FSBA Session Spotlight — March 4, 2018

Because the Senate held a rare Saturday floor session, this issue of the Session Spotlight provides our report on bills that were considered on both Friday and Saturday. On Friday, both chambers postponed consideration of their respective public safety bills but legislators did consider several other bills of interest, including bills relating to local tax referenda, computer science curriculum, the Hope Scholarship Program, HB 7055, and early learning.  On Saturday, most of the Senate floor session was devoted to debate and amendments filed on its Public Safety bill – SB 7026.  Please click on the first and second links below for our report on the outcome of consideration of these and other bills.  Click on the third link below for a preview of the bills that will be considered on Monday, which includes consideration on 3^rd Reading of those bills that were on 2^nd Reading last week.

With regard to the budget conference process, the Education PreK-12 Budget Conference Committee held its third meeting Friday morning at which the Senate presented its second offer containing education budget, implementing bill, and budget proviso language offers. This settled only a few more budget issues but the chambers remain nearly $12 million apart in total FEFP funding and significant FEFP and non-FEFP funding issues remained unresolved.  These issues were bumped up to the Appropriations Committee chairs – Representative Trujillo and Senator Bradley – shortly after Friday morning’s meeting. Unfortunately, no further progress was made on the PreK-12 education budget during the weekend and these issues have now been bumped up to House Speaker Corcoran and Senate President Negron for resolution.  One of the main reasons why these PreK-12 budget negotiations have stalled is that a great deal of funding is tied to the Public Safety bills and to HB 7055 so, until the outcome of these bills is determined, resolution of the budget will remain up in the air.  Please keep in mind that all budget negotiations must be completed, and the budget document (called the Conference Report) must be printed and available for review 72 hours before a vote may be taken on it. As a result, in order for the Session to adjourn on schedule on Friday, March 9, the budget Conference Report must be printed and available for review before midnight on Tuesday, March 6.  We will continue to keep you informed as this process progresses.  In the meantime, you may review Friday’s Senate Offer #2 HERE.  For comparison, you may view House Offer #1 HERE and Senate Offer #1 HERE.

[toggle title=”Report on Bills Considered on March 2, 2018“]

In the House Session:

HB 1391 – Sexual Offenses Against Students by Rodrigues – READ 2^ND TIME; PLACED ON 3^RD READING FOR 3/5/18
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.

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

HB 515 – Offenses Against Students by Authority Figures by White – READ 2^ND TIME; PLACED ON 3^RD READING FOR 3/5/18
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.  [NOTE: The Senate companion bill – SB 736 – is similar but has not been heard in any of three committees of reference.]

HB 1 – The Hope Scholarship Program by Donalds – READ 2^ND TIME; AMENDED; PLACED ON 3^RD READING FOR 3/5/18
The bill establishes, effective with the bill becoming a law, the Hope Scholarship Program (HSP), 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:

• Allow the student to remain enrolled in the student’s current public school. The public school may provide a behavioral specialist or intervention counselor to assist both the student who was subjected to an incident and the alleged offender;
• Enroll the student in another public school that has capacity in the district in which the student resides;
• Enroll the student in another public school outside the district in which the student resides and receive a transportation scholarship limited to $750; or
• Apply for a Hope Scholarship and enroll his or her student in an eligible private school. transfer the student to another public school or to receive a scholarship for the student to attend a private school.
• 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 HSP.
• Allows taxpayers to receive tax credits for eligible contributions to fund the HSP.
• Increases accountability and oversight in all K-12 scholarship programs in the state.
• Contingent upon HB 7055 or similar legislation failing to become law, appropriates $2 million to the Department of Education to implement the provisions of the bill relating to the HSP.

In addition, the bill:

• Revises expenditures for the Gardiner Scholarship Program.
• Revises requirements for an annual report of certain student data for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program.
• Contingent upon HB 7055 or similar legislation failing to become law, appropriates $950,000 to the Department of Education to implement the additional oversight requirements for private school eligibility to participate in a scholarship program and $250,000 to the Department of Education to issue a competitive grant award to a university to annually report to the Department of Education on the performance of students participating in certain scholarship programs.

[NOTE: Today’s amendments revised provisions relating to scholarship funding, credits received by taxpayers for contributions to the HSP, add provisions relating to the Gardiner Scholarship Program and Tax Credit Scholarship Program, revises and clarifies options for students eligible for an HSP scholarship, revises the effective dates for the provisions of the bill to be effective on July 1, 2018 except as otherwise expressly provided. The short summary above reflects the provisions of the bill as amended. The Senate companion bill – SB 1172 – is comparable and has passed two of three committees of reference.]

