FSBA Session Spotlight — April 11, 2017

On Wednesday, both chambers will review their respective budgets – SB 2500 and HB 5001 — and related budget implementing bills and budget conforming bills on 2^nd Reading.  Most of these bills are summarized individually below except for the education related portions of the budget and the provisions of the Charter School Capital Outlay Funding bills – SB 376 and HB 5103 – which are linked here and below in comparison charts.  Our Side-by-Side Comparison of the education related allocations in SB 2500 and HB 5001 highlights the similarities and differences between the budgets and we are most grateful to Jim Hamilton for providing us with a Comparison of SB 376 and HB 5103 relating to Charter School Capital Outlay Funding. As additional advocacy tools to assist you in evaluating the budget issues, we have added some new background materials, including Understanding the FEFP (a brief explanation of each of the components of the FEFP), an FEFP History that compares funding from 2007-2008 with more recent years that shows the state’s progress in recapturing funding levels since the Recession, and FSBA Recommendations for Charter School Capital Outlay Funding that briefly identifies issues and possible solutions in sharing district capital outlay millage revenue with charter schools.  We hope that these and other materials on our Advocacy Tools page and our 2017 Legislative Session page will be helpful to you.  In the meantime, please review tomorrow’s schedule and bills for more information.

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Please note that all of the meetings listed below may be viewed via live webcast on the Florida Channel. For real-time updates on these meetings and other legislative activities, please click HERE to access our Twitter feed.

The Senate will be in Session – 12:00-4:00 pm; Senate Chamber) to consider the following items and others on the Special Order Calendar (2^nd Reading):

SB 2500 – General Appropriations Act (GAA)
The bill provides moneys for the annual period beginning July 1, 2017, and ending June 30, 2018, and supplemental appropriations for the period ending June 30, 2017, to pay salaries and other expenses, capital outlay – buildings, and other improvements, and for other specified purposes of the various agencies of state government. [NOTE: Please see FSBA’s Comparison of the Senate and House Education Budgets for details and differences between SB 2500 and HB 5001.]

SB 2502 – Implementing the General Appropriations Act
The bill provides the statutory authority necessary to implement and execute the General Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2017-2018. Statutory changes are temporary and are effective July 1, 2017 and expire on July 1, 2018 unless otherwise specifically indicated. Of particular interest to school boards, the implementing bill:

• Incorporates the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) work papers by reference for the purpose of displaying the calculations used by the Legislature;
• Provides that funds provided for instructional materials shall be released and expended as required in the proviso language attached to Specific Appropriation 91 relating to Instructional Materials;
• Amends s. 1011.62, F.S., relating to the Florida Digital Classrooms Allocation to change the minimum allocation per district from $250,000 to $400,000 for Fiscal Year 2017-2018;
• Authorizes the Dixie Middle School/High School special facilities project to exceed the cost per student station.

SB 7022 – State Administered Retirement Systems (Conforming Bill)
The bill establishes the contribution rates paid by employers participating in the Florida Retirement System (FRS) beginning July 1, 2017. These rates are intended to fund the full normal cost and the amortization of the unfunded actuarial liability of the FRS. With these modifications to employer contribution rates, the FRS Trust Fund will receive roughly $149.5 million more revenue on an annual basis beginning July 1, 2017. The public employers that will incur these additional costs are state agencies, state universities and colleges, school districts, counties, and certain municipalities and other governmental entities.

SB 2516 — Education Funding (Conforming Bill)
The bill conforms various education funding statutes to the policies used to implement the funding decisions contained in SB 2500. The bill:

• Modifies the policy regarding the “extra hour of reading” at the 300 lowest-performing elementary schools by:
  • Permanently codifying the program in statute, rather than relying on annual reauthorization. The program was established for three years beginning in the 2012-2013 fiscal year but has been extended annually in the implementing bill since the 2015-2016 fiscal year.
  • Expanding the program to allow schools that improve performance to the extent that they are no longer on the most current list of 300 lowest-performing schools to maintain the program for two additional academic years.
  • Expanding the requirements of the program to include a 60-hour summer school component.
  • Codifying the methodology for calculating the allocation of Supplemental Academic Instruction (SAI) funds, which includes funds for the “extra hour of reading” requirement.
  • Requiring school districts to delineate the implementation design and reading intervention strategies for the program as part of their comprehensive reading plan.
• Modifies the small, isolated high schools provision of the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) by expanding its application to elementary schools and establishing the criteria by which elementary schools may qualify.
• Permanently codifies the sparsity supplement calculation used to compute the sparsity supplement for eligible districts with a full-time equivalent (FTE) student membership of between 20,000 and 24,000, by dividing the total number of full- time equivalent students in all programs by the number of permanent senior high school centers in the district, not in excess of four (rather than three as used for other districts). This calculation has been in the implementing bill since the 2015-2016 fiscal year.
• Modifies the federally connected student supplement to allow for recalculation throughout the year based on actual student membership and the tax-exempt valuation from the most recent assessment roll.
• Permanently codifies a provision that prohibits a school district from seeking a positive allocation adjustment in the current fiscal year because of an under allocation for a prior fiscal year caused by district error.
• Modifies the qualification requirements and funding methodology for the High Growth District Capital Outlay Assistance Grant Program.
• Requires the Auditor General to conduct an annual financial audit of the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind.

