2016 Legislative Update: A List of Bills that will Impact Education

 

Florida – 03/18/16 – The 2016 Florida Legislative Session came to a close on Friday, March 11.  Legislators finalized the state budget, which included a $75 million allocation for charter school capital outlay. A $25 million increase from the previous year. Several bills were passed that impact charter schools — including a wide-range education bill (HB 7029) which updates the capital funding distribution formula for district-run and charter schools. The highlights from HB 7029 and other bills are listed below.

 

Education Bill (HB7029) highlights:

Capital Outlay

In order to qualify for Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) funds, a charter school must:

  • Be free of financial emergency conditions.
  • Have been in operation for 2 years. Previously, a charter school needed to be in operation for 3 years to qualify.

Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) allocation formula:

There will be a base amount of PECO allocated to qualifying charter schools that shall be determined by the total weighted FTE. However, schools with large Title 1 or ESE populations get an added amount.

  • Charter schools whose Free and Reduced lunch/Title 1 population is 75% or greater of students served will receive an additional 25% of PECO. Charter schools whose ESE population is 25% or greater of the student served will receive an additional 25% of PECO dollars.
  • An eligible charter school that meets both the ESE and Title 1 criteria, will receive an additional 50% above the base funding and the FTE for that school shall be multiplied be a weight of 1.5.
  • Charter schools that do not meet the Title 1 or ESE criteria listed above will be funded according to their FTE and, according to statute, “shall be assigned a weight of 1.0.”

Application Process & Governing Board Requirements

  • A charter school application must disclose the name of each applicant, governing board member, and all proposed education services providers; the name and sponsor of any charter school operated by each applicant, each governing board member and each proposed education closure; and the academic and financial history of such charter schools, which the sponsor shall consider in deciding whether to approve or deny the application.
  • Upon contract approval, charter schools must provide their sponsor with monthly financial statements.
  • A school district may not charge for an application unless it’s a draft application for review.
  • A sponsor may not require governing board members to reside in the school district in which the charter school is located if the charter school complies with the above.
  • Each charter school’s governing board must hold at least two public meetings per school year in the school district where the charter school is located.
  • Members of the charter school governing board may attend in person or by means of communications media technology.
  • Each charter school’s governing board must appoint a representative to facilitate parental involvement, provide access to information, assist parents and others with questions and concerns, and resolve disputes. The representative must reside in the school district where the charter school is located and may be a governing board member, a charter school employee, or an individual contracted to represent the governing board. If the governing board oversees multiple charter schools in the same school district, the governing board must appoint a separate representative for each charter school in the district.
  • A charter school may defer the opening of the school’s operation for up to 2 years and must provide written notice of such intent to the sponsor and parents at least 30 calendar days before the first day of school.

Charter School

  • Admission and dismissal of a student may not be based on academic performance.
  • A charter school contract is automatically terminated if the school earns 2 consecutive “F” after all school grades appeals are final.
  • Adds enrollment preference to students who attended or are assigned to failing schools.

Municipal Charter School Enrollment

Provides enrollment preference to a resident or employee of a municipality that operates a charter school or allows a charter school to use a school facility or portion of land provided by the municipality for the operation of the charter school.

Facility

  • HB 7029 adds “site-planning” as part of equitable treatment by local governing authority to charter schools as with regards to similar requirements, restrictions, and processes imposed upon public schools that are not charter schools.
  • An aggrieved party that received injunctive relied may be awarded attorney fees and costs

 

Other passed legislation that may be of interest to charter schools:

 

Open Enrollment

  • Parents are permitted to transfer their children to any under-capacity public school in the state starting in the 2017-18 school year.

 

High School Athletes

  • High school athletes are now allowed to transfer schools and be immediately eligible to play a sport as long as they hadn’t played the same sport that school year on another campus. Legislators also added language that penalizes school officials who recruit high school athletes.
  • A student may not participate in a sport if the student participated in that same sport at another school during that school year (exceptions: transfer due to military orders of family member, relocation due to foster care, move due to a court order change in custody due to separation, divorce, serious illness, or death of custodial parent)

 

Teacher Assignment

  • Requires a school to approve or deny within two weeks a request made by a parent to have their child placed with a specific classroom. An explanation must be given to the parent no later than 2 weeks after the request has been made.
  • The transfer process must be included in the student handbook.

 

Professional Development

A charter school governing board may develop and maintain a system by which members of the instructional staff may demonstrate mastery of professional preparation and education competence as required by law.

 

Pilot competency-based program

Student may soon be able to advance through school if they can prove they’ve mastered what they should be learning. If signed by Governor Scott, the competency-based education program HB 1365 will be piloted in starting next school year in Pinellas, Palm Beach, Lake and Seminole counties.

 

Bullying policies

All of Florida’s K-12 school districts are now required to review their bullying and harassment policies more frequently to ensure they are completely comprehensive and up-to-date. This legislation (HB 229) updates existing language under Florida Statute 1006.147 which requires school districts to adopt policies that follow those of the Florida Department of Education and review them at least every three years.

 

Best & Brightest

$49 million was allocated for a performance-based bonus program for teachers. Known as the “Best and Brightest,” the program provides pay raises of as much as $10,000 to teachers who earn a “highly effective” in their performance evaluations and who had scored among the top 20 percent in their SAT or ACT college admission tests.

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