FSBA Session Spotlight — March 1, 2018

Today, was a fairly light day of committee meetings and floor sessions. The Senate Public Safety bills were expected to be debated on the Senate floor, but that debate has been postponed until tomorrow.  Meanwhile, other bills of interest that were considered, including bills relating to local government ethics, impact fees, and early learning,   Please click on the first link below for our report on the outcome of consideration of these and other bills.  Tomorrow, a very full schedule of significant bills will be considered, including the House and Senate Public Safety bills and HB 7055.  Please see our comparison of the House and Senate Public Safety bills and our summaries of the House and Senate versions of HB 7055 in the 2018 Education Legislation Materials” file on our 2018 Legislative Session page.  Also, please click on the second link below for a preview of these and other bills that will be considered tomorrow.

In the budget conference process today, the Education PreK-12 Budget Conference Committee held its second meeting this evening at which the House responded to last night’s Senate offer and submitted the first House offer on the education budget and conforming bill. These offers produced some improvements in overall FEFP funding, including a modest increase in the Base Student Allocation.  You may view House Offer #1 – which includes a statewide total FEFP Summary — HERE.  For comparison, you may view last night’s Senate Offer #1 HERE.  There are still a great number of items to be resolved so it is still too early to draw any conclusions about the outcome of the budget.  It is expected that the PreK-12 Education Budget Conference Committee will meet once more tomorrow morning.  Items that remain unresolved at 10:30 tomorrow morning will bump up to the Appropriations Committee Chairs – Rep. Trujillo and Sen. Bradley – to be resolved.  We will continue to keep you informed as this process progresses.

[toggle title=”Today’s Happenings – March 1, 2018“]

In the Senate Rules Committee meeting:

SB 1940 – Public Records and Public Meetings/School Safety by Galvano – PASSED; PLACED ON SENATE SPECIAL ORDER CALENDAR FOR 3/2/18
The bill creates public records and public meetings exemptions for certain information related to school safety. Specifically, the bill provides the following exemptions:

• As part of the School Safety Awareness Program, the bill makes confidential and exempt from disclosure the identity of a party making a report of suspicious activity which is held by the Department of Law Enforcement, a law enforcement agency, or school officials;
• The bill makes exempt from disclosure a portion of a meeting of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission (Commission) at which exempt or confidential and exempt information is discussed; and
• The bill makes exempt from disclosure any information held by a law enforcement agency, school district, or charter school which would identify whether a particular individual has been appointed as a safe-school officer.

[NOTE: This bill is part of the Senate’s Public Safety package.  The House companion bill — HB 7103 — is comparable and is on the House Special Order Calendar for 3/2/18.]

HB 7045 – Date for Convening the 2020 Legislative Session by Rules & Policy — PASSED
The bill requires the 2020 regular session of the Legislature to convene on Tuesday, January 14, 2020.  [NOTE: This bill has already passed the House and has been sent to the Senate in Messages.  This is the only committee of reference in the Senate.]

SB 260 – Students with Disabilities in Public Schools by Book — PASSED
The bill revises the use of restraint techniques on certain students with disabilities, prohibits placing such students in seclusion, and specifies responsibilities for school districts, schools, and the Commissioner of Education (commissioner). Specifically, the bill:

• Defines student to mean a student with a disability.
• Defines exclusionary and nonexclusionary time; establishes conditions under which a student may be placed in exclusionary or nonexclusionary time; and specifies related documentation, reporting and monitoring of such incidents.
• Prohibits the use of specified physical restraint techniques by school personnel on students.
• Requires each school district to:
  • Develop policies and procedures regarding physical safety and security of all students and school personnel.
  • Report procedures for training related to restraint and the bill specifies the components of such training.
  • Publicly post its policies on all emergency procedures, including the district’s policies on the use of restraint and seclusion.
• Requires a school to conduct a review of incidents of restraint, and related interventions and school personnel training.
• Requires redacted copies of documentation related to the use of restraint and exclusionary and nonexclusionary time to be updated monthly and made available to the public through the Department of Education’s website by October 1, 2018.
• Requires the commissioner to develop recommendations to incorporate instruction regarding emotional or behavioral disabilities into continuing education and inservice training requirements for instructional personnel.

[NOTE: This was the third of three committees of reference for this bill.  The House companion bill — HB 63 – has passed all committees of reference and is on the House Special Order Calendar for 3/2/18.]

In the House Session:

HB 7007 – Ethics Reform by Public Integrity & Ethics – READ 3^RD TIME; PASSED; IN MESSAGES TO THE SENATE
The bill addresses public officer, employee and third party conduct regarding sexual harassment, solicitation and negotiation of conflicting and potentially conflicting income producing relationships, addresses post-service lobbying restrictions for certain officers, and revises executive branch lobbyist registration requirements in addition to other reforms. Specifically, the bill:

• Removes restrictions on state employees lobbying the legislature;
• Establishes policy to prohibit and prevent sexual harassment in all branches of government;
• Restricts use of campaign funds to defend legal claims arising out of public service and limits use of public service announcements during a campaign;
• Broadens the Code of Ethics to prohibit sexual harassment of or by state employees and third parties, and, relating to sexual harassment, prohibits disclosures of confidential information, retaliation, or false complaints;
• Requires agencies to adopt policies to manage reports and complaints of sexual harassment, including policies to protect and provide certain accommodations to victims of alleged sexual harassment;
• Requires biennial surveys of the climate of sexual harassment in agencies and establishes a task force to review surveys, rules, and policies to make recommendations to improve sexual harassment policies;
• Prohibits public officers and employees from soliciting an employment or contractual relationship from entities with whom they are prohibited from entering into conflicting employment and contractual relationships;
• Requires public officers and employees to report or disclose particular solicitations and offers of employment or contractual relationships;
• Imposes a two-year post-service ban on personal representation before any state executive branch agency for agency directors including department secretaries, except when employed by another state agency;
• Imposes certain restrictions on statewide elected officers and legislators related to employment or investment advice;
• Restricts certain unelected state officers and employees regarding soliciting and negotiating an employment or contractual relationship with certain employers;
• Authorizes the Commission on Ethics to investigate disclosures of certain prohibited solicitations in the same manner as a complaint; and
• Revises executive branch lobbying registration requirements to mandate electronic registration, clarify provisions, adjust the maximum registration fee, and add the Board of Governors of the State University System and the State Board of Education to the list of entities to which the requirements apply.