SB 376 – Charter School Capital Outlay Funding by Simmons (Conforming Bill)
The bill restructures charter school capital outlay to dedicate a source of funding consisting of shared local capital outlay funding derived from the discretionary millage revenue. The bill allows the legislature the discretion to determine whether to provide additional charter school capital outlay funds in the General Appropriations Act (GAA). [NOTE: Please see the Comparison of SB 376 and HB 5103 prepared by Jim Hamilton for the details and differences of these bills.]

The House will be in Session (1:00 pm-completion; House Chamber) to consider the following items and others on the Special Order Calendar (2^nd Reading):

HB 5001 – General Appropriations Act (GAA)
The bill provides moneys for the annual period beginning July 1, 2017, and ending June 30, 2018, and supplemental appropriations for the period ending June 30, 2017, to pay salaries and other expenses, capital outlay – buildings, and other improvements, and for other specified purposes of the various agencies of state government. [NOTE: Please see FSBA’s Comparison of the Senate and House Education Budgets for details and differences between SB 2500 and HB 5001.]

HB 5003 – Implementing the General Appropriations Act
The bill provides the statutory authority necessary to implement and execute the General Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2017-2018. Statutory changes are temporary and are effective July 1, 2017 and expire on July 1, 2018 unless otherwise specifically indicated. Of particular interest to school boards, the implementing bill:

• Incorporates the FEFP calculations or budget runs;
• Provides that any district school board that generates less than $2 million in revenue from one mill of ad valorem tax shall contribute 0.75 mill, rather than 1.5 mills, for Fiscal Year 2017-2018, to the cost of funded special facilities projects;
• Amends s. 1012.731, F.S. relating to the Florida Best and Brightest Teacher Scholarship Program to award highly effective teachers who have demonstrated a high level of academic achievement based on their SAT, ACT, GRE, LSAT, GMAT or MCAT score being at or above the 77th percentile.
• Creates s. 1012.732, F.S. relating to the Florida Best and Brightest Principal Scholarship Program to award highly effective principals whose school facility has a high percentage of best and brightest teachers.

HB 5007 — Florida Retirement System  (Conforming Bill)
The bill establishes the contribution rates paid by employers participating in the Florida Retirement System (FRS) beginning July 1, 2017. In addition, effective July 1, 2017, the bill:

• Authorizes renewed membership in the investment plan for retirees of the investment plan and certain optional retirement programs.
• Expands the survivor benefit for members of the Special Risk Class to provide that such benefits are retroactive to July 1, 2002. The bill also establishes a survivor benefit for all other membership classes of the investment plan who are killed in the line of duty and provides that the benefit is retroactive to July 1, 2002.
• Closes the Senior Management Service Optional Annuity Program to new participants.
• Reduces the annual service accrual rate for the Judicial Subclass from 3.33 to 3.0 percent.

 Effective January 1, 2018, the bill changes the default from the pension plan to the investment plan for members who do not affirmatively choose a plan.  Effective July 1, 2018, the bill prohibits members initially enrolled in a position covered by the Elected Officers’ Class from participating in the pension plan and requires participation in the investment plan.

HB 5101 — Educational Funding (Conforming Bill)
The bill conforms applicable statutes to the appropriations provided in the House proposed General Appropriations Act for Prekindergarten through grade 12 education for Fiscal Year 2017-2018. The bill:

• Repeals the requirement for the Just Read, Florida! Office to review the K-12 comprehensive reading plan and provides that these plans will instead be done as part of the monitoring, intervention, and support strategies required as part of school improvement;
• Limits the time frame for VPK providers to amend prior fiscal year student enrollments no later than September 1 of the subsequent fiscal year;
• Removes obsolete language referencing the Florida School for Boys in Okeechobee;
• Modifies the FEFP SAI allocation by requiring each school district that has a school earning a grade of “D” or “F” to use that school’s portion of the SAI to implement the intervention and support strategies and, for all other schools, the school district may use the SAI for eligible purposes currently described in law. The bill also codifies in law the SAI allocation funding formula;
• Codifies the Sparsity Supplement current calculation methodology;
• Modifies the Research-Based Reading Instruction Allocation to:
  • Prioritize, but not require, use of the funds for the extra hour of intensive reading instruction for the 300 lowest performing elementary schools based on a three year average of the state reading assessment data;
  • Allow the extra hour to be optional for students scoring level 4 or level 5 on reading assessments;
  • Require summer reading camps to be taught by someone certified or endorsed in reading;
  • Require reading plans to only be submitted by school districts that have a school earning a grade of “D” or “F”. The review and approval process will now be done as part of the monitoring, intervention, and support strategies;
  • Eliminate the department’s ability to withhold funds;
• Repeals the requirement of submitting a digital classrooms plan, aligns the use of these funds to items on the eligible services list authorized by the Universal Service Administration Company E-rate program, and includes computer and device hardware and associated operating system software as allowable uses of the funds;
• Codifies the Safe Schools categorical;
• Removes the requirement for an adjustment to be made to a district’s funding in the FEFP based on an FTE reporting error that is not corrected by the district within the FTE reporting amendment periods; and
• Amends the required components of a school district’s standard student attire policy for purposes of school district receiving incentive payment.

