Florida Senate - 2025 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 822
Ì327032sÎ327032
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
03/31/2025 .
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The Committee on Education Pre-K - 12 (Rodriguez) recommended
the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with directory and title amendments)
2
3 Delete lines 197 - 864
4 and insert:
5 (9) CHARTER SCHOOL REQUIREMENTS.—
6 (s) A charter school governing board may adopt its own code
7 of student conduct. The code of student conduct must meet or
8 exceed the minimum standards set forth in the sponsor’s code of
9 student conduct. Any provision of the code of student conduct
10 which is more stringent than the sponsor’s code of student
11 conduct must align with the mission of the charter school. The
12 sponsor may review the code and offer recommendations. Any
13 complaint or appeal related to the code of student conduct must
14 be resolved by the charter school’s governing board using the
15 board’s established procedures and must be in compliance with
16 applicable law and rules.
17 (10) ELIGIBLE STUDENTS.—
18 (d) A charter school may give enrollment preference to the
19 following student populations:
20 1. Students who are siblings of a student enrolled in the
21 charter school.
22 2. Students who are the children of a member of the
23 governing board of the charter school.
24 3. Students who are the children of an employee of the
25 charter school.
26 4. Students who are the children of:
27 a. An employee of the business partner of a charter school
28 in-the-workplace established under paragraph (15)(b) or a
29 resident of the municipality in which such charter school is
30 located; or
31 b. A resident or employee of a municipality that operates a
32 charter school-in-a-municipality pursuant to paragraph (15)(c)
33 or allows a charter school to use a school facility or portion
34 of land provided by the municipality for the operation of the
35 charter school.
36 5. Students who have successfully completed, during the
37 previous year, a voluntary prekindergarten education program
38 under ss. 1002.51-1002.79 provided by the charter school, the
39 charter school’s governing board, or a voluntary prekindergarten
40 provider that has a written agreement with the governing board.
41 6. Students who are the children of an active duty member
42 of any branch of the United States Armed Forces.
43 7. Students who attended or are assigned to failing schools
44 pursuant to s. 1002.38(2).
45 8. Students who are the children of a safe-school officer,
46 as defined in s. 1006.12, at the school.
47 9. Students who transfer from a classical school in this
48 state to a charter classical school in this state. For purposes
49 of this subparagraph, the term “classical school” means a
50 traditional public school or charter school that implements a
51 classical education model that emphasizes the development of
52 students in the principles of moral character and civic virtue
53 through a well-rounded education in the liberal arts and
54 sciences which is based on the classical trivium stages of
55 grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
56 (h) The capacity of the charter school shall be determined
57 annually by the governing board, in conjunction with the
58 sponsor, of the charter school in consideration of the factors
59 identified in this subsection and subsection (18) unless the
60 charter school is designated as a high-performing charter school
61 pursuant to s. 1002.331. A sponsor may not require a charter
62 school to waive the provisions of s. 1002.331 or require a
63 student enrollment cap that prohibits a high-performing charter
64 school from increasing enrollment in accordance with s.
65 1002.331(2) as a condition of approval or renewal of a charter.
66 (16) EXEMPTION FROM STATUTES.—
67 (b) Additionally, a charter school shall be in compliance
68 with the following statutes:
69 1. Section 286.011, relating to public meetings and
70 records, public inspection, and criminal and civil penalties.
71 2. Chapter 119, relating to public records.
72 3. Section 1003.03, relating to the maximum class size,
73 except that the calculation for compliance pursuant to s.
74 1003.03 shall be the average at the school level.
75 4. Section 1012.22(1)(c), relating to compensation and
76 salary schedules.
77 5. Section 1012.33(5), relating to workforce reductions.
78 6. Section 1012.335, relating to contracts with
79 instructional personnel hired on or after July 1, 2011.
80 7. Section 1012.34, relating to the substantive
81 requirements for performance evaluations for instructional
82 personnel and school administrators.
83 8. Section 1006.12, relating to safe-school officers.
84 9. Section 1006.07(7), relating to threat management teams.
85 10. Section 1006.07(9), relating to School Environmental
86 Safety Incident Reporting.
87 11. Section 1006.07(10), relating to reporting of
88 involuntary examinations.
89 12. Section 1006.1493, relating to the Florida Safe Schools
90 Assessment Tool.
91 13. Section 1006.07(6)(d), relating to adopting an active
92 assailant response plan.
93 14. Section 943.082(4)(b), relating to the mobile
94 suspicious activity reporting tool.
95 15. Section 1012.584, relating to youth mental health
96 awareness and assistance training.