[NOTE: There is no direct Senate companion bill.]

HB 7073 – Government Integrity by Public Integrity & Ethics — READ 3^RD TIME; PASSED; IN MESSAGES TO THE SENATE
The bill includes various provisions designed to promote integrity in government and identify and eliminate fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, and misconduct in government. Specifically, the bill:

• Creates the Florida Accountability Office under the Auditor General for the purpose of ensuring accountability and integrity in state and local government and facilitating the elimination of fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, and misconduct in government.
• Requires the Chief Inspector General (CIG) and agency inspectors general to determine whether there is reasonable probability that fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, or misconduct in government has occurred within six months of initiating an investigation of such activity.
• Provides a mechanism for the state to recover funds when the CIG or an agency inspector general determines a public official, independent contractor, or agency has committed fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, or misconduct in government.
• Requires the Chief Financial Officer to regularly forward to the Florida Accountability Officer copies of suggestions and information submitted through the state’s “Get Lean” hotline,.
• Provides a financial incentive for agency employees to file Whistle-blower’s Act complaints and participate in investigations that lead to the recovery of funds.
• Requires a claim for legal fees to be paid in whole or in part by any state or local agency to be documented by a description with reasonable particularity of the services provided;
• For agency contracts over $50,000, requires a contractor to include in the contract a good faith estimate of gross profit for each year of the contract, provides a process for the agency to review such estimate, and provides financial penalties for a contractor who misrepresents the estimate.
• Prohibits state or local tax incentive funds from being used to award or pay a state contractor for services provided or expenditures incurred pursuant to a state contract.
• Requires school districts that receive annual federal, state, and local funds in excess of $500 million to employ an internal auditor and provided duties for such auditor.
• Broadens the competitive solicitation exemption for statewide broadcasting of public service announcements.
• Prohibits a state employee, other than an agency head, from lobbying for funding for a contract or participating in the award of the contract.

[NOTE: Today’s amendments were generally technical and clarifying in nature. There is no direct Senate companion bill.]

HB 697 – Impact Fees by Miller – READ 3^RD TIME; AMENDED; PASSED THE HOUSE; IN MESSAGES TO THE SENATE
The bill prohibits any local government from requiring payment of impact fees any time prior to issuing a building permit. The bill codifies the requirement for impact fees to bear a rational nexus both to the need for additional capital facilities and to the expenditure of funds collected and the benefits accruing to the new construction. Local governments will be required to designate the funds collected by the impact fees for acquiring, constructing, or improving the capital facilities to benefit the new users. Impact fees collected by a local government may not be used to pay existing debt or pay for prior approved projects unless such expenditure has a rational nexus to the impact generated by the new construction. The bill further excludes fees charged for connecting to water and sewer systems. The bill also creates specific requirements and deadlines for a local government to review, process, and decide on applications for a specific area plan or related development order.  [NOTE: Today’s amendment removed provisions relating to area plans. The short summary above reflects the provisions of the bill as amended. The Senate companion bill — SB 324 — is comparable and has passed three of three committees of reference.]

HB 1091 – Early Learning by Grall — READ 3^RD TIME; PASSED; IN MESSAGES TO THE SENATE
The bill revises provisions related to the School Readiness program by:

• expanding the definition of “at-risk” for eligibility purposes;
• requiring the Office of Early Learning (OEL) to identify observation-based child assessments;
• requiring OEL to adopt program assessment requirements that measure teacher-child interactions;
• requiring OEL to revise the statewide provider contract to include contracted slots and quality improvement strategies, if applicable, and program assessment requirements;
• establishing a payment differential of up to 15 percent based on program assessment results with no more than 5% of the 15% allocated based on submission of data by providers that implement an observation-based child assessment identified by OEL;
• modifying the required functionality of the single statewide information system;
• requiring OEL’s annual report to include certain program assessment information;
• requiring Early Learning Coalitions (ELC) to establish local eligibility priorities and include them in their biennial School Readiness plans;
• requiring an ELC’s biennial plan to include procedures for the use of contracted slots, a description of quality improvement strategies, and the results of a community needs assessment;
• requiring School Readiness providers to participate in a program assessment; and
• allowing the award of grants and financial supports to providers and instructors to meet program assessment requirements.
• appropriates $6 million to the OEL to implement the program assessment.

[NOTE: The Senate companion bill — SB 1254 — is similar and has passed two of three committees of reference.]

HB 1035 – Personalized Education by Sullivan — READ 3^RD TIME; PASSED; IN MESSAGES TO THE SENATE
The bill:

• Renames the Competency-Based Education Pilot Program to the Mastery-Based Education Pilot Program.
• Allows any district in the state to submit an application to DOE to participate.
• Authorizes districts participating in the pilot program to use an alternative interpretation of letter grades to measure student success in grades 6-12. The alternate system must meet specific requirements and be approved by the district school board.
• Allows districts to determine and award one full credit toward high school graduation based on the student’s mastery of core content and skills without meeting the current minimum requirement of 135 or 120 hours of bona fide instruction to award one full credit.
• Requires the statewide articulation agreement to ensure fair and equitable access for high school graduates with mastery-based, nontraditional diplomas and transcripts.
• Expands the allowable uses of Gardiner Scholarship funds to include:
  • Part-time tutoring by a person with a bachelor’s degree or graduate degree in the subject area in which instruction is given; and
  • Tuition and fees associated for a nationally or internationally recognized program for children with a neurological disorder or brain damage.
• Establishes the Reading Summer Scholarship Account to provide a struggling reader with a scholarship to customize a reading program to improve his or her reading skills.
• Appropriates $9,700,000 to fund the reading scholarship accounts and an additional $300,000 for the administrative fee for the participating SFOs. The allocation of these funds is contingent upon HB 7055 or similar legislation failing to become law.

