Florida Senate - 2024 SB 1266 By Senator Stewart 17-01644-24 20241266__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to educational services in Department 3 of Juvenile Justice programs; amending s. 1003.52, 4 F.S.; requiring school districts to annually provide 5 certain students in a juvenile justice program with at 6 least one opportunity to take the high school 7 equivalency examination at no cost to the student; 8 providing an effective date. 9 10 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 11 12 Section 1. Paragraph (c) of subsection (3) of section 13 1003.52, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 14 1003.52 Educational services in Department of Juvenile 15 Justice programs.— 16 (3) The district school board of the county in which the 17 juvenile justice education prevention, day treatment, 18 residential, or detention program is located shall provide or 19 contract for appropriate educational assessments and an 20 appropriate program of instruction and special education 21 services. 22 (c) The district school board shall make provisions for 23 each student to participate in basic, CAPE, and exceptional 24 student programs as appropriate. Students served in Department 25 of Juvenile Justice education programs shall have access to the 26 appropriate courses and instruction to prepare them for the high 27 school equivalency examination. Students participating in high 28 school equivalency examination preparation programs shall be 29 funded at the basic program cost factor for Department of 30 Juvenile Justice programs in the Florida Education Finance 31 Program. Each program shall be conducted according to applicable 32 law providing for the operation of public schools and rules of 33 the State Board of Education. School districts shall provide the 34 high school equivalency examination exit option for all juvenile 35 justice education programs and provide each student who is 16 36 years of age or older with the opportunity to take the high 37 school equivalency examination at least once a year at no cost 38 to the student. 39 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.