The Florida Senate

229.58  District and school advisory councils.--

(1)  ESTABLISHMENT.--

(a)  The school board shall establish an advisory council for each school in the district, and shall develop procedures for the election and appointment of advisory council members. A majority of the members of each school advisory council must be persons who are not employed by the school board. Each advisory council shall be composed of the principal and an appropriately balanced number of teachers, education support employees, students, parents, and other business and community citizens who are representative of the ethnic, racial, and economic community served by the school, provided that vocational-technical center and high school advisory councils shall include students, and middle and junior high school advisory councils may include students. Council members representing teachers, education support employees, students, and parents shall be elected by their respective peer groups at the school in a fair and equitable manner as follows:

1.  Teachers shall be elected by teachers.

2.  Education support employees shall be elected by education support employees.

3.  Students shall be elected by students.

4.  Parents shall be elected by parents.

The school board shall establish procedures for use by schools in selecting business and community members. Such procedures shall include means of ¹ensuring wide notice of vacancies and for taking input on possible members from local business, chambers of commerce, community and civic organizations and groups, and the public at large. The school board shall review the membership composition of each advisory council. Should the school board determine that the membership elected by the school is not representative of the ethnic, racial, and economic community served by the school, the board shall appoint additional members to achieve proper representation. Although schools should be strongly encouraged to establish school advisory councils, any school district that has a student population of 10,000 or fewer may establish a district advisory council which shall include at least one duly elected teacher from each school in the district. For the purposes of school advisory councils and district advisory councils, the term "teacher" shall include classroom teachers, certified student services personnel, and media specialists. For purposes of this paragraph, "education support employee" means any person employed by a school who is not defined as instructional or administrative personnel pursuant to s. 228.041 and whose duties require 20 or more hours in each normal working week.

(b)  The school board may establish a district advisory council representative of the district and composed of teachers, students, parents, and other citizens or a district advisory council which may be comprised of representatives of each school advisory council. Recognized schoolwide support groups which meet all criteria established by law or rule may function as school advisory councils.

(2)  DUTIES.--Each advisory council shall perform such functions as are prescribed by regulations of the school board; however, no advisory council shall have any of the powers and duties now reserved by law to the school board. Each school advisory council shall assist in the preparation and evaluation of the school improvement plan required pursuant to s. 230.23(16) and shall provide such assistance as the principal may request in preparing the school's annual budget and plan as required by s. 229.555(1).

History.--s. 8, ch. 76-223; s. 1, ch. 78-416; ss. 11, 21, ch. 91-283; s. 5, ch. 91-429; s. 1, ch. 93-93; s. 49, ch. 97-190; s. 2, ch. 97-279.

¹Note.--The word "ensuring" was substituted for the word "insuring" by the editors.