The Florida Senate

230.33  Duties and responsibilities of superintendent.--The superintendent shall exercise all powers and perform all duties listed below and elsewhere in the law; provided, that in so doing he or she shall advise and counsel with the school board. The superintendent shall perform all tasks necessary to make sound recommendations, nominations, proposals, and reports required by law to be acted upon by the school board. All such recommendations, nominations, proposals, and reports by the superintendent shall be either recorded in the minutes or shall be made in writing, noted in the minutes, and filed in the public records of the board. It shall be presumed that, in the absence of the record required in this paragraph, the recommendations, nominations, and proposals required of the superintendent were not contrary to the action taken by the school board in such matters.

(1)  ASSIST IN ORGANIZATION OF BOARD.--Preside at the organization meeting of the school board and transmit to the Department of Education, within 2 weeks following such meeting, a certified copy of the proceedings of organization, including the schedule of regular meetings, and the names and addresses of district school officials.

(2)  REGULAR AND SPECIAL MEETINGS OF THE BOARD.--Attend all regular meetings of the school board, call special meetings when emergencies arise, and advise, but not vote, on questions under consideration.

(3)  RECORDS FOR THE BOARD.--Keep minutes of all official actions and proceedings of the school board and keep such other records, including records of property held or disposed of by the school board, as may be necessary to provide complete information regarding the district school system.

(4)  SCHOOL PROPERTY.--Act for the school board as custodian of school property.

(5)  SCHOOL PROGRAM; PREPARE PLANS.--Supervise the assembling of data and sponsor studies and surveys essential to the development of a planned school program for the entire district and prepare and recommend such a program to the school board as the basis for operating the district school system.

(6)  ESTABLISHMENT, ORGANIZATION, AND OPERATION OF SCHOOLS, CLASSES, AND SERVICES.--Recommend the establishment, organization, and operation of such schools, classes, and services as are needed to provide adequate educational opportunities for all children in the district.

(7)  PERSONNEL.--Be responsible, as required herein, for directing the work of the personnel, subject to the requirements of chapter 231, and in addition the superintendent shall have the following duties:

(a)  Positions, qualifications, and nominations.--Recommend to the school board duties and responsibilities which need to be performed and positions which need to be filled to make possible the development of an adequate school program in the district; recommend minimum qualifications of personnel for these various positions; and nominate in writing persons to fill such positions.

(b)  Compensation and salary schedules.--Prepare and recommend to the school board for adoption a salary schedule or salary schedules. The superintendent must recommend a salary schedule for instructional personnel which bases a portion of each employee's compensation on performance demonstrated under s. 231.29. In developing the recommended salary schedule, the superintendent shall include input from parents, teachers, and representatives of the business community.

(c)  Contracts and terms of service.--Recommend to the school board terms for contracting with employees and prepare such contracts as are approved.

(d)  Transfer and promotions.--Recommend employees for transfer and transfer any employee during any emergency and report the transfer to the school board at its next regular meeting.

(e)  Suspension and dismissal.--Suspend members of the instructional staff and other school employees during emergencies for a period extending to and including the day of the next regular or special meeting of the school board and notify the school board immediately of such suspension. When authorized to do so, serve notice on the suspended member of the instructional staff of charges made against him or her and of the date of hearing. Recommend employees for dismissal under the terms prescribed herein.

(f)  Direct work of employees and supervise instruction.--Direct or arrange for the proper direction and improvement, under regulations of the school board, of the work of all members of the instructional staff and other employees of the district school system and supervise or arrange under rules of the school board for the supervision of instruction in the district and take such steps as are necessary to bring about continuous improvement.

(8)  CHILD WELFARE.--Recommend plans to the school board for the proper accounting for all children of school age, for the attendance and control of pupils at school, for the proper attention to health, safety, and other matters which will best promote the welfare of children, as prescribed in chapter 232. When the superintendent makes a recommendation for expulsion to the school board, he or she shall give written notice to the pupil and the pupil's parent or guardian of the recommendation, setting forth the charges against the pupil and advising the pupil and his or her parent or guardian of the pupil's right to due process as prescribed by ss. 120.569 and 120.57(2). When school board action on a recommendation for the expulsion of a pupil is pending, the superintendent may extend the suspension assigned by the principal beyond 10 school days if such suspension period expires before the next regular or special meeting of the school board.

(9)  COURSES OF STUDY AND OTHER INSTRUCTIONAL AIDS.--Recommend such plans for improving, providing, distributing, accounting for, and caring for textbooks and other instructional aids as will result in general improvement of the district school system, as prescribed in chapter 233.