HB 495 – Education/Price Level Index by Diaz – READ 2^ND TIME; AMENDED; PLACED ON 3^RD READING FOR 3/5/18
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 that, for charter school applications received on or before February 1, the charter school will open 18 months later or at a time agreed to by the applicant (rather than at a time agreed to by the school district and the applicant).
• 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 adds provisions relating to computer science instruction. The bill:

• Defines computer science and includes computer coding and programming in the definition;
• Requires the Florida Department of Education (DOE) to identify computer science courses in the Course Code Directory and on its website by July 1, 2018;
• Requires Florida Virtual School (FLVS) to offer computer science courses so students enrolled in a school without a computer science course can receive computer science instruction;
• Requires school districts to offer students access to computer science courses through FLVS or by other means;
• Establishes, subject to appropriation, a grant program to help teachers earn a computer science educator certificate or industry certification and for paying associated examination fees;
• Establishes, subject to appropriation, a bonus program to award qualifying teachers, on a yearly basis for up to 3 years, who teach computer science courses identified by the DOE; and
• Requires the State Board of Education to adopt rules to implement these provisions.

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.  [NOTE: Today’s amendments revised the timing for charter schools to open and incorporates provisions relating to computer science instruction. The short summary above reflects the provisions of the bill as amended. There is no direct Senate companion bill, but SB 824 and SB 1056 contain some comparable provisions.]

HB 165 – Threats to Kill or Do Bodily Injury by McClain – READ 2^ND TIME; AMENDED; PLACED ON 3^RD READING FOR 3/5/18
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.

[NOTE: Today’s amendment was generally clarifying and technical in nature. There Senate companion bill – SB 310 – is similar, has passed all committees of reference, and has been placed on the Senate Calendar on 2^nd Reading.]

HB 1019 – Financial Reporting by La Rosa – READ 2^ND TIME; PLACED ON 3^RD READING FOR 3/5/18
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.

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

HB 947 – Behavioral Health of Minors by Payne – READ 2^ND TIME; PLACED ON 3^RD READING FOR 3/5/18
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.

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

HB 977 – Retirement of Instructional and Administrative Personnel by Fine – READ 2^ND TIME; PLACED ON 3^RD READING FOR 3/5/18
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.   [NOTE: The Senate companion bill – SB 1240 – is similar and has passed one of three committees of reference.]

HB 63 – Students with Disabilities in Public Schools by Edwards – READ 2^ND TIME; AMENDED; PLACED ON 3^RD READING FOR 3/5/18
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.

[NOTE: Today’s amendment was a technical correction. The Senate companion bill – SB 260 – is similar, has passed all committees of reference, and has been placed on the Senate Calendar on 2^nd Reading.]

In the Senate Session:

HB 7055 – Education by Education – READ 2^ND TIME; AMENDED; PLACED ON 3^RD READING
Revises the summary prepared by FADSS with the following amendments made 2/27/18:

• Authorizes the carryforward of Schools of Hope program funds for up to 5 years after the effective date of the original appropriation.
• Provides that a teacher may not receive the CAPE industry certification bonus if the teacher fails to maintain test security or administration protocol for any CAPE exam.
• Expands the authority the State Board of Education to adopt rules and criteria under which a student’s industry certification or grade may be rescinded.
• Makes a technical change to the mental health assistance allocation.
• Requires all schools and district school board buildings to display the state motto, “In God We Trust,” in a conspicuous place.
• Modifies charter school contract term and consolidation provisions, including:
  • Extending from 2 years to 3 years, the authority of charter schools to defer the opening of the schools’ operations, upon approval of charter school application.
  • Extending the initial term of a charter contract from 4 or 5 years, as specified in law, to 5 years, excluding 1 planning year.
  • Authorizing a charter school to consolidate, during any term, multiple charters that are not in the same physical location into a single charter if the charters are operated under the same governing board, regardless of the renewal cycle.
• Modifies charter school due process provisions, including:
  • Revising the charter school sponsor’s authority to not renew or terminate a charter contract to specify that the sponsor may do so only after finding clear and convincing evidence of the disqualifying grounds specified in law.
  • Eliminating the opportunity for a charter school governing board to request a direct hearing before the sponsor based on the nonrenewal or termination of its charter contract, effectively providing that such hearing must be before an administrative law judge.
  • Eliminating the dispute resolution hearing before the Charter School Appeal Commission for disputes over contracted goods and services. Instead, a party must appeal to an administrative law judge appointed by the Division of Administrative Hearings, who is granted final order authority to rule on the dispute. The prevailing party must be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred during the mediation process, administrative proceeding, and any appeals.
• Modifies high-performing charter school provisions, including:
  • Specifying that the application of a high-performing charter school or a high-performing charter school system may be denied only if the sponsor demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence that such school or system does not materially comply with the standard application requirements.
  • Specifying that student enrollment may not exceed capacity of the facility at the time of enrollment, effectively allowing a high-performing charter school that has expanded its original facility or has access to additional facilities, to increase student enrollment without being limited to the original facility’s capacity.
  • Authorizing a high-performing charter school to replicate to two charter schools within the state in any year.
• Requires a district school board to reimburse the cost of background screening for governing board members and instructional and noninstructional personnel of a charter school if the district does not notify the charter school of the eligibility of such individuals within 14 days after the submission of fingerprints.
• Adds charters schools and charter management organizations to the entities authorized to offer Level I or Level II school leader preparation programs.
• Requires any tangible personal property that has been properly classified as surplus, marked for disposal, or otherwise unused by a district school board to be provided for a charter school’s use on the same basis as it is made available to other public schools in the district.
• Requires that professional development resources disseminated through the web-based statewide performance-support system include sample course-at-a-glance and unit overview templates that school districts may use when developing curricula. The templates must provide an organized structure for addressing the Florida Standards, grade-level expectations, evidence outcomes, and 21st Century skills that build toward mastery at each grade level.
• Requires, for an employee organization that has been certified as the bargaining agent for a unit of instructional personnel, the following:
  • Information that must be in an application for renewal of registration, including the number of employees eligible for representation by the employee organization and the number who are represented by the employee organization, specifying the number of members who pay dues and the number of members who do not pay dues.
  • An employee organization whose dues paying membership is less than 50 percent of the employees eligible for representation in the unit to petition the Public Employees Relations Commission for recertification.
• Requires that industry certification examinations, national assessments, and statewide assessments offered by the school district must be available to all Florida Virtual School (FLVS) students.
• Changes criterion for virtual instruction program provider qualifications to specify that the provider’s contract is automatically terminated if the provider earns two consecutive school grades of “F” (rather than one “D” or “F”) or two consecutive “unsatisfactory” ratings.
• Removes the provision in the home education program dual enrollment articulation agreement specifying that a home education student must be responsible for his or her own instructional materials.
• Modifies provisions in the dual enrollment articulation agreement between an eligible public postsecondary education institution and an eligible private secondary school to specify that tuition and fees for dual enrollment may not be passed along to the private school that the student attends.
• Establishes reading scholarship accounts for public school students in grades 3 through 5 who scored below a Level 3 on the grade 3 or grade 4 statewide, standardized ELA assessment in the prior school year. The scholarship must be offered on a first-come, first-served basis, and is contingent upon available funds, with the maximum award established annually in the General Appropriations Act.

The bill was further revised by the following amendments made 3/2/18:

• Deletes prohibition on personal financial enrichment by owners, operators, managers, real estate developers, and other affiliated parties of charter schools.
• Provides that, beginning in 2018 and thereafter, a sponsor must receive and consider charter school applications received on or before February 1 of each calendar year for charter schools to be opened 18 months later at the beginning of the school district’s school year, or to be opened at a time determined by the applicant (rather than at a time agreed to by the applicant and the sponsor).
• Revises provisions relating to participation in interscholastic and intrascholastic extracurricular student activities by a home education student, a charter school student, or a Florida Virtual School Student to provide that the student must register with the school his or her intent to participate as a representative of the school before he/she participates (rather than before the beginning date of the season for the activity).
• Revises provisions relating to the use of Supplemental Academic Instruction funding to provide that each school district that has one or more of the 300 lowest-performing elementary schools based on a 3-year average of the state reading assessment data must use the school’s portion of the allocation to provide an additional hour per day of intensive reading for the students in each school. The additional hour may be provided within the school day. Students enrolled in these schools who earned a level 4 or 5 score on the English Language Arts assessment for the previous school year may participate in the extra hour of instruction.
• Revises the provisions of the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) to provide that effective July 1, 2018, instructional personnel and administrative 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.
• Extends eligibility for the Florida Best and Brightest Teacher Scholarship Program to provide that a school district employee who is no longer a classroom teacher may receive an award if the employee was a classroom teacher in the prior school year, was rated highly effective, and met the eligibility requirements as a classroom teacher.

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

SB 1804 – School District Accountability by Stargel – READ 2^ND TIME; SUBSTITUTED FOR HB 1279; SB 1804 LAID ON THE TABLE
HB 1279 – School District Accountability by Sullivan — SUBSTITUTED FOR HB 1279; READ 2^ND TIME; PLACED ON 3^RD READING
To increase fiscal transparency of educational spending, the bill:

• Requires school boards to provide financial efficiency data and fiscal trend information;
• Requires the Department of Education to develop a web-based tool that identifies schools and districts with high academic achievement based on per pupil expenditures; and
• Requires school boards to provide a full explanation of, and approve, any budget amendment at the boards’ next public meeting.

