FSBA LEGISLATIVE VIDEO UPDATE #7
Our Video Update for the 7th week of the 2015 Legislative Session has been posted on the FSBA website at www.fsba.org – you may access the video by clicking on the link to 2015 Legislative Session Video Update 7 under “Legislative Session Updates” (located below the pictures on our main page) or by using this direct link: https://www.fsba.org/2015-
TODAY’S HAPPENINGS
In the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee:
SB 888 – Educational Professional Practices by Detert – AMENDED AND PASSED WITH A COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE (CS)
Authorizing certain employees or agents of the Department of Education to have access to certain reports and records; requiring a school district to add additional points to the calculation of a matrix of services for certain students beginning in a specified school year; providing requirements regarding liability insurance for students participating in clinical field experience; requiring the department to establish an educator liability; revising the membership of the Education Practices Commission; authorizing the Commissioner of Education to appoint emeritus members to the commission; authorizing the commissioner to issue a letter of guidance in response to a complaint against a teacher or administrator in lieu of a probable cause determination.
SB 1262 – Education by Legg – AMENDED AND PASSED WITH A CS
Requiring the Department of Education to have an operating electronic IEP system in place for statewide use; requiring the Commission for Independent Education to report certain data to the department annually by a certain date regarding institutions licensed by the commission; authorizing the Commissioner of Education to issue a letter of guidance in response to a complaint against a teacher or administrator in lieu of a probable cause determination; increasing the number of beds that may be in a dormitory constructed by certain Florida College System institutions; providing for school district construction flexibility; authorizing exceptions to educational facilities construction requirements under certain circumstances. [NOTE: Today’s amendments, among other things, added the language contained in SB 448 relating to construction flexibility. The short summary above reflects the revised version of the bill.]
SB 572 – School Support Organizations by Montford – PASSED
Defining the term “school support organization”; authorizing such organizations to pay tax on specified items purchased for resale in lieu of collecting the tax upon resale.
SB 530 – Bullying and Harassment Policies by Ring – AMENDED AND PASSED WITH A CS
Requiring district school boards to adopt a strategic plan; revising provisions relating to standards of ethical conduct to apply to administrative personnel and school officers; requiring a school to monitor and evaluate its instructional practices and intervention strategies relating to the early warning system; requiring school districts to review and revise their bullying and harassment policies at specified intervals; specifying that a school district policy require a school to implement the policy in a certain manner and integrate it with the school’s bullying prevention and intervention program; requiring such a policy to include mandatory reporting procedures and a list of authorized programs that provide bullying and harassment identification, prevention, and response instruction; requiring each school district to maintain an online portal accessible by a student’s parent to anonymously report incidents of bullying or harassment; deleting provisions relating to safe schools funds and data reporting requirements; requiring school districts to notify parents of their ability to access homework assignments through a local instructional improvement system. [NOTE: The bill was amended with a strike all amendment that, among other things, incorporated the provisions of SB 1474 relating to a district strategic plan and standards of ethical conduct. The short summary above reflects the revised version of the bill.]
SB 118 – Voluntary Contributions for Education Facilities by Hays – AMENDED AND PASSED WITH A CS
Authorizing a participating business that registers with the Department of Revenue to solicit and collect contributions from its customers for the construction and maintenance of public education facilities; providing registration requirements; requiring a participating business to file a return and remit contributions to the department within a specified timeframe; including voluntary contributions as a source of funding for the Public Education Capital Outlay and Debt Service Trust Fund, etc.
SB 824 – Public-Private Partnerships by Evers – AMENDED AND PASSED WITH A CS
increasing the dollar threshold for a contract amount of a project for which a person, the state, or a political subdivision is prohibited from refusing a surety bond issued by a surety company that meets certain criteria; revising requirements for surety companies with respect to bonds issued for certain publicly funded contracts; deleting provisions creating the Public-Private Partnership Guidelines Task Force; deleting a provision that requires approval of the local governing body before a school board enters into a comprehensive agreement; revising the conditions necessary for a responsible public entity to approve a comprehensive agreement; deleting provisions relating to notice to affected local jurisdictions, etc.
SB 826 – Public Records / Public-Private Partnerships by Evers — PASSED
Transferring, renumbering, and amending provisions relating to qualifying public-private projects for public facilities and infrastructure; providing an exemption from public records requirements for unsolicited proposals received by a responsible public entity for a specified period; providing an exemption from public meeting requirements for any portion of a meeting of a responsible public entity during which exempt proposals are discussed; providing for future legislative review and repeal of the exemptions; providing a statement of public necessity, etc.
SB 1526 – Athletic Trainers by Legg – PASSED
Deleting the requirement for the Governor to appoint the initial members of the Board of Athletic Training; revising the board’s authorization to adopt certain rules relating to communication between an athletic trainer and a supervising physician; revising responsibilities of athletic trainers to include requirements that a trainer must practice under the direction of a physician; revising general background screening provisions to include athletic trainers, etc.
In the Senate Rules Committee:
SB 1372 – Government Accountability by D. Gaetz – AMENDED AND PASSED WITH A CS
Specifying that the Governor, the Commissioner of Education, or the designee of the Governor or of the Commissioner of Education may notify the Legislative Auditing Committee of an entity’s failure to comply with certain auditing and financial reporting requirements; revising reporting requirements applicable to the Florida Clerks of Court Operations Corporation; expanding the types of governmental entities that are subject to lobbyist registration requirements; revising the responsibilities of the governing board of a charter school to include the establishment and maintenance of internal controls, etc. [NOTE: The bill contains several provisions relating to ethical conduct and reporting requirements for public officers. The bill was substantially amended and we are still sorting through those that impact school districts. We will provide a summary of these changes as soon as possible.]