(10)  TRANSPORTATION OF PUPILS.--Ascertain which pupils should be transported to school or to school activities, determine the most effective arrangement of transportation routes to accommodate these pupils; recommend such routing to the school board; recommend plans and procedures for providing facilities for the economical and safe transportation of pupils; recommend such rules and regulations as may be necessary and see that all rules and regulations relating to the transportation of pupils approved by the school board, as well as regulations of the state board, are properly carried into effect, as prescribed in chapter 234.

(11)  SCHOOL PLANT.--Recommend plans, and execute such plans as are approved, regarding all phases of the school plant program, as prescribed in chapter 235.

(12)  FINANCE.--Recommend measures to the school board to assure adequate educational facilities throughout the district, in accordance with the financial procedure authorized in chapters 236 and 237 and as prescribed below:

(a)  Plan for operating all schools for minimum term.--Determine and recommend district funds necessary in addition to state funds to provide for at least a 180-day school term or the equivalent on an hourly basis as specified by rules which shall be adopted by the State Board of Education and recommend plans for ensuring the operation of all schools for the term authorized by the school board.

(b)  Annual budget.--Prepare the annual school budget to be submitted to the school board for adoption according to law and submit this budget, when adopted by the school board, to the Department of Education on or before the date required by rules of the state board.

(c)  Tax levies.--Recommend to the school board, on the basis of the needs shown by the budget, the amount of district school tax levy necessary to provide the district school funds needed for the maintenance of the public schools; recommend to the school board the tax levy required on the basis of the needs shown in the budget for the district bond interest and sinking fund of each district; and recommend to the school board to be included on the ballot at each district millage election the school district tax levies necessary to carry on the school program.

(d)  School funds.--Keep an accurate account of all funds which should be transmitted to the school board for school purposes at various periods during the year and see, insofar as possible, that these funds are transmitted promptly; report promptly to the school board any delinquencies or delays that occur in making available any funds that should be made available for school purposes.

(e)  Borrowing money.--Recommend when necessary the borrowing of money as prescribed by law.

(f)  Financial records and accounting.--Keep or have kept accurate records of all financial transactions.

(g)  Payrolls and accounts.--Maintain accurate and current statements of accounts due to be paid by the school board; certify these statements as correct; liquidate board obligations in accordance with the official budget and rules of the school board; and prepare periodic reports as required by rules of the state board, showing receipts, balances, and disbursements to date, and file copies of such periodic reports with the Department of Education.

(h)  Bonds for employees.--Recommend the bonds of all school employees who should be bonded in order to provide reasonable safeguards for all school funds or property.

(i)  Contracts.--After study of the feasibility of contractual services with industry, recommend to the school board the desirable terms, conditions, and specifications for contracts for supplies, materials, or services to be rendered and see that materials, supplies, or services are provided according to contract.

(j)  Investment policies.--The superintendent shall, after careful examination, recommend policies to the school board which will provide for the investment or deposit of school funds not needed for immediate expenditures which shall earn the maximum possible yield under the circumstances on such investments or deposits. The superintendent shall cause to be invested at all times all school moneys not immediately needed for expenditures pursuant to the policies of the school board.

(k)  Protection against loss.--Recommend programs and procedures to the school board necessary to protect the school system adequately against loss or damage to school property or against loss resulting from any liability for which the board or its officers, agents, or employees may be responsible under law.

(l)  Millage elections.--Recommend plans and procedures for holding and supervising all school district millage elections.

(m)  Budgets and expenditures.--Prepare, after consulting with the principals of the various schools, tentative annual budgets for the expenditure of district funds for the benefit of public school pupils of the district.

(n)  Bonds.--Recommend the amounts of bonds to be issued in the district and assist in the preparation of the necessary papers for an election to determine whether the proposed bond issue will be approved by the electors; if such bond issue be approved by the electors, recommend plans for the sale of bonds and for the proper expenditure of the funds derived therefrom.

(13)  RECORDS AND REPORTS.--Recommend such records as should be kept in addition to those prescribed by rules of the state board or by the department; prepare forms for keeping such records as are approved by the school board; see that such records are properly kept; and make all reports that are needed or required, as follows:

(a)  Forms, blanks, and reports.--Require that all employees keep accurately all records and make promptly in proper form all reports required by the school code or by rules of the state board; recommend the keeping of such additional records and the making of such additional reports as may be deemed necessary to provide data essential for the operation of the school system; and prepare such forms and blanks as may be required and see that these records and reports are properly prepared.