To increase fiscal accountability of districts, the bill:

• Requires school districts with revenues over $500 million to employ an internal auditor;
• Requires school districts with low ending fund balances to reduce administrative costs and other expenditures;
• Requires districts with financial emergency conditions to withhold the salaries of certain superintendents and school board members until the emergency is addressed;
• Requires an investigation of school districts who are unable to timely pay current debts and liabilities;
• Clarifies that the Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General must investigate allegations and reports of fraud and abuse from certain government officials; and
• Requires school districts with previous operational audit findings to initiate and complete corrective action within a certain period of time.

The bill also:

• Prohibits appointed, along with elected superintendents, from lobbying school districts for a period of two years after vacating the position;
• Aligns school board member salaries with beginning teacher salaries or the amount calculated by statute;
• Requires prior school board approval for reimbursement of certain out-of-district travel expenses;
• Authorizes the withholding of a portion of an employee’s salary who owes a public financial disclosure fine;
• Repeals s. 1011.64, F.S., relating to school district minimum classroom expenditure requirements; and
• Prohibits superintendents, along with school board members, from employing or appointing a relative to work under their direct supervision.
• Contingent upon HB 7055 or similar legislation failing to become law, appropriates $850,000 to the Department of Education to implement the provisions of the bill.

In the Senate Appropriations Committee meeting:

SB 272 – Local Tax Referenda by Brandes – AMENDED; PASSED WITH A COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE (CS)
The bill requires that a referendum to adopt or amend a local government discretionary surtax, including the School Capital Outlay Surtax, must be held at a general election. This will limit the timing and frequency of these referenda to even-year November elections. If passed, the bill would be effective upon becoming a law – i.e. upon the signature of the Governor. [NOTE: This was the third of four committees of reference for this bill.  The House companion bill – HB 317 – is similar, has passed the House, and has been received in Messages in the Senate.  The most significant difference between the House and Senate versions of this bill appears to be the effective date – the House bill would be effective July 1, 2018 rather than upon becoming a law.] 

SB 354 – Government Accountability by Stargel – AMENDED; PASSED WITH A CS
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; 
• 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; and 
• 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.

[NOTE: This was the second of three committees of reference for this bill.  The House companion bill – HB 11 – is similar, has passed the House, and has been received in Messages in the Senate.]

SB 732 – K-12 Education/Home Education by Baxley – AMENDED; PASSED WITH A CS
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.

In addition, the bill:

• Revises the meaning of a rare disease within the definition of the term “disability” for purposes of the Gardiner Scholarship Program and:
  • Revises eligible expenditures for the program;
  • Revises requirements for private schools that participate in the program;
  • Specifies that the failure or refusal, rather than the inability of, a private school to meet certain requirements constitutes a basis for program ineligibility.
• Establishes reading scholarship accounts for specified purposes and:
  • Provides for eligibility for scholarships;
  • Provides duties of the DOE and school district obligations;
  • Provides that maximum funding shall be specified in the General Appropriations Act; and
  • Specifies that no state liability arises from the award or use of such an account.
• Renames the Competency-Based Education Pilot Program as the Mastery-Based Education Pilot Program; and
  • Authorizes a district school board participating in the Mastery-Based Education Pilot Program to award credit based on student mastery of certain content and skills; and:
  • Authorizes a district school board participating in the Pilot Program to use an alternative interpretation of letter grades for certain students;
  • Authorizes public school districts to submit applications for the program;
  • Authorizes participating school districts to amend their applications to include alternatives for the award credits and interpretation of letter grades; and
  • Requires the statewide articulation agreement to ensure fair and equitable access for students with mastery-based, nontraditional diplomas and transcripts.

[NOTE: The Committee took up and passed a Proposed Committee Substitute (PCS) that was further amended to include provisions relating to the Gardner Scholarship Program, Reading Scholarship Accounts, and mastery-based education.  The short summary above reflects the provisions of the PCS as amended.  This was the third of three committees of reference for this bill. The House companion bill – HB 731 – is similar, has passed the House, and has been received in Messages in the Senate.]

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.

[NOTE: The Committee took up and passed a strike-all amendment to the bill.  The short summary above reflects the provisions of the bill as amended.  The Senate budget does not provide appropriations for the teacher bonuses, training, or grants outlined in the bill. This was the third of three committees of reference for this bill. The House companion bill – HB 1213 – is similar, has passed all committees of reference, and has been placed on the House Calendar on 2^nd Reading.]

SB 1254 – Early Learning by Passidomo – AMENDED; PASSED WITH A CS
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.   [NOTE: The Committee took up and passed a strike-all amendment to the bill.  The short summary above reflects the provisions of the bill as amended.  This was the third of three committees of reference for this bill. The House companion bill – HB 1091 – is similar, has passed the House, and has been received in Messages in the Senate.]