[NOTE: The Senate companion bill — SB 968 — is similar but has not been heard in any of three committees of reference.]

HB 887 – Reading Instruction by Harrell — READ 3^RD TIME; PASSED; IN MESSAGES TO THE SENATE
To further increase the quality of reading interventions, the bill:

• Beginning with the 2020-2021 school year, requires teachers who provide reading interventions under a school district’s K-12 comprehensive reading plan to be certified or endorsed in reading;
• Requires the Florida Department of Education (DOE), as part of its review of certain certification and endorsement requirements, to consider awarding a reading endorsement to teachers who are certified by an internationally recognized reading intervention organization or who complete a program accredited by the organization; and
• Requires school districts to provide teachers access to training for a reading endorsement consistent with the DOE’s review of endorsement requirements.

[NOTE: The Senate companion bill — SB 1306 — is identical and has passed two of three committees of reference.]

In the Senate Session:

SB 7026 – Public Safety by Rules – RETAINED ON SPECIAL ORDER CALENDAR
The bill provides law enforcement, the courts, and schools with the tools to enhance public safety by temporarily restricting firearm possession by a person who is undergoing a mental health crisis and when there is evidence of a threat of violence. The bill also promotes school safety and enhanced coordination between education and law enforcement entities at the state and local level. Specifically, the bill:

• Creates the Medical Reimbursement Program for Victims of Mass Shootings to reimburse trauma centers from the medical costs of treating victims for injuries associated with a mass shooting.
• Authorizes a law enforcement officer who is taking a person into custody for an involuntary examination under the Baker Act to seize and hold a firearm or ammunition the person possesses at the time of being taken into custody if the person poses a potential danger to himself or herself or others and has made a credible threat of violence against another person.
• Allows an officer who is taking a person into custody at his or her residence to seek the voluntary surrender of firearms or ammunition kept in the residence not already seized.
• Prohibits a person who has been adjudicated mentally defective or who has been committed to a mental institution from owning or possessing a firearm until a court orders otherwise.
• Requires a three-day waiting period for all firearms, not just handguns or until the background check is complete, whichever is later.
• Prohibits a person under 21 years of age from purchasing a firearm.
• Prohibits a licensed firearm dealer, importer, or manufacturer, from making or facilitating the sale or transfer of a firearm to a person under the age of 21. This prohibition does not apply to the purchase of a rifle or shotgun by a law enforcement officer or a correctional officer or to a member of the military.
• Prohibits a bump-fire stock from being imported, transferred, distributed, transported, sold, keeping for sale, offering or exposing for sale, or given away within the state.
• Creates a process for a law enforcement officer or law enforcement agency to petition a court for a risk protection order to temporarily prevent persons who are at high risk of harming themselves or others from accessing firearms when a person poses a significant danger to himself or herself or others, including significant danger as a result of a mental health crisis or violent behavior.
• Provides a court can issue a risk protection order for up to 12 months.
• Allows a court to issue temporary ex parte risk protection order in certain circumstances.
• Requires the surrender of all firearms and ammunition if a risk protection order or ex parte risk protection order is issued.
• Provides a process for a risk protection order to be vacated or extended.
• Establishes the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to investigate system failures in the Parkland school shooting and prior mass violence incidents, and develop recommendations for system improvements.
• Codifies the Office of Safe Schools (office) within the Florida Department of Education (DOE) and specifies the purpose of the office is to serve as the state education agency’s primary coordinating division for promoting and supporting safe-learning environments.
• Creates the Florida Sheriff’s Marshal Program within the DOE as a voluntary program to assist school districts and public schools in enhancing the safety and security of students, faculty, staff, and visitors to Florida’s public schools and campuses.
• Codifies the Multiagency Service Network for Students with Severe Emotional Disturbance (SEDNET) as a function of the DOE in partnership with other state, regional, and local entities to facilitate collaboration and communication between the specified entities.
• Establishes the Public School Emergency Response Learning System Program to assist school personnel in preparing for and responding to active emergency situations and to implement local notification systems for all Florida public schools.
• Establishes the “FortifyFL” program and requires the FDLE to procure a mobile suspicious activity reporting tool that allows students and the community to report information anonymously about specified activities or the threat of such activities to appropriate public safety agencies and school officials.
• Requires each district school board and school district superintendent to cooperate with law enforcement agencies to assign one or more safe-school officers at each school facility, and:
  • Requires each district school board to designate a district school safety specialist to serve as the district’s primary point of public contact for public school safety functions.
  • Requires each school district to designate a threat assessment team at each school, and requires the team to operate under the district school safety specialist’s direction.
• Creates the mental health assistance allocation to provide supplemental funding to assist school districts and charter schools in establishing or expanding comprehensive mental health programs and to connect students and families with appropriate services.
• Clarifies the applicability of public records exemptions for security systems and plans.
• Appropriates $200 million in nonrecurring and $200 million in recurring funds from the General Revenue Fund to implement the bill provisions.

SB 7024 – Public Records / Victim of a Crime of Mass Violence by Rules – RETAINED ON SPECIAL ORDER CALENDAR
The bill makes the address of a victim of an incident of mass violence exempt from public records disclosure and copying requirements. The bill defines “an incident of mass violence” as an incident in which three or more people, other than the perpetrator, are severely injured or killed by an intentional act of violence. A victim is considered to be a person killed or injured during an incident of mass violence.

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[toggle title=”Coming Up Tomorrow – March 2, 2018“]

Please note that the meeting listed below may be viewed via live webcast on the Florida Channel. For real-time updates, please click HERE to access our Twitter feed.