(b)  Reports to the department.--Prepare, for the approval of the school board, all reports that may be required by law or rules of the state board or of the commissioner to be made to the department and transmit promptly all such reports, when approved, to the department, as required by law. If any such reports are not transmitted at the time and in the manner prescribed by law or by state board rules, the salary of the superintendent must be withheld until the report has been properly submitted. Unless otherwise provided by regulations of the state board, the annual report on attendance and personnel is due on or before July 1, and the annual school budget and the report on finance are due on the date prescribed by the commissioner.

(c)  Failure to make reports; penalty.--Any superintendent who knowingly signs and transmits to any state official a false or incorrect report shall forfeit his or her right to any salary for the period of 1 year from that date.

(14)  COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES.--

(a)  Cooperation with governmental agencies in enforcement of laws and rules.--Recommend plans for cooperating with, and, on the basis of approved plans, cooperate with federal, state, county, and municipal agencies in the enforcement of laws and rules pertaining to all matters relating to education and child welfare.

(b)  Cooperation with other local administrators to achieve the first state education goal.--Cooperate with the district administrator of the Department of Children and Family Services and with administrators of other local public and private agencies to achieve the first state education goal, readiness to start school.

(c)  Identifying and reporting names of migratory children, other information.--Recommend plans for identifying and reporting to the Department of Education the name of each child in the school district who qualifies according to the definition of a migratory child, based on Pub. L. No. 95-561, and for reporting such other information as may be prescribed by the department.

(15)  ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS AND RULES.--Require that all laws and rules of the state board, as well as supplementary rules of the school board, are properly observed and report to the school board any violation that the superintendent does not succeed in having corrected.

(16)  COOPERATE WITH SCHOOL BOARD.--Cooperate with the school board in every manner practicable to the end that the district school system may continuously be improved.

(17)  VISITATION OF SCHOOLS.--Visit the schools; observe the management and instruction; give suggestions for improvement; and advise with supervisors, principals, teachers, patrons, and other citizens with the view of promoting interest in education and improving the school conditions of the district.

(18)  CONFERENCES, INSTITUTES, AND STUDY COURSES.--Call and conduct institutes and conferences with employees of the school board, school patrons, and other interested citizens; organize and direct study and extension courses for employees, advising them as to their professional studies; assist patrons and people generally in acquiring knowledge of the aims, services, and needs of the schools.

(19)  PROFESSIONAL AND GENERAL IMPROVEMENT.--Attend such conferences for superintendents as may be called or scheduled by the Department of Education and avail himself or herself of means of professional and general improvement so that he or she may function most efficiently.

(20)  RECOMMEND REVOKING CERTIFICATES.--Recommend in writing to the Department of Education the revoking of any certificate for good cause, including a full statement of the reason for the superintendent's recommendation.

(21)  MAKE RECORDS AVAILABLE TO SUCCESSOR.--Leave with the school board and make available to his or her successor upon retiring from office a complete inventory of school equipment and other property, together with all official records and such other records as may be needed in supervising instruction and in administering the district school system.

(22)  RECOMMEND PROCEDURES FOR INFORMING GENERAL PUBLIC.--Recommend to the school board procedures whereby the general public can be adequately informed of the educational programs, needs, and objectives of public education within the district.

(23)  SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY.--Recommend procedures for implementing and maintaining a system of school improvement and education accountability as provided by statute and State Board of Education rule.

(24)  OTHER DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES.--Perform such other duties as are assigned to the superintendent by law or by rules of the state board or of the commissioner.

History.--s. 433, ch. 19355, 1939; CGL 1940 Supp. 892(96); s. 3, ch. 29754, s. 42, ch. 29764, 1955; s. 5, ch. 59-371; s. 4, ch. 61-288; s. 7, ch. 63-376; s. 30, ch. 65-239; s. 1, ch. 67-238; ss. 5, 6, ch. 67-438; ss. 4, 5, ch. 68-13; s. 7, ch. 68-24; ss. 15, 19, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 1, ch. 69-300; s. 2, ch. 70-194; ss. 2, 3, ch. 70-399; ss. 5-8, ch. 71-164; s. 60, ch. 71-355; s. 58, ch. 71-377; ss. 40-46, ch. 72-221; s. 10, ch. 74-356; s. 12, ch. 76-223; s. 3, ch. 76-236; s. 16, ch. 78-423; s. 2, ch. 79-256; s. 6, ch. 80-295; s. 2, ch. 81-103; s. 2, ch. 81-247; s. 15, ch. 91-283; s. 137, ch. 94-209; s. 1532, ch. 95-147; s. 2, ch. 95-162; s. 48, ch. 96-410; ss. 13, 112, ch. 97-190; s. 2, ch. 97-212; s. 31, ch. 99-8.