The Florida School Code Revision

1. The Florida School Code Revision Kathy Mizereck K-20 Legislative Affairs Director John L. Winn Assistant Secretary Florida Board of Education

2. Requirement in Statute • SB1162 • Section 10. Section 229.0072, Florida Statutes, is created to read: (4)…the Florida Board of Education shall: (n) Develop and recommend to the Education Governance Reorganization Transition Task Force, the Governor, the Secretary of the Florida Board of Education, the Commissioner of Education, and the Legislature, no later than January 1, 2002, for adoption during 2002, a clear, concise new School Code, comprised of the revision of chapters 228-246, to accomplish the implementation, administration, and operation of Florida’s seamless K-20 education system in accordance with the guidelines included in s. 229.001.

3. Our Chosen Process • Workgroup selected and appointed by Commissioner and Secretary • Guiding principles established • Proposed chapters established • Revision “homework” procedure created • Decision-making • Public outreach

4. Workgroup Members Henry Brown III Teacher of the Year Wayne Blanton Florida School Boards Association Steve Wallace Florida Community College of Jacksonville Ronald G. Meyer Practicing Attorney Specializing in Education Patrick Heffernan Floridians for School Choice Maureen Dinnen Florida Educators Association Larry Keough Florida Catholic Conference (NonPublic K-12) Pete Millett Teaching Hospitals Mary Bennett Volusia County Schools George Kirkpatrick Independent Colleges and Universities of Fl. Joy Frank Florida Assoc. of District School Superintendents Jeff Muir University of South Florida Janet Owen University of North Florida Brenda Dickinson Home Education Foundation Doug Crawford Florida Assoc. of School Administrators David Foy Florida Student Association Debi Gallay Division of Colleges and Universities R.E. LeMon Division of Colleges and Universities Theresa Klebacha Division of Community Colleges Syd McKenzie Division of Community Colleges Kim McDougal Executive Office of the Governor Jim Robinson Department of Education Kathy Mizereck Department of Education **Facilitator Asst. Secretary John Winn FBOE **Leader

5. Workgroup Schedule Date Location Chapters 8/22 Tampa 228 9/4 Tallahassee 229-230 9/18 Jacksonville 231-232 10/2 Tallahassee 233-234 10/9 Tallahassee 235 10/16 Tallahassee 236-237 10/24 Tallahassee 238-239 10/31 Tallahassee 240 11/7 Tallahassee 240, 241-243 11/15 Tallahassee 244-246 11/29 Tallahassee Recap

6. Reflect K-20 seamless education philosophy  Reflect focus on students and learning  Reduce overly prescriptive provisions  Make chapters user-friendly  Maintain statutory authority for state and local policy development Guiding Principles for the Process

7. 228-Public Education: General Provisions 229-Functions of State Educational Agencies 230-District School System 231-Personnel of District School System 232-Compulsory School Attendance; Child Welfare 233-Courses of Study and Instructional Aids 234-Transportation of School Children 235-Educational Facilities 236-Finance and Taxation; Schools 237-Financial Accounts and Expenditures for Public Schools 238-Retirement System for School Teachers 239-Vocational, Adult, and Community Education 240-Postsecondary Education 241-Distance Learning 242-Specialized State Educational Institutions 243-Educational Institutions Law; Revenue Certificates 244-Educational Compacts 245-Disposition of Dead Bodies 246-Nonpublic Postsecondary Institutions Current Chapters

8. 228 Rights, Choices and Education Excellence General Provisions, Student and Parental Rights, School Choice, Independent Education 229 State Governance Florida Board of Education, Commissioner of Education, Department of Education, CEPRI 230 Local Governance District School Boards, Community College Boards,University Boards 231 Personnel Public Schools, Community Colleges, Universities, Professional Development 232 Instruction, Research, and Service Educational Programs (EdPro), Research and Service (R&S) 233 Support for Learning, Services, and Safety Advising (Adv), Library (Lib), Educational Technology (Tech), Extracurricular Activities (Eca), Safety (Safe) 234 Operations of Education Institutions 235 Educational Facilities 236 Financial Matters 237 Planning and Budgeting 238 Student Learning and Assessment 239 Accountability 240 Access and Articulation (A & A); Financial Assistance (FA) 241 Retirement Proposed Chapters

9. Workgroup Member Input Form and “Homework” Procedure

10. Decision-Making • Consensus • Subgroup Review and Recommendation • Bumping Substantive Issues to FBOE

11. Workgroup Subgroups • “Public” • Definitions • Student Records and Rights • Performance Based Funding/Accountability • Articulation

12. Public Outreach To ensure that our process was accessible and user-friendly to all, an interactive feature to our website was added.