97 16. Section 1001.42(4)(f)2., relating to middle school and
98 high school start times. A charter school-in-the-workplace is
99 exempt from this requirement.
100 17. Section 1001.42(8)(c), relating to student welfare.
101 (18) FACILITIES.—
102 (h) A charter school that is not implementing a school
103 improvement plan pursuant to paragraph (9)(n) or a corrective
104 action plan pursuant to s. 1002.345 may increase its student
105 enrollment to more than the capacity identified in the charter,
106 but student enrollment may not exceed the capacity of the
107 facility at the time the enrollment increase will take effect.
108 Facility capacity for purposes of expansion must include any
109 improvements to an existing facility or any new facility in
110 which the student of the charter school will enroll. A charter
111 school must notify its sponsor in writing by March 1 if it
112 intends to increase enrollment for the following school year.
113 The written notice must specify the amount of the enrollment
114 increase.
115 (20) SERVICES.—
116 (a)1. A sponsor shall provide certain administrative and
117 educational services to charter schools. These services shall
118 include contract management services; full-time equivalent and
119 data reporting services; exceptional student education
120 administration services; services related to eligibility and
121 reporting duties required to ensure that school lunch services
122 under the National School Lunch Program, consistent with the
123 needs of the charter school, are provided by the sponsor at the
124 request of the charter school, that any funds due to the charter
125 school under the National School Lunch Program be paid to the
126 charter school as soon as the charter school begins serving food
127 under the National School Lunch Program, and that the charter
128 school is paid at the same time and in the same manner under the
129 National School Lunch Program as other public schools serviced
130 by the sponsor or the school district; test administration
131 services, including payment of the costs of state-required or
132 district-required student assessments; processing of teacher
133 certificate data services; and information services, including
134 equal access to the sponsor’s student information systems that
135 are used by public schools in the district in which the charter
136 school is located or by schools in the sponsor’s portfolio of
137 charter schools if the sponsor is not a school district. Access
138 to the sponsor’s student information system must be provided to
139 the charter school and its contractor, unless prohibited by
140 general or federal law. Student performance data for each
141 student in a charter school, including, but not limited to,
142 statewide FCAT scores, standardized test scores, coordinated
143 screening and progress monitoring student results, previous
144 public school student report cards, and student performance
145 measures, shall be provided by the sponsor to a charter school
146 in the same manner provided to other public schools in the
147 district or by schools in the sponsor’s portfolio of charter
148 schools if the sponsor is not a school district. The department
149 shall provide student performance data to a charter school and
150 its contractor, unless prohibited by general or federal law.
151 2. A sponsor shall provide training to charter schools on
152 systems the sponsor will require the charter school to use.
153 3. A sponsor may withhold an administrative fee for the
154 provision of such services which shall be a percentage of the
155 available funds defined in paragraph (17)(b) calculated based on
156 weighted full-time equivalent students. If the charter school
157 serves 75 percent or more exceptional education students as
158 defined in s. 1003.01(9), the percentage shall be calculated
159 based on unweighted full-time equivalent students. The
160 administrative fee shall be calculated as follows:
161 a. Up to 5 percent for:
162 (I) Enrollment of up to and including 250 students in a
163 charter school as defined in this section.
164 (II) Enrollment of up to and including 500 students within
165 a charter school system which meets all of the following:
166 (A) Includes conversion charter schools and nonconversion
167 charter schools.
168 (B) Has all of its schools located in the same county.
169 (C) Has a total enrollment exceeding the total enrollment
170 of at least one school district in this state.
171 (D) Has the same governing board for all of its schools.
172 (E) Does not contract with a for-profit service provider
173 for management of school operations.
174 (III) Enrollment of up to and including 250 students in a
175 virtual charter school.
176 b. Up to 2 percent for enrollment of up to and including
177 250 students in a high-performing charter school as defined in
178 s. 1002.331.
179 c. Up to 2 percent for enrollment of up to and including
180 250 students in an exceptional student education center that
181 meets the requirements of the rules adopted by the State Board
182 of Education pursuant to s. 1008.3415(3).
183 4. A sponsor may not charge charter schools any additional
184 fees or surcharges for administrative and educational services
185 in addition to the maximum percentage of administrative fees
186 withheld pursuant to this paragraph. A sponsor may not charge or
187 withhold any administrative fee against a charter school for any
188 funds specifically allocated by the Legislature for teacher
189 compensation.
190 5. A sponsor shall provide to the department by September
191 15 of each year the total amount of funding withheld from
192 charter schools pursuant to this subsection for the prior fiscal
193 year. The department must include the information in the report
194 required under sub-sub-subparagraph (5)(b)1.k.(III).