The Senate Appropriations Committee will meet, 9:00 am-12:00 pm, to consider the following items and others:

SB 272 – Local Tax Referenda by Brandes
The bill provides that a referendum to adopt or amend a local option discretionary sales surtax which is held at any date other than a general election requires the approval of at least 60 percent of the electors voting on the ballot question. If the referendum is held at a general election, only a simple majority is required.

SB 354 – Government Accountability by Stargel
The bill amends various statutes to enhance government accountability and auditing, based on recommendations noted in recent reports by the Auditor General. The bill:

• Specifies that the Governor or Commissioner of Education, or designee, may notify the Legislative Auditing Committee of an entity’s failure to comply with certain auditing and financial reporting requirements;
• Provides definitions for the terms “abuse,” “fraud,” and “waste;”
• Adds tourist development council and county tourism promotion agency to the definition of “local government entity;”
• States that local government entities do not include water management districts for the purposes of s. 11.45(2), F.S.;
• Includes tourist development councils and county tourism promotion agencies in the list of entities that the Auditor General may audit;
• Requires the Florida Clerks of Court Operations Corporation to notify quarterly the Legislature of any clerk not meeting workload performance standards;
• Requires each agency, the judicial branch, the Justice Administrative Commission, state attorneys, public defenders, criminal conflict and civil regional counsel, capital collateral regional counsel, the Guardian Ad Litem program, local governmental entities, charter schools, school districts, Florida College System institutions, and state universities to establish and maintain internal controls designed to prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse;
• Requires counties, municipalities, and water management districts to maintain certain budget documents on their websites for specified timeframes;
• Revises the monthly financial statement requirements for water management districts;
• Provides that the Department of Financial Services may request additional information from local government entities when preparing its annual verified report;
• Requires a local governmental entity, district school board, charter school, or charter technical career center, Florida College System board of trustees, or university board of trustees to respond to audit recommendations under certain circumstances;
• Requires an independent certified public accountant conducting an audit of a local governmental entity to determine, as part of the audit, whether the entity’s annual financial report is in agreement with the entity’s audited financial statements;
• Revises the composition of auditor selection committees;
• Requires completion of an annual financial audit of the Florida Virtual School; and
• Prohibits a board or commission from requiring a member of the public to provide an advance written copy of his or her testimony or comments as a precondition of being given the opportunity to be heard.
• Limits the amount that may be reimbursed per day for state agency and judicial branch employee lodging expenses for travel under certain circumstances to $150, and requires all governmental entities to use the statewide travel management system.

SB 732 – K-12 Education/Home Education by Baxley
The bill modifies requirements related to home education programs, school attendance, and the Florida Partnership for Minority and Underrepresented Student Achievement. Specifically, the bill:

• Modifies the home education program to:
  • Limit the information a parent must provide to establish and maintain a home education program unless the home education program student chooses to participate in a district program or service.
  • Authorize school districts to provide home education program students access to career and technical education courses and programs.
  • Require school districts to make industry certifications and national and statewide assessments available to home education program students.
• Requires a home education program student to register his or her intent to participate in an extracurricular activity prior to participating in the activity.
• Clarifies the academic requirements that home education program students must meet in order to participate in dual enrollment programs by:
  • Exempting a home education program student from maintaining a specific high school grade point average if he or she has meets a minimum score on a common placement test.
  • Requiring a home education program student to maintain a minimum GPA established by the postsecondary institution for continued enrollment in a dual enrollment course.
• Clarifies school attendance procedures to:
  • Prohibit the district school superintendent from requiring evidence of a child’s age if the child attends a school or program specified in law.
  • Authorize the district school superintendent to refer instances of nonenrollment to a child study team for intervention.
  • Require school districts to implement interventions for nonenrollment and nonattendance prior to criminal prosecution.
  • Modifies the Florida Partnership for Minority and Underrepresented Student Achievement to:
  • Update the name of the preliminary ACT to the PreACT.
  • Add the ACT and the PreACT to specified assessments included in databases containing assessment data, to which the Department of Education must provide access for evaluation purposes.

SB 1056 – Computer Coding Instruction by Passidomo
The bill promotes opportunities for public middle and high school students to learn computer science taught by qualified teachers. Specifically, the bill:

• Expands access to computer science courses by:
  • Requiring middle schools and high schools to offer computer science courses.
  • Phasing in a requirement for school districts to offer computer science courses in a specified number of traditional public middle, high, and combination schools within a specified timeframe.
  • Requiring computer science courses that meet the specified definition to be identified in the Course Code Directory and on the Department of Education’s (DOE) website.
• Creates opportunities for teachers to be certified and trained to teach computer science courses, and requires the DOE to award funding, subject to legislative appropriation, to a school district or consortium of school districts to deliver or facilitate training for educators to earn a certificate in computer science or specified industry certification, or to pay fees for examinations that lead to a credential.
• Provides, subject to legislative appropriation, the following bonuses to a public school educator evaluated as effective or highly effective, or is newly hired:
  • $1,000 after each year teaching a computer science course, for up to three years, if the educator holds a certificate in computer science or has passed the computer science subject area examination and holds an adjunct certificate.
  • $500 after each year teaching a specified course, for up to three years, if the educator holds an industry certification.
• Requires the DOE to provide, subject to legislative appropriation, high-need district technology grants to school districts for which the Florida digital classrooms allocation and the district’s instructional materials fund are insufficient to meet the need.