SB 1532 – Early Learning Coalitions by Stargel – PASSED; PLACED ON SENATE CALENDAR ON 2^ND READING
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. [NOTE: This was the third of three committees of reference for this bill. The House companion bill – HB 1175 – is comparable, has passed the House, and has been received in Messages in the Senate.]

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[toggle title=”Report on Bills Considered on March 3, 2018“]

SB 7026 – Public Safety by Rules – READ 2^ND TIME; AMENDED; PLACED ON 3^RD READING FOR 3/5/18
The bill comprehensively addresses the crisis of gun violence, including but not limited to, gun violence on school campuses. The bill provides law enforcement and the courts 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, and by promoting school safety and enhanced coordination between education and law enforcement entities at the state and local level.

With regard to keeping firearms out of the hands of those suffering from mental illness, the bill:

• 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 from the person for 24 hours after the person is released and does not have a risk protection order against them or is the subject of a firearm disability.
• 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.
• 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, and:
  • Allows a court to issue a risk protection order for up to 12 months.
  • Requires the surrender of all firearms and ammunition if a risk protection order is issued.
  • Provides a process for a risk protection order to be vacated or extended.

With regard to firearms, the bill:

• Requires a three-day waiting period for all firearms (rather than only for handguns) or until the background check is completed, whichever is later.
• Provides exceptions for the purchase of all firearms for concealed weapons permit holders, and, for the purchase of firearms other than handguns, provides an exception for:
  • Individuals who have completed a 16 hour hunter safety course; or
  • Law enforcement officers, correctional officers and service members (military and national guard)
• Prohibits a person under 21 years of age from purchasing a firearm and prohibits licensed firearm dealers, importers, and manufacturers, from selling a firearm, except in the case of a member of the military, or a law enforcement or correctional officer when purchasing a rifle or shotgun. (Persons under 21 years of age are already prohibited from purchasing a handgun under federal law.)
• Prohibits a bump-fire stock from being imported, transferred, distributed, sold, keeping for sale, offering for sale, possessing, or giving away within the state.

With regard to improving school safety, the bill:

• Establishes the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission 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 within the Florida Department of Education (DOE) and which will service as a central repository for the best practices, training standards, and compliance regarding school safety and security.
• Permits a sheriff to establish a school marshal program. The amendment allows school districts to decide whether to participate in the school marshal program if it is available in their county. A school marshal must complete 132 hours of comprehensive firearm safety and proficiency training and at least 12 hours of a certified nationally recognized diversity training program. This program is completely voluntary.
• 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.
• 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 school safety specialists and a threat assessment team at each school, and requires the team to operate under the district school safety specialist’s direction.
• Requires the DOE to contract for the development of a Florida Safe Schools Assessment Tool which will assist school districts in conducting security assessments to identify threats and vulnerabilities.
• Creates the mental health assistance allocation to assist school districts in establishing or expanding school-based mental health care.

The bill also:

• Provides that the cost per student station also does not include the cost for securing entries, checkpoint construction, lighting specifically designed for entry point security, security cameras, automatic locks and locking devices, electronic security systems, fencing designed to prevent intruder entry into a building, bullet-proof glass, or other capital construction items approved by the school safety specialist to ensure building security for new educational, auxiliary, or ancillary facilities and specifies that the costs for these items must be below 2% per student station.
• Prohibits a person from making, posting, or transmitting a threat to conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism.
• Requires DCF to contract for community action treatment teams to provider behavioral health and support services.
• Requires FDLE to procure a mobile app that would allow students and the community to relay information anonymously concerning unsafe, dangerous threats. The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglass recommended that the program be named “FortifyFL”

The legislation appropriates $400 million to implement the bill provisions, including the following:

• Over $69 million to the DOE to fund the mental health assistance allocation;
• $1 million for the design and construction of a memorial honoring those who lost their lives on February 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
• Over $25 million for replacing building 12 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
• Over $67 million for sheriff’s offices who decide to establish a school marshal program.
• Over $97 million to aid for the safe schools allocation.
• Over $98 million to implement a grant program for improving and hardening the physical security of school buildings.
• $18.3 million to DCF for additional mobile crisis teams to ensure reasonable access among all counties.

[NOTE: The Senate took up a strike-all amendment that was further amended to revise funding provisions, require additional training for a prospective school marshal, and to specify that the cost  per student station does not include certain improvements related to enhanced safety and security.   The short summary above reflects the provisions of the bill as amended. The House companion bill – HB 7101 – is similar and is on the House Calendar on 2^nd Reading.]

SB 7024 – Public Records / Victim of a Crime of Mass Violence by Rules – READ 2^ND TIME; AMENDED; PLACED ON 3^RD READING FOR 3/5/18
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 four or more people, other than the perpetrator, are severely injured or killed by an intentional and indiscriminate act of violence. A victim is considered to be a person killed or injured during an incident of mass violence. [NOTE: Today’s amendments revised the definitions.  The short summary above reflects the provisions of the bill as amended. The House companion bill – HB 7105 – is similar and is on the House Calendar on 2^nd Reading.]

