge.
168 3. Numeracy, language, and communication.
169 4. Physical development.
170 5. Executive functioning Self-regulation.
171 Section 6. Present subsections (5) through (16) of section
172 1002.83, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (6)
173 through (17), respectively, a new subsection (5) is added to
174 that section, and subsection (3) of that section is amended, to
175 read:
176 1002.83 Early learning coalitions.—
177 (3) The Governor shall appoint the chair and two other
178 members of each early learning coalition, who must each meet the
179 qualifications of a private sector business member under
180 subsection (7) (6). In the absence of a governor-appointed
181 chair, the Commissioner of Education may appoint an interim
182 chair from the current early learning coalition board
183 membership.
184 (5) Each early learning coalition may choose to appoint an
185 additional public sector board member in order to include a
186 representative of local law enforcement.
187 Section 7. Subsection (4) of section 1002.89, Florida
188 Statutes, is amended to read:
189 1002.89 School readiness program; funding.—
190 (4) COST REQUIREMENTS.—Costs shall be kept to the minimum
191 necessary for the efficient and effective administration of the
192 school readiness program with the highest priority of
193 expenditure being direct services for eligible children.
194 However, no more than 5 percent of the funds allocated in
195 paragraph (1)(a) may be used for administrative costs and no
196 more than 22 percent of the funds allocated in paragraph (1)(a)
197 may be used in any fiscal year for any combination of
198 administrative costs, quality activities, and nondirect services
199 as follows:
200 (a) Administrative costs as described in 45 C.F.R. s.
201 98.54, which shall include monitoring providers using the
202 standard methodology adopted under s. 1002.82 to improve
203 compliance with state and federal regulations and law pursuant
204 to the requirements of the statewide provider contract adopted
205 under s. 1002.82(2)(m).
206 (b) Activities to improve the quality of child care as
207 described in 45 C.F.R. s. 98.53, which shall be limited to the
208 following:
209 1. Developing, establishing, expanding, operating, and
210 coordinating resource and referral programs specifically related
211 to the provision of comprehensive consumer education to parents
212 and the public to promote informed child care choices specified
213 in 45 C.F.R. s. 98.33.
214 2. Awarding grants and providing financial support to
215 school readiness program providers and their staff to assist
216 them in meeting applicable state requirements for the program
217 assessment required under s. 1002.82(2)(n), child care
218 performance standards, implementing developmentally appropriate
219 curricula and related classroom resources that support parent
220 engagement curricula, providing literacy supports, and providing
221 continued professional development through the Teacher Education
222 and Compensation Helps (TEACH) Scholarship Program under s.
223 1002.95 and training aligned to the early learning professional
224 development standards and career pathways under s. 1002.995, and
225 reimbursement for background screenings and training. Any grants
226 awarded pursuant to this subparagraph must shall comply with ss.
227 215.971 and 287.058.
228 3. Providing training aligned with the early learning
229 professional development standards and career pathways under s.
230 1002.995, technical assistance, and financial support to school
231 readiness program providers, staff, and parents on standards,
232 child screenings, child assessments, the child development
233 research and best practices, developmentally appropriate
234 curriculum under s. 1002.82(2)(l), executive functioning
235 curricula, character development, teacher-child interactions,
236 age-appropriate discipline practices, health and safety,
237 nutrition, first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the
238 recognition of communicable diseases, and child abuse detection,
239 prevention, and reporting.
240 4. Providing, from among the funds provided for the
241 activities described in subparagraphs 1.-3., adequate funding
242 for infants and toddlers as necessary to meet federal
243 requirements related to expenditures for quality activities for
244 infant and toddler care.
245 5. Improving the monitoring of compliance with, and
246 enforcement of, applicable state and local requirements as
247 described in and limited by 45 C.F.R. s. 98.40.
248 6. Responding to Warm-Line requests by providers and
249 parents, including providing developmental and health screenings
250 to school readiness program children.
251 (c) Nondirect services as described in applicable Office of
252 Management and Budget instructions are those services not
253 defined as administrative, direct, or quality services that are
254 required to administer the school readiness program. Such
255 services include, but are not limited to:
256 1. Assisting families to complete the required application
257 and eligibility documentation.
258 2. Determining child and family eligibility.
259 3. Recruiting eligible child care providers.
260 4. Processing and tracking attendance records.
261 5. Developing and maintaining a statewide child care
262 information system.
263
264 As used in this paragraph, the term “nondirect services” does
265 not include payments to school readiness program providers for
266 direct services provided to children who are eligible under s.
267 1002.87, administrative costs as described in paragraph (a), or
268 quality activities as described in paragraph (b).
269 Section 8. Paragraph (b) of subsection (5) of section
270 1008.25, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
271 1008.25 Public school student progression; student support;
272 coordinated screening and progress monitoring; reporting
273 requirements.—
274 (5) READING DEFICIENCY AND PARENTAL NOTIFICATION.—
275 (b) A Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program student
276 who has attended at least 80 percent of the school year program
277 and who exhibits a substantial deficiency in early literacy
278 skills as identified by the performance standards adopted under
279 s. 1002.67(1)(a) and scores below the 20th percentile on based
280 upon the results of the administration of the final
281 administration of the coordinated screening and progress
282 monitoring under subsection (9) is shall be referred to the
283 local school district and may be eligible to receive early
284 literacy instructional support through a summer bridge program
285 the summer instruction in early literacy skills before
286 participating in kindergarten. The summer bridge program must
287 meet the requirements adopted by the department and consist of 4
288 hours of instruction per day for a minimum of 100 total hours.
289 Such early literacy skill instructional support must be paid for
290 with funds from the district’s evidence-based reading
291 instruction allocation in accordance with s. 1003.4201 A student
292 with an individual education plan who has been retained pursuant
293 to paragraph (2)(g) and has demonstrated a substantial
294 deficiency in early literacy skills must receive instruction in
295 early literacy skills.
296 Section 9. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.