SB 1254 – Early Learning by Passidomo
The bill modifies provisions relating to the school readiness program. Specifically, the bill:

• Requires the Office of Early Learning (OEL) to:
  • Adopt a program assessment that measures the quality of teacher-child interactions including classroom organization and specified supports.
  • Provide a differential payment of up to 10 percent for each care level and unit of child care for a child care provider that meets specified requirements.
  • Revise the statewide provider contract to include contracted slots, quality improvement strategies, and program assessment requirements.
  • Modify the annual report to include specified data regarding school readiness program provider compliance with requirements relating to the program assessment.
• Revises Early Learning Coalitions (ELC) plans to add information regarding:
  • An assessment of local priorities based on the needs of families and provider capacity using available community data.
  • Local eligibility priorities for children, the use of contracted slots in the ELC’s procedures for program implementation, a payment rate schedule, and a description of quality improvement strategies in the ELC’s quality activities and services.
• Modifies school readiness program eligibility, provider standards, and funding to:
  • Revise the child eligibility priorities for participation in the school readiness program based on the ELC’s local priorities; and also revise the definition of “at-risk” children for eligibility purposes
  • Revise provider eligibility requirements to specify that the providers must participate in a program assessment that measures the quality of teacher-child interactions.
  • Authorize the award of grants and financial supports to providers and instructors to also meet program assessment requirements.
• The bill appropriates $6 million for the 2018-2019 fiscal year from the Child Care and Development Block Grant Trust Fund to the OEL to implement the program assessment for school readiness program providers.

SB 1532 – Early Learning Coalitions by Stargel
The bill authorizes an early learning coalition to refuse to contract with a school readiness program provider if the provider has been cited for a class I violation. A class I violation is the most serious in nature and poses an imminent threat to a child including abuse or neglect that could result in death or serious harm to the health, safety or well-being of a child.

SB 1548 – K-12 Student Safety by Book
The bill modifies Florida law regarding educator certification requirements and district school board duties relating to school safety. Specifically, the bill:

• Expands the applicability of certain employment disqualification criteria to include all positions that require direct contact with students.
• Grants the Department of Education (DOE) and the Education Practices Commission additional authority to enforce the educator certification requirements and impose penalties against persons who do not comply with certification requirements.
• Requires the holder of a Florida educator certification to agree to inform his or her employer within 48 hours if arrested for any disqualifying offense while employed in a position that requires the certification.
• Provides that persons employed as part-time teachers by the district school board are not exempt from the certification requirements for all school-based personnel.
• Specifies that an adjunct teaching certificate may not be used to fulfill the certification requirements for a person who is employed as an athletic coach in any public school in Florida.
• Requires an educator who has been placed on probation to immediately notify the investigative office in the DOE upon separation from employment in any public or private position requiring a Florida educator’s certificate.

 The House will be in Session, 10:30 am – completion of business, to consider the following items and others on Special Order:

HB 7101 – Public Safety by Appropriations
To increase communication between various entities that interact with schools and students, better identify students in need of mental health treatment and increase access to such treatment, and to help prevent mass violence incidents in the future, the bill:

• Creates the School Safety Awareness Program within the Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to receive early, anonymous, information about suspicious or concerning behavior;
• Allows Crime Stoppers Funds to be used for anonymous reporting systems in student crime watch programs;
• Establishes the Office of Safe Schools to serve as a central repository for best practices, examine the effectiveness of recommendations produced using the current self-assessment tool and develop a School Safety Specialist Training Program. Each district school safety specialist must provide school safety training, conduct active shooter drills at least as often as other drills, and annually conduct a security risk self-assessment;
• Establishes a threat assessment team at each school consisting of a counselor, teacher, administrator, and school resource officer to determine when a student poses a threat of violence to themselves or others and engage behavioral health crisis resources if necessary;
• Requires school boards to partner with local law enforcement to address school security needs and increase law enforcement presence, and requires each school district to coordinate with public safety agencies to develop emergency procedures and designate a school safety specialist who must coordinate with local public safety agencies;
• Requires revisions to zero tolerance policies to authorize threat assessment teams to address disruptive behavior through alternatives to expulsion or referral to law enforcement and requiring a team to consult with law enforcement in certain circumstances;
• Doubles the number of school resource officers, funds them, and requires crisis intervention training for all officers;
• Requires sheriffs and police chiefs in certain circumstances, to appoint law enforcement-trained persons who meet specific requirements exceeding those of similar programs nationally, to serve as school marshals;
• Requires all school personnel to receive, and funds, youth mental health first aid training;
• Funds additional mobile crisis teams and community action teams to create statewide access;
• Creates a categorical allocation and provides funding for mental health treatment in schools;
• Requires state and local agencies serving students with or at risk of mental illness to coordinate efforts, allows sharing of confidential information, and requires a court to notify a school district when referring a student to mental health services; and
• Creates the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission to investigate failures that allowed mass incidents of violence in Florida and make recommendations to prevent such incidents in the future.

In addition, the bill:

• Prohibits a licensed importer, manufacturer or dealer from selling a firearm to a person under age 21, with exceptions;
• Expands the mandatory 3-day waiting period for handguns to all firearms sold at retail with certain exceptions;
• Prohibits a person from transferring, distributing, selling, or keeping for sale, offering for sale, possessing, or giving to another person a bump-fire stock and prohibits importing a bump-fire stock into the state;
• Authorizes a law enforcement agency to seize any firearm and ammunition owned by a person involuntarily examined under the Baker Act who has made a credible threat of violence against another person. Provides for the retention of the firearm and ammunition for an additional 60 days if certain criteria are met.
• Appropriates a total of $400 million to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Department of Education, and the Department of Children and Families, for multiple purposes.

HB 7103 – Public Records and Public Meetings by Appropriations
The bill creates public record and public meeting exemptions relating to issues of school safety. Specifically, the bill creates the following exemptions:

• A public meeting exemption for any portion of a meeting of the Commission when confidential or exempt information is discussed.
• A public record exemption for the identity of an individual who reports information using the mobile suspicious activity reporting tool concerning unsafe, potentially harmful, dangerous, violent, or criminal activities, or the threat of these activities, when such information is held by a the Department of Law Enforcement, a law enforcement agency, or school officials.
• A public record exemption for any information held by a law enforcement agency, school district, or charter school that would identity whether a particular individual has been appointed as a school marshal.

