Florida Senate - 2025 CS for CS for SB 140
By the Committees on Rules; and Education Pre-K - 12; and
Senator Gaetz
595-03664-25 2025140c2
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to charter schools; amending s.
3 1002.33, F.S.; revising which persons or entities may
4 apply for a conversion charter school; requiring a
5 college or state university to provide a written
6 notice of denial for denying an application for a
7 conversion charter school; revising eligible students
8 who may receive an enrollment preference; authorizing
9 a municipality to apply for a charter that it may
10 designate as a job engine charter under certain
11 conditions; providing the purpose of a job engine
12 charter school; providing requirements for a job
13 engine charter; prohibiting a district school board
14 from charging a rental or leasing fee for a conversion
15 school; requiring a municipality to negotiate certain
16 rental or leasing fees with the district school board;
17 prohibiting certain property from being removed;
18 amending s. 1011.801, F.S; revising entities that are
19 included in the Workforce Development Capitalization
20 Incentive Grant Program to include charter schools;
21 requiring the State Board of Education to consider
22 applications from a job engine charter school for
23 rulemaking purposes; providing an effective date.
24
25 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
26
27 Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (3), paragraph (d)
28 of subsection (10), paragraph (c) of subsection (15), and
29 paragraph (e) of subsection (18) of section 1002.33, Florida
30 Statutes, are amended to read:
31 1002.33 Charter schools.—
32 (3) APPLICATION FOR CHARTER STATUS.—
33 (b) An application for a conversion charter school must
34 shall be made by the district school board, the principal,
35 teachers, parents whose children are enrolled at the school, or
36 and/or the school advisory council at an existing public school
37 that has been in operation for at least 2 years before prior to
38 the application to convert. A public school-within-a-school that
39 is designated as a school by the district school board may also
40 apply submit an application to convert to charter status. A
41 municipality seeking to attract job-producing entities by
42 establishing a job engine charter school pursuant to paragraph
43 (15)(c) may apply to the district school board to convert an
44 existing public school to a charter school. An application
45 submitted proposing to convert an existing public school to a
46 charter school must shall demonstrate the support of at least 50
47 percent of the teachers employed at the school and 50 percent of
48 the parents voting whose children are enrolled at the school,
49 provided that a majority of the parents eligible to vote
50 participate in the ballot process, according to rules adopted by
51 the State Board of Education. A district school board, college,
52 or state university that denies denying an application for a
53 conversion charter school shall provide notice of denial to the
54 applicants in writing within 10 days after the meeting at which
55 the district school board denied the application. The notice
56 must articulate in writing the specific reasons for denial and
57 must provide documentation supporting those reasons. A private
58 school, parochial school, or home education program is shall not
59 be eligible for charter school status.
60 (10) ELIGIBLE STUDENTS.—
61 (d) A charter school may give enrollment preference to the
62 following student populations:
63 1. Students who are siblings of a student enrolled in the
64 charter school.
65 2. Students who are the children of a member of the
66 governing board of the charter school.
67 3. Students who are the children of an employee of the
68 charter school.
69 4. Students who are the children of:
70 a. An employee of the business partner of a charter school
71 in-the-workplace established under paragraph (15)(b) or a
72 resident of the municipality in which such charter school is
73 located; or
74 b. A resident or employee of a municipality that operates a
75 charter school-in-a-municipality pursuant to paragraph (15)(c)
76 or allows a charter school to use a school facility or portion
77 of land provided by the municipality for the operation of the
78 charter school.
79 5. Students who have successfully completed, during the
80 previous year, a voluntary prekindergarten education program
81 under ss. 1002.51-1002.79 provided by the charter school, the
82 charter school’s governing board, or a voluntary prekindergarten
83 provider that has a written agreement with the governing board.
84 6. Students who are the children of an active duty member
85 of any branch of the United States Armed Forces.
86 7. Students who attended or are assigned to failing schools
87 pursuant to s. 1002.38(2).
88 8. Students who are the children of a safe-school officer,
89 as defined in s. 1006.12, at the school.
90 9. Students who transfer from a classical school in this
91 state to a charter classical school in this state. For purposes
92 of this subparagraph, the term “classical school” means a
93 traditional public school or charter school that implements a
94 classical education model that emphasizes the development of
95 students in the principles of moral character and civic virtue
96 through a well-rounded education in the liberal arts and
97 sciences which is based on the classical trivium stages of
98 grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
99 10. Students who attend a job engine charter school under
100 paragraph (15)(c) who are the children of an employee of a job
101 producing entity identified by the municipality in the annual
102 job engine charter report.