HB 5103 — Capital Outlay Funding (Conforming Bill)
The bill restructures charter school capital outlay to dedicate a source of funding consisting of shared local capital outlay funding derived from the discretionary millage revenue. The bill allows the legislature the discretion to determine whether to provide additional charter school capital outlay funds in the General Appropriations Act (GAA). [NOTE: Please see the Comparison of SB 376 and HB 5103 prepared by Jim Hamilton for the details and differences of these bills.]

HB 5105 — School Improvement  (Conforming Bill)
The bill streamlines early warning system requirements and alleviates school improvement planning requirements by requiring a school improvement plan only for schools with a grade of “D” or “F.” The bill also streamlines the school improvement process by:

• Requiring the same level of intensive interventions and support strategies for “D” and “F” schools;
• Requiring the school district to provide the SBE a district-managed turnaround plan by September 1 after a school earns a “D” or “F;”
• Requiring the selection of another turnaround option after the school receives a third consecutive grade below a “C” unless the school is deemed likely to improve to a “C” and receives an additional year; and
• Requiring another turnaround option be implemented after 2 years implementing the first plan unless the school is deemed likely to improve to a “C.”

The bill provides that an educational emergency exists in a school district when a school earns a “D” or “F” and requires the district to execute a memorandum of understanding with the collective bargaining agent concerning the selection, placement, and expectations of instructional personnel and school administrators at the school. The memorandum must also be submitted to the SBE by September 1 after a school earns a “D” or “F.”

The bill authorizes the establishment of “schools of hope” and designation of “hope operators” to provide students in areas of persistently low-performing schools with a high-quality education option designed to close the opportunity gap and increase student achievement. The bill:

• Establishes criteria for schools of hope and hope operators;
• Defines persistently low-performing schools as those subject to differentiated accountability for more than three years or closed as a result of school improvement requirements;
• Authorizes the State Board of Education (SBE) to identify and designate hope operators who meet specified criteria;
• Removes barriers to hope operators by creating a new notice and agreement process that is exempt from the current charter law and state procurement laws. The process:
  • Allows a hope operator to submit a notice of intent to establish a school of hope in a school district with one or more persistently low-performing schools;
  • Requires the school district to enter into a performance based agreement with the hope operator which must include specified provisions;
• Provides a school of hope with specific exemptions from current law;
• Provides provisions for facilities and funding for schools of hope;
• Establishes a grant program to cover specified operational expenses; and
• Establishes the Schools of Hope Revolving Loan Program to help schools of hope cover school building construction and startup costs.

HB 7069 – Best & Brightest Teachers & Principals
The bill amends the Best and Brightest Teacher Scholarship Program eligibility criteria and establishes the Best and Brightest Principal Program. With respect to the Best and Brightest Teacher Scholarship Program, the bill deletes the statutory expiration date of July 1, 2017, and amends eligibility criteria by:

• Lowering the threshold for a qualifying assessment score from the 80th percentile to the 77th percentile based on the National Percentile Ranks in effect when the assessment was taken;
• Allowing teachers to use scores from other assessments that measure cognitive ability to qualify; and
• Allowing teachers to demonstrate they are “highly effective” based solely on their value-added model rating.

The bill creates the Best and Brightest Principal Scholarship Program, which:

• Establishes a procedure for identifying principals who qualify for recognition under the program;
• Establishes eligibility criteria for principals, as follows:
  • The principal must have served as principal at his or her school for at least the last 2 years; and
  • The faculty at the principal’s school must have a ratio of best and brightest teachers to other classroom teachers that is at the 80th percentile or higher, statewide, for that school type (elementary, middle, high, or combination);
• Provides a monetary award, established in the General Appropriations Act, for principals who are designated as best and brightest and requires that qualifying principals at a Title I school receive a greater award; and
• Requires school districts to provide qualifying principals with the autonomy over budgetary and personnel decisions that are currently provided to principals participating in the Principal Autonomy Pilot Program Initiative (PAPPI).

In addition to these legislative meetings, the Constitution Revision Commission will meet (5:00-7:00 pm; Tallahassee) to receive public comment and suggested constitutional revisions for consideration by Commission.

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