COMING UP TOMORROW
[REMINDER: Most meetings are available via Florida Channel webcasts at http://thefloridachannel.org]
The Senate Appropriations Committee will meet (10:00 am – 6:00 pm) to consider the following items and others:
SB 948 – Career Education by D. Gaetz
Revising characteristics of an apprenticeable occupation; requiring a low-performing elementary school to administer the required additional hours of instruction in a summer program during specified fiscal years; establishing the Rapid Response Education and Training Program within the Complete Florida Plus Program; requiring a state research university to enter into and maintain a formal agreement with a specified organization to offer college-sponsored merit scholarship awards as a condition of designation as a preeminent state research university, etc. [NOTE: This bill appears to be a potential education budget conforming bill. Both a Proposed Committee Substitute (PCS) and a strike all amendment – as well as amendments to the PCS and strike all — have been filed for consideration.]
SB 1116 – Literacy Jump Start Pilot Project by Abruzzo
Requiring the Office of Early Learning to establish the pilot project in St. Lucie County to assist low-income, at-risk children in developing emergent literacy skills; requiring the office to select an organization to implement the pilot project; encouraging the coordination of basic health screening and immunization services in conjunction with emergent literacy instruction, etc.
SB 1264 – Digital Classrooms by Legg
Establishing requirements for digital classrooms technology infrastructure planning by the Agency for State Technology or a contracted organization; requiring the Office of Technology and Information Services of the Department of Education to consult with the Agency for State Technology in developing the 5-year strategic plan for Florida digital classrooms; specifying conditions for a school district to maintain eligibility for Florida digital classrooms allocation funds, etc.
SB 1522 – Workforce Training by Detert
Requiring the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Economic Opportunity, to identify and recommend specified apprenticeship programs; requiring the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Economic Opportunity, to identify and recommend specified preapprenticeship programs, etc.
SB 1552 – Parent and Student Rights by Benacquisto
Providing the right of a parent to know the average amount of money expended for the education of his or her child; deleting the definition of and provisions relating to controlled open enrollment; requiring each school district to instead establish a public school parental choice policy that allows students to attend any public school that has not reached capacity in their district; requiring each school district board to establish a classroom teacher transfer process for parents, approve or deny a request within a certain timeframe, and post an explanation of the transfer process in the student handbook, etc. [NOTE: Concerns have been raised about some of the provisions of this bill, particularly with regard to the proposed revisions to controlled open enrollment. Both a PCS and a strike all amendment – and other amendments — have been filed for consideration. Some of these changes may address some of the concerns that have been raised.]
SB 7006 – Early Learning by Education PreK-12
Including large family child care homes in local zoning regulation requirements; revising certain minimum standards for child care facilities; providing for the inspection of programs regulated by the department; providing exemptions from child care facility licensing standards; revising restrictions on residential property insurance coverage to include coverage for large family child care homes; authorizing a district school board or charter school governing board to adopt a policy to allow a child to be admitted to a public kindergarten if the child meets certain requirements, etc.
The House will be in SESSION (11:00 am – completion of business) to consider the following items and others on 2nd Reading:
HB 7137 – Student Extracurricular Activities by Education
Requires Commissioner of Education to designate nonprofit association to govern interscholastic athletic competition by specified date; provides for informal conference procedure & arbitration as methods for resolving student eligibility disputes; deletes provisions with respect to FHSAA’s board of directors, legislative assembly, public liaison advisory committee, appeals committee, & bylaws; provides for contingent effect; deletes references to FHSAA; provides requirements for nonprofit association; establishes principals for extracurricular activities; revises academic eligibility for certain students; specifies grounds for student ineligibility in activities & reinstatement; provides for certain students to participate in activities at public schools; revises insurance requirements for student participation in certain activities; requires Auditor General to conduct specific audits on nonprofit association.
HB 365 – Skateboarding, Skating, or Bicycling by Gonzalez
Removes requirement that governmental entity that provides designated area for skateboarding, inline skating, or freestyle bicycling post rules indicating written consent of parent or legal guardian of child under certain age is required to participates; provides for application of specified provisions that limit liability of governmental entity. [NOTE: The identical Senate companion to this bill which has passed the Senate — SB 408 – is also on the agenda. It is expected that one version will be laid on the table and the other will continue forward to 3rd Reading.]
HB 565 – Retirement by Beshears
Authorizes local agency employers to reassess designation of positions for inclusion in SMS Class; provides for removal of certain positions.
HB 913 – State Board of Administration by Trumbull
Repeals provisions relating to investments in institutions doing business in or with Northern Ireland; provides for distribution of Fund B Surplus Funds Trust Fund assets to certain participants. [NOTE: The similar Senate companion to this bill which has passed the Senate — SB 7024 – is also on the agenda. It is expected that one version will be laid on the table and the other will continue forward to 3rd Reading in the House.]
HB 915 – Building Codes by Eagle
Revises educational provisions for building code inspectors, plans examiners, & building code administrators; revises provisions related to the Florida Building Code; revises provisions regarding the Florida Building Code Compliance and Mitigation Program; restricts application of the Building Code for certain aspects of construction; revises provisions related to portable pools; revises provisions regarding the authority of building officials to issue building permits; revises provisions regarding appeal boards; revising provisions addressing certain fire service access elevators; authorizing DBPR to develop code-related training; creating a task force to study electrical safety in swimming pools.
Ruth Haseman Melton
Director of Government Relations
Florida School Boards Association
Office: 850 / 414-2578
Cell: 850 / 509-6411
Email: melton@fsba.org