HB 7105 – Public Records/ Victims of Mass Violence by Appropriations
The bill creates a public record exemption for the address of a victim of an incident of mass violence. The bill defines the term “incident of mass violence” to mean an incident in which four or more people, not including the perpetrator, are severely injured or killed by an intentional and indiscriminate act of violence of another. The bill defines the term “victim” to mean a person killed or injured during an incident of mass violence, not including the perpetrator. The bill also amends the definition of “criminal intelligence information” and “criminal investigative information” to include the address of a victim of mass violence.

HB 1391 – Sexual Offenses Against Students by Rodrigues
The bill further enhances student safety and increases accountability for school officials and employees by:

• Disqualifying a person from educator certification or employment in a position with a public school or certain private schools that involves direct contact with students if the person has a conviction for an offense against a student;
• Providing that a conviction for an offense against a student disqualifies a person from educator certification or employment in a position with a public school or certain private schools that involves direct contact with students;
• Providing that an employee’s resignation or termination of employment does not affect a school district’s responsibility to investigate complaints of misconduct;
• Requiring a school district, and an investigator hired or contracted to investigate alleged employee misconduct, to report legally sufficient complaints to the Department of Education (DOE) within 30 days;
• Requiring district school board policies to include mandatory reporting of alleged misconduct that involves engaging in sexual or lewd conduct with a student or soliciting such conduct and to require district school superintendents to report to law enforcement misconduct by school district personnel that would result in disqualification from certification or employment;
• Expanding the reasons a district school board member’s or superintendent’s salary may be forfeited for 1 year;
• Requiring a district school superintendent to notify, in writing, the parent of a student affected by certain misconduct and requiring the notification to include certain information;
• Expanding the authority of the DOE to deny certification based upon the Education Practices Commission’s (EPC) authority to issue disciplinary action against a certified educator;
• Authorizing the EPC to impose conditions upon the award of an educator certificate;
• Requiring school districts and certain schools to notify DOE when a teacher or administrator resigns before an investigation of misconduct affecting the health, safety, or welfare of a student is concluded and requiring the DOE to place an alert on the person’s certificate file indicating that he or she resigned or was terminated before such an investigation was concluded; and
• Prohibiting a teacher who violates or fails to maintain the security of an industry certification exam from receiving a bonus based on such student certification.
• Makes it a second-degree felony for an authority figure to solicit or engage in sexual or lewd conduct with a student enrolled at a school, regardless of the student’s age.
• Amends the definition of school in the trespass on school grounds statute to include a school bus, allowing law enforcement to arrest someone for trespassing on a school bus, after the commission of the crime and without a warrant, if the officer has probable cause to believe the person committed the offense.

HB 515 – Offenses Against Students by Authority Figures by White
The bill makes it a second-degree felony for an authority figure to solicit or engage in sexual or lewd conduct with a student enrolled at a school, regardless of the student’s age. The bill defines:

• “Authority figure” as a person 18 years of age or older who is employed by, volunteering at, or under contract with a school, including school resource officers.
• “School” as a private school, a voluntary prekindergarten education program, early learning program, a public school, the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, the and the Florida Virtual School.
• “Student” as a person who is enrolled at a school.

The bill amends the definition of school in the trespass on school grounds statute to include a school bus. This amendment allows law enforcement to arrest someone for trespassing on a school bus, after the commission of the crime and without a warrant, if the officer had probable cause to believe the person committed the offense.

HB 1 – The Hope Scholarship Program by Donalds
The bill establishes the Hope Scholarship Program, which provides the parent of a public school student who was subject to an incident of battery; harassment; hazing; bullying; kidnapping; physical attack; robbery; sexual offenses, harassment, assault, or battery; threat or intimidation; or fighting at school with the opportunity to transfer the student to another public school or to receive a scholarship for the student to attend a private school. If the student enrolls in a public school outside the district, the student is eligible for a transportation scholarship limited to $750.

In addition, the bill:

• Establishes the duties and responsibilities of the Department of Education, the Commissioner of Education, scholarship funding organizations, parents, students and the Auditor General.
• Establishes guidelines for funding and payment of the Hope Scholarship Program.
• Allows taxpayers to receive tax credits for eligible contributions to fund the Hope Scholarship Program.
• Increases accountability and oversight in all K-12 scholarship programs in the state.
• Contingent upon HB 7055 or similar legislation  failing to become law, $2 million is appropriated to the Department of Education to implement the provisions of this act.

HB 495 – Education/Price Level Index by Diaz
The bill amends several provisions relating to the operation and funding of public schools. Specifically, the bill:

• Provides the same carry forward authority for undisbursed Schools of Hope Program funds as currently provided for revolving loan funds.
• Revises how school districts must spend Supplemental Academic Instruction (SAI) allocation funds.
• Expands the Principal Autonomy Pilot Program Initiative to a statewide program and authorizes highly effective trained principals to manage multiple district schools.
• Revises requirements for the disbursement of Title I funds by school districts.
• Expands the available exceptions a district school board may adopt to include any other provisions in SREF that limit the ability of a school to operate in a facility on the same basis as a charter school.
• Requires the Florida Department of Education to issue a competitive solicitation to contract with an independent, third-party consulting firm to conduct a review of the current price level index methodology by July 1, 2018, and every 10 years thereafter.

The bill amends several provisions relating to charter schools as follows:

• Provides charter schools with access to surplus property on the same basis as public schools.
• Requires school districts to provide background screening results for charter school employees within 14 days.
• Revises eligibility requirements for high performing charter schools and allows replication of up to two schools.
• Clarifies provisions relating to charter school consolidations.
• Revises requirements for sharing discretionary capital outlay millage revenues with charter schools.
• Prohibits a school district from withholding charter school administrative fees if specified aggregate lease-purchase agreement payments exceed three-fourths of the discretionary millage proceeds.