103 (15) CHARTER SCHOOLS-IN-THE-WORKPLACE; CHARTER SCHOOLS-IN
104 A-MUNICIPALITY.—
105 (c)1. A charter school-in-a-municipality designation may be
106 granted to a municipality that possesses a charter; enrolls
107 students based upon a random lottery that involves all of the
108 children of the residents of that municipality who are seeking
109 enrollment, as provided for in subsection (10); and enrolls
110 students according to the racial and ethnic racial/ethnic
111 balance provisions described in subparagraph (7)(a)8. When a
112 municipality has submitted charter applications for the
113 establishment of a charter school feeder pattern, consisting of
114 elementary, middle, and senior high schools, and each individual
115 charter application is approved by the sponsor, such schools
116 shall then be designated as one charter school for all purposes
117 listed pursuant to this section. Any portion of the land and
118 facility used for a public charter school shall be exempt from
119 ad valorem taxes, as provided for in s. 1013.54, for the
120 duration of its use as a public school.
121 2. A municipality may seek a charter under subparagraph 1.
122 from a sponsor in subsection (5). If granted, such a charter may
123 be designated a job engine charter. The purpose of a job engine
124 charter school is to attract job-producing entities to the
125 municipality. The charter must require the municipality to:
126 a. Provide an annual report to the sponsor which will be
127 made publicly available and include investments made to attract
128 and maintain job-producing entities, such as private sector
129 industries, in the municipality.
130 b. Include career education opportunities.
131 c. Include the provision of exceptional student education
132 administration services, pursuant to subparagraph (20)(a)1.
133 d. Require the use of sufficient security technology to
134 ensure a secure facility.
135 e. Notwithstanding paragraph (8)(e), accept responsibility
136 for all debts incurred by the job engine charter school.
137 3. A job engine charter school may give enrollment
138 preferences pursuant to subparagraph (10)(d)10.
139 (18) FACILITIES.—
140 (e) If a district school board facility or property is
141 available because it is surplus, marked for disposal, or
142 otherwise unused, it shall be provided for a charter school’s
143 use on the same basis as it is made available to other public
144 schools in the district. A charter school receiving property
145 from the sponsor may not sell or dispose of such property
146 without written permission of the sponsor. Similarly, for an
147 existing public school converting to charter status, a district
148 school board may not charge no rental or leasing fees fee for
149 the existing facility or for the property normally inventoried
150 to the conversion school may be charged by the district school
151 board to the parents, principal, school advisory council, or and
152 teachers organizing the charter school. The municipality must
153 negotiate rental or leasing fees with the district school board.
154 Property normally inventoried to the school may not be removed.
155 The charter school shall agree to reasonable maintenance
156 provisions in order to maintain the facility in a manner similar
157 to district school board standards. The Public Education Capital
158 Outlay maintenance funds or any other maintenance funds
159 generated by the facility operated as a conversion school shall
160 remain with the conversion school.
161 Section 2. Section 1011.801, Florida Statutes, is amended
162 to read:
163 1011.801 Workforce Development Capitalization Incentive
164 Grant Program.—The Legislature recognizes that the need for
165 school districts, charter schools, and Florida College System
166 institutions to be able to respond to emerging local or
167 statewide economic development needs is critical to the
168 workforce development system. The Workforce Development
169 Capitalization Incentive Grant Program is created to provide
170 grants to school districts, charter schools, and Florida College
171 System institutions to fund some or all of the costs associated
172 with the creation or expansion of career and technical education
173 programs that lead to industry certifications included on the
174 CAPE Industry Certification Funding List. The programs may serve
175 secondary students or postsecondary students if the
176 postsecondary career and technical education program also serves
177 secondary students in grades 6-12.
178 (1) Funds awarded for a workforce development
179 capitalization incentive grant may be used for instructional
180 equipment, laboratory equipment, supplies, personnel, student
181 services, or other expenses associated with the creation or
182 expansion of a career and technical education program that
183 serves secondary students. Expansion of a program may include
184 either the expansion of enrollments in a program or expansion
185 into new areas of specialization within a program. No grant
186 funds may be used for recurring instructional costs or for
187 institutions’ indirect costs.
188 (2) The Department of Education shall administer the
189 program. The State Board of Education may adopt rules for
190 program administration. The State Board of Education shall
191 consider the statewide geographic dispersion of grant funds in
192 ranking the applications and shall give priority to applications
193 from education agencies that are making maximum use of their
194 workforce development funding by offering high-performing, high
195 demand programs or to applications from a job engine charter
196 school under s. 1002.33(15)(c).
197 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.