SB 1940 – Public Records and Public Meetings/School Safety by Galvano – READ 2^ND TIME; AMENDED; PLACED ON 3^RD READING FOR 3/5/18
The bill creates public records and public meetings exemptions for certain information related to school safety. Specifically, the bill provides the following exemptions:

• Exemptions from public records requirements for the identity of a reporting party and any information received through the mobile suspicious activity reporting tool which is held by the Department of Law Enforcement, law enforcement agencies, or school officials.
• Exemption from public meetings requirements for portions of meetings of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission at which exempt or confidential and exempt information is discussed.
• Exemption from public records requirements for information that would identify whether a particular individual has been appointed as a safe-school officer.

[NOTE: Today’s amendments were generally clarifying and technical.  The short summary above reflects the provisions of the bill as amended. The House companion bill – SB 1940 – is similar and is on the House Calendar on 2^nd Reading.]

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[toggle title=”Coming up Tomorrow – March 5, 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 will be in Session, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm, to consider the following items and others on 3^rd Reading:

HB 7055 – Education by Education
Revises the summary prepared by FADSS with the following amendments made on 2/27/18:

• Authorizes the carryforward of Schools of Hope program funds for up to 5 years after the effective date of the original appropriation.
• Provides that a teacher may not receive the CAPE industry certification bonus if the teacher fails to maintain test security or administration protocol for any CAPE exam.
• Expands the authority the State Board of Education to adopt rules and criteria under which a student’s industry certification or grade may be rescinded.
• Makes a technical change to the mental health assistance allocation.
• Requires all schools and district school board buildings to display the state motto, “In God We Trust,” in a conspicuous place.
• Modifies charter school contract term and consolidation provisions, including:
  • Extending from 2 years to 3 years, the authority of charter schools to defer the opening of the schools’ operations, upon approval of charter school application.
  • Extending the initial term of a charter contract from 4 or 5 years, as specified in law, to 5 years, excluding 1 planning year.
  • Authorizing a charter school to consolidate, during any term, multiple charters that are not in the same physical location into a single charter if the charters are operated under the same governing board, regardless of the renewal cycle.
• Modifies charter school due process provisions, including:
  • Revising the charter school sponsor’s authority to not renew or terminate a charter contract to specify that the sponsor may do so only after finding clear and convincing evidence of the disqualifying grounds specified in law.
  • Eliminating the opportunity for a charter school governing board to request a direct hearing before the sponsor based on the nonrenewal or termination of its charter contract, effectively providing that such hearing must be before an administrative law judge.
  • Eliminating the dispute resolution hearing before the Charter School Appeal Commission for disputes over contracted goods and services. Instead, a party must appeal to an administrative law judge appointed by the Division of Administrative Hearings, who is granted final order authority to rule on the dispute. The prevailing party must be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred during the mediation process, administrative proceeding, and any appeals.
• Modifies high-performing charter school provisions, including:
  • Specifying that the application of a high-performing charter school or a high-performing charter school system may be denied only if the sponsor demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence that such school or system does not materially comply with the standard application requirements.
  • Specifying that student enrollment may not exceed capacity of the facility at the time of enrollment, effectively allowing a high-performing charter school that has expanded its original facility or has access to additional facilities, to increase student enrollment without being limited to the original facility’s capacity.
  • Authorizing a high-performing charter school to replicate to two charter schools within the state in any year.
• Requires a district school board to reimburse the cost of background screening for governing board members and instructional and noninstructional personnel of a charter school if the district does not notify the charter school of the eligibility of such individuals within 14 days after the submission of fingerprints.
• Adds charters schools and charter management organizations to the entities authorized to offer Level I or Level II school leader preparation programs.
• Requires any tangible personal property that has been properly classified as surplus, marked for disposal, or otherwise unused by a district school board to be provided for a charter school’s use on the same basis as it is made available to other public schools in the district.
• Requires that professional development resources disseminated through the web-based statewide performance-support system include sample course-at-a-glance and unit overview templates that school districts may use when developing curricula. The templates must provide an organized structure for addressing the Florida Standards, grade-level expectations, evidence outcomes, and 21st Century skills that build toward mastery at each grade level.
• Requires, for an employee organization that has been certified as the bargaining agent for a unit of instructional personnel, the following:
• Information that must be in an application for renewal of registration, including the number of employees eligible for representation by the employee organization and the number who are represented by the employee organization, specifying the number of members who pay dues and the number of members who do not pay dues.
• An employee organization whose dues paying membership is less than 50 percent of the employees eligible for representation in the unit to petition the Public Employees Relations Commission for recertification.
• Requires that industry certification examinations, national assessments, and statewide assessments offered by the school district must be available to all Florida Virtual School (FLVS) students.
• Changes criterion for virtual instruction program provider qualifications to specify that the provider’s contract is automatically terminated if the provider earns two consecutive school grades of “F” (rather than one “D” or “F”) or two consecutive “unsatisfactory” ratings.
• Removes the provision in the home education program dual enrollment articulation agreement specifying that a home education student must be responsible for his or her own instructional materials.
• Modifies provisions in the dual enrollment articulation agreement between an eligible public postsecondary education institution and an eligible private secondary school to specify that tuition and fees for dual enrollment may not be passed along to the private school that the student attends.