13. Summary of Efforts • Public/private partnership discussions • Consolidation of articulation and accountability issues • Commitment to common goals • Close to 4,000 recommendations discussed in over 60 hours of meetings!

14. Summary of Proposed Changes, by Category • As Is – The Secretary recommends that no changes be made to these sections of statute. • Technical Amendments – The Secretary recommends technical changes to these sections of statute in order to correct terminology, timelines, obsolete dates, or outdated provisions. • Eliminates – The Secretary recommends that these sections of statute be eliminated in order to delete obsolete, unfunded, or outdated provisions.

15. Summary of Proposed Changes, by Category (cont.) • Amendments – The Secretary recommends amending these sections of statute in order to meet the principles of student-centered, seamless, user-friendly, less prescriptive, and sufficient statutory authority. • Secretary’s Revisions to consensus recommendations from the workgroup. • Bumps – The Secretary recommends the Board discuss these sections of statute.

16. Summary Issues • Florida Board of Education Powers and Duties • Summary of Student Issues • Summary of Diversity Issues • CEPRI Duties and Changes • Chapter 246 • Summary of Accountability Issues

17. Powers and Duties of the FBOE • Recommendation: Consolidate powers and duties of the State Board of Education with the powers and duties of the Florida Board.

18. Discussion of Issues • Order of priority: • Bumps • Requested Amends • Other Substantive Issues

19. 228.05700 Public School Parental Choice. Requires districts to develop a parental choice plan and report annually the number of students applying for and attending schools of choice in the district. Does not mandate a level of choice. School districts believe mandating open enrollment will be financially impractical for many districts as they require massive changes in transportation that require additional funding. The Secretary supports open enrollment and competition among schools, but recommends that district-wide public school choice not be mandated in a time of budget reductions. The DOE Choice Office should continue to monitor district implementation of choice plans and provide leadership and assistance to expand choice options for families and their children. BUMPS

20. 228.05800 Charter School District Pilot Program. The State Board may authorize up to six charter districts. Currently there are two, Volusia and Hillsborough. The Secretary recommends that charter district pilot programs not be expanded statewide until a formal evaluation of their impact on school improvement and student achievement is conducted and reported to the Florida Board and Legislature. BUMPS

21. 229.00000 Powers and duties of the State Board of Education; Powers and duties of the Florida Board of Education. The Secretary requests the Board’s authorization to work with Legislative leaders to provide a range of enforcement powers available to the Board to enforce compliance with Florida Law. BUMPS

22. 229.00310 Council for Education Policy Research and Improvement. The Secretary recommends that the FBOE and CEPRI board discuss/seek resolution to duplication and overlapping duties, such as master planning and strategic planning, as well as ensure that former administrative duties of PEPC are transferred to the Articulation Coordinating Committee or the DOE as appropriate. A summary report is to be provided to the Board at the upcoming workshop. BUMPS

23. 229.00810 Powers and duties of university boards of trustees. Currently gives UBOTs the authority to set tuition and fees within limits of the General Appropriations Act. Fees are capped at 40% of tuition and fees and limited to an annual five percent increase unless otherwise provided. The Secretary recommends that the FBOE consider recommendations of a special committee of presidents that has been formed to review and propose a solution to issues limiting tuition flexibility, such as Bright Futures, Prepaid Tuition, and need-based financial aid. This proposal should be considered during the January Board meeting. Until a satisfactory solution has been designed, the Secretary's recommendation is to leave the current law as is. BUMPS

24. 231.54500 Education Standards Commission; organization. The Education Standards Commission is a standing commission of 24 members that meets regularly to study and make recommendations on preservice education, professional standards, inservice training, alternative certification and statewide critical teacher shortages. The Secretary recommends that the statutory provision on composition and duties of the commission be removed and the FBOE powers and duties be amended to require inclusion of an advisory council to make recommendations on professional certification standards, preservice program standards and inservice training standards. The Secretary shall make appointments and the council shall meet and conduct studies and reports as required by the Florida Board and Legislature. Principles of broad participation and diversity should be maintained in the appointment of such advisory councils. BUMPS

25. 231.54600 Education Standards Commission; powers and duties. The Secretary recommends that the statutory provision on composition and duties of the commission be removed and the FBOE powers and duties be amended to require inclusion of an advisory council to make recommendations on professional certification standards, preservice program standards and inservice training standards. The Secretary shall make appointments and the council shall meet and conduct studies and reports as required by the Florida Board and Legislature. Principles of broad participation and diversity should be maintained in the appointment of such advisory councils. BUMPS