195 6. A sponsor shall annually provide a report to its charter
196 schools on what services are being rendered from the sponsor’s
197 portion of the administrative fee. The report must include the
198 listed services and be submitted to the department by September
199 15 of each year.
200 (26) STANDARDS OF CONDUCT AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE.—
201 (d) A landlord of a charter school or his or her spouse or
202 an officer, director, or employee of an entity that is a
203 landlord of a charter school or his or her spouse may not be a
204 member of a governing board of a charter school unless the
205 charter school was established pursuant to paragraph (15)(c).
206 Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 1002.331, Florida
207 Statutes, is amended to read:
208 1002.331 High-performing charter schools.—
209 (2) A high-performing charter school is authorized to:
210 (a) Increase its student enrollment once per school year to
211 more than the capacity identified in the charter, but student
212 enrollment may not exceed the capacity of the facility at the
213 time the enrollment increase will take effect. Facility capacity
214 for purposes of expansion must shall include any improvements to
215 an existing facility or any new facility in which the students
216 of the high-performing charter school will enroll.
217 (b) Expand grade levels within kindergarten through grade
218 12 to add grade levels not already served if any annual
219 enrollment increase resulting from grade level expansion is
220 within the limit established in paragraph (a).
221 (c) Submit a quarterly, rather than a monthly, financial
222 statement to the sponsor pursuant to s. 1002.33(9)(g).
223 (d) Consolidate under a single charter the charters of
224 multiple high-performing charter schools operated in the same
225 school district by the charter schools’ governing board
226 regardless of the renewal cycle.
227 (e) Receive a modification of its charter to a term of 15
228 years or a 15-year charter renewal. The charter may be modified
229 or renewed for a shorter term at the option of the high
230 performing charter school. The charter must be consistent with
231 s. 1002.33(7)(a)19. and (10)(h) and (i), is subject to annual
232 review by the sponsor, and may be terminated during its term
233 pursuant to s. 1002.33(8).
234 (f) Assume the charter of an existing charter school within
235 the same school district in which it operates. Any request to
236 assume a charter must be initiated by a school in a written
237 format to the high-performing charter school.
238
239 A high-performing charter school shall notify its sponsor in
240 writing by March 1 if it intends to increase enrollment or
241 expand grade levels the following school year. The written
242 notice shall specify the amount of the enrollment increase and
243 the grade levels that will be added, as applicable. If a charter
244 school notifies the sponsor of its intent to expand, the sponsor
245 shall modify the charter within 90 days to include the new
246 enrollment maximum and may not make any other changes. The
247 sponsor may deny a request to increase the enrollment of a high
248 performing charter school if the commissioner has declassified
249 the charter school as high-performing. If a high-performing
250 charter school requests to consolidate multiple charters or to
251 assume an existing charter, the sponsor has shall have 40 days
252 after receipt of that request to provide an initial draft
253 charter to the charter school. The sponsor and charter school
254 shall have 50 days thereafter to negotiate and notice the
255 charter contract for final approval by the sponsor.
256
257 ====== D I R E C T O R Y C L A U S E A M E N D M E N T ======
258 And the directory clause is amended as follows:
259 Delete lines 48 - 53
260 and insert:
261 paragraphs (d) and (h) of subsection (10), paragraph (b) of
262 subsection (16), and paragraph (a) of subsection (20) of section
263 1002.33, Florida Statutes, are amended, and paragraph (s) is
264 added to subsection (9), paragraph (h) is added to subsection
265 (18), and paragraph (d) is added to subsection (26) of
266
267 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
268 And the title is amended as follows:
269 Delete lines 4 - 43
270 and insert:
271 for charter schools; authorizing a charter school
272 governing board to adopt its own code of student
273 conduct; providing requirements for the code of
274 student conduct; providing that charter schools are
275 not exempt from a specified statute; authorizing a
276 charter school to increase its student enrollment
277 beyond the capacity identified in the charter under
278 certain conditions; requiring a charter school to
279 notify its sponsor in writing by a specified date, and
280 to include specified information, if it plans to
281 increase enrollment; revising services a sponsor must
282 provide to a charter school; requiring the Department
283 of Education to provide student performance data to a
284 charter school and its contractor; providing an
285 exception; prohibiting specified individuals from
286 being on a charter school governing board; providing
287 an exception; amending s. 1002.331, F.S.; authorizing
288 a high-performing charter school to assume the charter
289 of an existing charter school within the same school
290 district; providing an effective date.