Establishes reading scholarship accounts for public school students in grades 3 through 5 who scored below a Level 3 on the grade 3 or grade 4 statewide, standardized ELA assessment in the prior school year. The scholarship must be offered on a first-come, first-served basis, and is contingent upon available funds, with the maximum award established annually in the General Appropriations Act.

Further revises the summary prepared by FADSS with the following amendments made on 3/2/18:

• Deletes prohibition on personal financial enrichment by owners, operators, managers, real estate developers, and other affiliated parties of charter schools.
• Provides that, beginning in 2018 and thereafter, a sponsor must receive and consider charter school applications received on or before February 1 of each calendar year for charter schools to be opened 18 months later at the beginning of the school district’s school year, or to be opened at a time determined by the applicant (rather than at a time agreed to by the applicant and the sponsor).
• Revises provisions relating to participation in interscholastic and intrascholastic extracurricular student activities by a home education student, a charter school student, or a Florida Virtual School Student to provide that the student must register with the school his or her intent to participate as a representative of the school before he/she participates (rather than before the beginning date of the season for the activity).
• Revises provisions relating to the use of Supplemental Academic Instruction funding to provide that each school district that has one or more of the 300 lowest-performing elementary schools based on a 3-year average of the state reading assessment data must use the school’s portion of the allocation to provide an additional hour per day of intensive reading for the students in each school. The additional hour may be provided within the school day. Students enrolled in these schools who earned a level 4 or 5 score on the English Language Arts assessment for the previous school year may participate in the extra hour of instruction.
• Revises the provisions of the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) to provide that effective July 1, 2018, instructional personnel and administrative 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.
• Extends eligibility for the Florida Best and Brightest Teacher Scholarship Program to provide that a school district employee who is no longer a classroom teacher may receive an award if the employee was a classroom teacher in the prior school year, was rated highly effective, and met the eligibility requirements as a classroom teacher.

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

HB 1279 – School District Accountability by Sullivan
To increase fiscal transparency of educational spending, the bill:

• Requires school boards to provide financial efficiency data and fiscal trend information;
• Requires the Department of Education to develop a web-based tool that identifies schools and districts with high academic achievement based on per pupil expenditures; and
• Requires school boards to provide a full explanation of, and approve, any budget amendment at the boards’ next public meeting.

To increase fiscal accountability of districts, the bill:

• Requires school districts with revenues over $500 million to employ an internal auditor;
• Requires school districts with low ending fund balances to reduce administrative costs and other expenditures;
• Requires districts with financial emergency conditions to withhold the salaries of certain superintendents and school board members until the emergency is addressed;
• Requires an investigation of school districts who are unable to timely pay current debts and liabilities;
• Clarifies that the Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General must investigate allegations and reports of fraud and abuse from certain government officials; and
• Requires school districts with previous operational audit findings to initiate and complete corrective action within a certain period of time.

The bill also:

• Prohibits appointed, along with elected superintendents, from lobbying school districts for a period of two years after vacating the position;
• Aligns school board member salaries with beginning teacher salaries or the amount calculated by statute;
• Requires prior school board approval for reimbursement of certain out-of-district travel expenses;
• Authorizes the withholding of a portion of an employee’s salary who owes a public financial disclosure fine;
• Repeals s. 1011.64, F.S., relating to school district minimum classroom expenditure requirements; and
• Prohibits superintendents, along with school board members, from employing or appointing a relative to work under their direct supervision.
• Contingent upon HB 7055 or similar legislation failing to become law, appropriates $850,000 to the Department of Education to implement the provisions of the bill.

 SB 7026 – Public Safety by Rules
The bill comprehensively addresses the crisis of gun violence, including but not limited to, gun violence on school campuses. The bill provides law enforcement and the courts 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, and by promoting school safety and enhanced coordination between education and law enforcement entities at the state and local level.

With regard to keeping firearms out of the hands of those suffering from mental illness, the bill:

• 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 from the person for 24 hours after the person is released and does not have a risk protection order against them or is the subject of a firearm disability.
• 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.
• 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, and:
  • Allows a court to issue a risk protection order for up to 12 months.
  • Requires the surrender of all firearms and ammunition if a risk protection order is issued.
  • Provides a process for a risk protection order to be vacated or extended.