The bill also requires each school district, by the start of the 2018-2019 school year, to negotiate a memorandum of understanding with the collective bargaining unit for instructional personnel that addresses the selection, placement, and expectations of instructional personnel and provides principals with autonomy over certain personnel and budgetary decisions.

HB 165 – Threats to Kill or Do Bodily Injury by McClain
The bill prohibits a person from:

• Making a threat in a writing or other record, including an electronic record, to kill or do great bodily injury to another person; and
• Posting or transmitting the threat in any manner that would allow another person to view the threat.
• In addition, the bill:
• Removes the requirement that the written threat be sent to the person threatened or a member of his or her family.
• Reclassifies the offense as a third degree felony and reduces the offense level from a level 6 to a level 4 on the criminal punishment code scoresheet.

HB 1019 – Financial Reporting by La Rosa
The bill requires counties, municipalities, special districts, water management districts, and school districts to:

• Post annual budgets to their respective websites for two years;
• Post tentative budgets to their websites for 45 days;
• Provide an electronic copy of their budgets to the Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR), on forms prescribed by the EDR; and
• Provide a copy of their budgets and a certification of timely filing to the clerk of the court.

In addition, the bill:

• Provides that if a local government entity or school district fails to file required reports with the clerk of the court, the clerk must notify the appropriate fiscal officer to withhold salary payments from the head of the local government entity or the superintendent of the school district until the reports are filed.
• Requires all municipalities and special districts to conduct an annual audit.
• Requires the Legislative Auditing Committee to conduct a hearing upon receiving notification from the Auditor General, the Department of Financial Services, the Division of Bond Finance of the State Board of Administration, the Governor, or the Commissioner of Education that a local government entity has failed to file required reports.

HB 947 – Behavioral Health of Minors by Payne
The bill implements the recommendations to address the issue of involuntary examination of minors. Specifically, the bill:

• Encourages school districts to adopt a standardized suicide assessment tool that school‐based mental health professionals would implement prior to initiation of an involuntary examination.
• Requires Youth Mental Health First Aid or Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training for school resource officers and other law enforcement officers who initiate involuntary examinations from schools.
• Increases the number of days, from the next working day to five working days that the receiving facility has to submit forms to DCF, to allow DCF to capture data on whether the minor was admitted, released, or a petition filed with the court.
• Requires school administrators to notify a student’s parent, guardian, or caregiver before an involuntary examination is initiated and the student is removed from school, school transportation, or a school‐sponsored activity.
• Allows a facility the option of initiating either an assessment by a service provider or the examination within 12 hours for a minor held for an involuntary examination.

HB 977 – Retirement of Instructional and Administrative Personnel by Fine
The bill provides that, effective July 1, 2018, instructional personnel who are authorized to extend DROP participation beyond the 60-month period must have a termination date that is the last day of the last calendar month of the school year within the DROP extension granted by the employer. For those employees who have already extended DROP on or before July 1, 2018, the member’s DROP participation may be extended through the last day of the last calendar month of that school year. The employer must notify the division of the change in termination date and the additional period of DROP participation for the affected instructional personnel. In addition, administrative personnel in grades K-12 who have a DROP termination date on or after July 1, 2018, may be authorized to extend DROP participation beyond the initial 60 calendar month period if the administrative personnel’s termination date is before the end of the school year. Such administrative personnel may have DROP participation extended until the last day of the last calendar month of the school year in which their original DROP termination date occurred.

HB 63 – Students with Disabilities in Public Schools by Edwards
The bill amends the use of restraint on students with disabilities. Specifically, the bill:

• Defines terms related to seclusion and restraint.
• Provides that physical restraint may be used only to protect students, school personnel or others, but not for disciplining a student. Restraints should be used only when all other strategies and techniques have been exhausted. A student may only be physically restrained for the time necessary for protection.
• Prohibits certain physical restraint techniques.
• Requires school districts to develop policies and procedures to ensure the physical safety and security of all students and school personnel; and requires that students be treated with dignity and respect.
• Outlines under what circumstances restraint may not be used.
• Describes the circumstance when time-outs may be used and prohibits certain areas.
• Prohibits student from being placed in seclusion.
• Requires the school to review a student’s functional behavioral assessment and individualized behavior intervention plan when a student is placed in time-out, physically restrained or secluded more than twice in a semester.
• Includes emotional and behavioral disabilities in the list of disabilities for which certain school personnel must be trained to identify for early intervention.
• Adds to staff training effective classroom behavior management strategies such as differential reinforcement, precision commands, minimizing attention or access to other reinforcers, and time-out methods.
• Directs DOE to publish data and analysis relating to incidents of seclusion and restraint on its website.

The Senate will be in Session, 1:00 – 6:00 pm, to consider the following items and others on Special Order:

HB 7055 – Education by Education
(Please see Summaries of House and Senate versions of this bill HERE)

SB 1804 – School District Accountability by Stargel
The bill increases fiscal accountability and expands fiscal transparency requirements for district school boards. Specifically, the bill:

Increases fiscal accountability requirements by:

• Adding to the Auditor General’s (AG’s) duties, the requirement to contact each district school board with findings and recommendations contained within the AG’s previous operational audit report; and specifying compliance requirements for the district school boards.
• Requiring the Department of Education’s (DOE’s) Inspector General to investigate allegations and reports of possible fraud or abuse against a district school board made by specified entities.
• Requiring school districts receiving annual federal, state, and local funds in excess of $500 million to employ an internal auditor.