26. 232.24600 General requirements for high school graduation. The Secretary recommends discussion of Florida's high school graduation requirements and the recommendations of the Division of Public Schools and Community Education be considered in seeking to improve college readiness and options to improve the seamless articulation of high school students into postsecondary education. This issue should become a part of the strategic planning effort to remove barriers to seamless articulation K-20. BUMPS

27. 233.06100 Required instruction. Specifies areas of instruction critically important to the foundation of our nation and form of government. Also includes historical events such as the Holocaust and contributions of major groups to our history. The Secretary recommends that all required instruction remain as is in current statute. BUMPS

28. 233.22000 Requisition of instructional materials from publisher’s depository. Requires school districts to purchase materials in the first two years after adoption with exceptions. This issue reflects the Legislature's interest in students having up-to-date textbooks. Given that the adoption process is rotated over a six year cycle, districts should be able to comply with the two year requirement. The impact of instructional materials on student learning is second only to that of the teacher. The Secretary recommends that the provision stand as is. BUMPS

29. 235.21570 Small school requirement. Beginning with schools under construction contract after July 1, 2003, the state imposes a limit on the number of students for which a school is built. The Secretary strongly supports building smaller schools and believes that Florida's public schools are too large. The Secretary suggests that CEPRI conduct a study of the impact of this requirement on school districts and the potential benefits to students. The Board should support this provision unless compelling data is provided that it produces a negative impact on students and student learning. BUMPS

30. 236.08100 Funds for operation of schools. Capping policies limit funding based on school district projections of student enrollment in education programs. Capping policies are important mechanisms to control expenditures within appropriation limits and cannot be considered outside a comprehensive study of the FEFP. The Secretary recommends this issue be addressed in the FEFP task force study. The Florida Board should review the recommendations of the task force before acting. Until then, the Secretary's recommendation is to leave the current statute as is in the school code revision. BUMPS

31. 236.08102 School district minimum classroom expenditure requirements. This section provides authorization for the Legislature in the General Appropriations Act to require school districts to shift funds to classroom operations if certain performance measures are not met. These measures are established annually in the Appropriations Act. The Secretary supports that a maximum amount of funds should be provided to schools to facilitate and support classroom instruction. State policies overriding local decisions should be grounded in the A+ Plan accountability system and be consistent with these standards. The Secretary recommends that the FBOE be authorized to enact standards in rule, rather than relying on standards enacted each year in the General Appropriations Act. BUMPS

32. 236.08103 Equity in School-Level Funding Act. This section requires school districts to annually increase the percent of FEFP funds that are allocated to schools up to 90% in school year 2003-2004. This provision is designated to ensure that funds equitably distributed to school districts are used to support basic education services to students who generate the funding. It addresses basic FEFP funding while providing flexibility to move resources to areas of greatest need. The Secretary supports this provision and suggests that the Legislature consider amending current law to reflect changes in funding services for exceptional education students. BUMPS

33. 239.11700 Workforce development postsecondary student fees. Community college presidents and the division of workforce development have requested that specific fee amounts be removed from statute and a cap of 20% be invoked. There are differences in the fee structure between workforce and college credit fees, which sometimes results in students enrolled in the same course paying under different fee structures. The Secretary supports this recommendation as a way for local boards to direct fees to meet local needs. This change would provide for the same fee structure for both workforce and college-credit programs. Fee amounts must be set by the local boards and communicated to students. BUMPS

34. 240.26010 State University System Facility Enhancement Challenge Grant Program. Provides for the Alec P. Courtelis Capital Facilities Matching Trust Fund to be used to match private contribution with state funds for the purpose of enhancing resources to meet construction needs. Projects must be on the university's five year capital improvement plan. The Secretary’s recommendation is pending further study. BUMPS

35. 240.26050 Trust Fund for Major Gifts. This section specifies the process for allocating appropriated funds designed to match major contributions of $100,000 and above. The Secretary’s recommendation is pending further study. BUMPS

36. 240.35000 Student fees. This section specifies local fees for community colleges and sets amounts. Community college presidents have requested that specific fee amounts be removed from statute and a cap of 20% be invoked. Fees currently average 19% of the total cost of tuition and fees. The Secretary supports this recommendation as a way for institutions to direct fees to meet local needs. Fee amounts must be set by the boards of trustees and communicated to students. BUMPS

37. 240.60500 **The William L. Boyd, IV, Florida Resident Access Grant The Secretary recommends that this issue be discussed within a comprehensive discussion of financial aid and tuition. BUMPS