Expands fiscal transparency by:

• Requiring district school boards to provide a full explanation of any budget amendments at the boards’ next scheduled public meeting.
• Modifying the information that each district school board must post on its website to add graphical representations, for each public school within the district and for the school district, of summary financial efficiency data and 3-year fiscal trend information.
• Specifying additional information that each school district must report to the DOE including the total operating costs and expenditures for classroom instruction.
• Requiring the DOE to calculate specified expenditure information for each public school, school district, and the state; and develop a web-based fiscal transparency tool that identifies public schools and districts that produce high academic achievement based on the ratio of classroom instruction expenditures to total expenditures.
• Requiring the DOE to contract with an independent third party to conduct an investigation of all accounts and records when the conditions of a financial emergency exist.
• Requiring the withholding of each district school board member’s and district school superintendent’s salary, with some exceptions, if any of the conditions of a financial emergency exist, until such conditions are corrected.
• Requires prior approval by the district school board for reimbursement of out-of-district travel expenses that exceed $500, and requires a detailed itemized list of all anticipated travel expenses for any travel outside the state.
• Applies the restriction on lobbying for 2 years after vacating office to appointed school district superintendents, which currently applies to locally elected school district officers; and prohibits a district superintendent from appointing or employing a relative to work under his or her direct supervision.
• Appropriates $850,000 to the DOE to implement this act.

SB 7026 – Public Safety by Rules
The bill provides law enforcement, the courts, and schools with the tools to enhance public safety by temporarily restricting firearm possession by a person who is undergoing a mental health crisis and when there is evidence of a threat of violence. The bill also promotes school safety and enhanced coordination between education and law enforcement entities at the state and local level. Specifically, the bill:

• Creates the Medical Reimbursement Program for Victims of Mass Shootings to reimburse trauma centers from the medical costs of treating victims for injuries associated with a mass shooting.
• Authorizes a law enforcement officer who is taking a person into custody for an involuntary examination under the Baker Act to seize and hold a firearm or ammunition the person possesses at the time of being taken into custody if the person poses a potential danger to himself or herself or others and has made a credible threat of violence against another person.
• Allows an officer who is taking a person into custody at his or her residence to seek the voluntary surrender of firearms or ammunition kept in the residence not already seized.
• Prohibits a person who has been adjudicated mentally defective or who has been committed to a mental institution from owning or possessing a firearm until a court orders otherwise.
• Requires a three-day waiting period for all firearms, not just handguns or until the background check is complete, whichever is later.
• Prohibits a person under 21 years of age from purchasing a firearm.
• Prohibits a licensed firearm dealer, importer, or manufacturer, from making or facilitating the sale or transfer of a firearm to a person under the age of 21. This prohibition does not apply to the purchase of a rifle or shotgun by a law enforcement officer or a correctional officer or to a member of the military.
• Prohibits a bump-fire stock from being imported, transferred, distributed, transported, sold, keeping for sale, offering or exposing for sale, or given away within the state.
• Creates a process for a law enforcement officer or law enforcement agency to petition a court for a risk protection order to temporarily prevent persons who are at high risk of harming themselves or others from accessing firearms when a person poses a significant danger to himself or herself or others, including significant danger as a result of a mental health crisis or violent behavior.
• Provides a court can issue a risk protection order for up to 12 months.
• Allows a court to issue temporary ex parte risk protection order in certain circumstances.
• Requires the surrender of all firearms and ammunition if a risk protection order or ex parte risk protection order is issued.
• Provides a process for a risk protection order to be vacated or extended.
• Establishes the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to investigate system failures in the Parkland school shooting and prior mass violence incidents, and develop recommendations for system improvements.
• Codifies the Office of Safe Schools (office) within the Florida Department of Education (DOE) and specifies the purpose of the office is to serve as the state education agency’s primary coordinating division for promoting and supporting safe-learning environments.
• Creates the Florida Sheriff’s Marshal Program within the DOE as a voluntary program to assist school districts and public schools in enhancing the safety and security of students, faculty, staff, and visitors to Florida’s public schools and campuses.
• Codifies the Multiagency Service Network for Students with Severe Emotional Disturbance (SEDNET) as a function of the DOE in partnership with other state, regional, and local entities to facilitate collaboration and communication between the specified entities.
• Establishes the Public School Emergency Response Learning System Program to assist school personnel in preparing for and responding to active emergency situations and to implement local notification systems for all Florida public schools.
• Establishes the “FortifyFL” program and requires the FDLE to procure a mobile suspicious activity reporting tool that allows students and the community to report information anonymously about specified activities or the threat of such activities to appropriate public safety agencies and school officials.
• Requires each district school board and school district superintendent to cooperate with law enforcement agencies to assign one or more safe-school officers at each school facility, and:
  • Requires each district school board to designate a district school safety specialist to serve as the district’s primary point of public contact for public school safety functions.
  • Requires each school district to designate a threat assessment team at each school, and requires the team to operate under the district school safety specialist’s direction.
• Creates the mental health assistance allocation to provide supplemental funding to assist school districts and charter schools in establishing or expanding comprehensive mental health programs and to connect students and families with appropriate services.
• Clarifies the applicability of public records exemptions for security systems and plans.
• Appropriates $200 million in nonrecurring and $200 million in recurring funds from the General Revenue Fund to implement the bill provisions.

SB 7024 – Public Records / Victim of a Crime of Mass Violence by Rules
The bill makes the address of a victim of an incident of mass violence exempt from public records disclosure and copying requirements. The bill defines “an incident of mass violence” as an incident in which three or more people, other than the perpetrator, are severely injured or killed by an intentional act of violence. A victim is considered to be a person killed or injured during an incident of mass violence.

SB 1940 – Public Records and Public Meetings/School Safety by Galvano
The bill creates public records and public meetings exemptions for certain information related to school safety. Specifically, the bill provides the following exemptions:

• As part of the School Safety Awareness Program, the bill makes confidential and exempt from disclosure the identity of a party making a report of suspicious activity which is held by the Department of Law Enforcement, a law enforcement agency, or school officials;
• The bill makes exempt from disclosure a portion of a meeting of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission (Commission) at which exempt or confidential and exempt information is discussed; and
• The bill makes exempt from disclosure any information held by a law enforcement agency, school district, or charter school which would identify whether a particular individual has been appointed as a safe-school officer.

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