With regard to firearms, the bill:

• Requires a three-day waiting period for all firearms (rather than only for handguns) or until the background check is completed, whichever is later.
• Provides exceptions for the purchase of all firearms for concealed weapons permit holders, and, for the purchase of firearms other than handguns, provides an exception for:
  • Individuals who have completed a 16 hour hunter safety course; or
  • Law enforcement officers, correctional officers and service members (military and national guard)
• Prohibits a person under 21 years of age from purchasing a firearm and prohibits licensed firearm dealers, importers, and manufacturers, from selling a firearm, except in the case of a member of the military, or a law enforcement or correctional officer when purchasing a rifle or shotgun. (Persons under 21 years of age are already prohibited from purchasing a handgun under federal law.)
• Prohibits a bump-fire stock from being imported, transferred, distributed, sold, keeping for sale, offering for sale, possessing, or giving away within the state.

With regard to improving school safety, the bill:

• Establishes the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission 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 within the Florida Department of Education (DOE) and which will service as a central repository for the best practices, training standards, and compliance regarding school safety and security.
• Permits a sheriff to establish a school marshal program. The amendment allows school districts to decide whether to participate in the school marshal program if it is available in their county. A school marshal must complete 132 hours of comprehensive firearm safety and proficiency training and at least 12 hours of a certified nationally recognized diversity training program. This program is completely voluntary.
• 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.
• 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 school safety specialists and a threat assessment team at each school, and requires the team to operate under the district school safety specialist’s direction.
• Requires the DOE to contract for the development of a Florida Safe Schools Assessment Tool which will assist school districts in conducting security assessments to identify threats and vulnerabilities.
• Creates the mental health assistance allocation to assist school districts in establishing or expanding school-based mental health care.

The bill also:

• Provides that the cost per student station also does not include the cost for securing entries, checkpoint construction, lighting specifically designed for entry point security, security cameras, automatic locks and locking devices, electronic security systems, fencing designed to prevent intruder entry into a building, bullet-proof glass, or other capital construction items approved by the school safety specialist to ensure building security for new educational, auxiliary, or ancillary facilities and specifies that the costs for these items must be below 2% per student station.
• Prohibits a person from making, posting, or transmitting a threat to conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism.
• Requires DCF to contract for community action treatment teams to provider behavioral health and support services.
• Requires FDLE to procure a mobile app that would allow students and the community to relay information anonymously concerning unsafe, dangerous threats. The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglass recommended that the program be named “FortifyFL”

The legislation appropriates $400 million to implement the bill provisions, including the following:

• Over $69 million to the DOE to fund the mental health assistance allocation;
• $1 million for the design and construction of a memorial honoring those who lost their lives on February 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
• Over $25 million for replacing building 12 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
• Over $67 million for sheriff’s offices who decide to establish a school marshal program.
• Over $97 million to aid for the safe schools allocation.
• Over $98 million to implement a grant program for improving and hardening the physical security of school buildings.
• $18.3 million to DCF for additional mobile crisis teams to ensure reasonable access among all counties.

[NOTE: The House companion bill – HB 7101 – is similar and is on the House Calendar on 2^nd Reading.]

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 four or more people, other than the perpetrator, are severely injured or killed by an intentional and indiscriminate act of violence. A victim is considered to be a person killed or injured during an incident of mass violence. [NOTE: The House companion bill – HB 7105 – is similar and is on the House Calendar on 2^nd Reading.]

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:

• Exemptions from public records requirements for the identity of a reporting party and any information received through the mobile suspicious activity reporting tool which is held by the Department of Law Enforcement, law enforcement agencies, or school officials.
• Exemption from public meetings requirements for portions of meetings of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission at which exempt or confidential and exempt information is discussed.
• Exemption from public records requirements for information that would identify whether a particular individual has been appointed as a safe-school officer.

[NOTE: The House companion bill – SB 1940 – is similar and is on the House Calendar on 2^nd Reading.]

The House will be in Session, 10:30 am – completion of business, to consider the following items and others on 3^rd Reading:

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.

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

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.  [NOTE: The Senate companion bill – SB 736 – is similar but has not been heard in any of three committees of reference.]

HB 1 – The Hope Scholarship Program by Donalds
The bill establishes, effective with the bill becoming a law, the Hope Scholarship Program (HSP), 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:

• Allow the student to remain enrolled in the student’s current public school. The public school may provide a behavioral specialist or intervention counselor to assist both the student who was subjected to an incident and the alleged offender;
• Enroll the student in another public school that has capacity in the district in which the student resides;
• Enroll the student in another public school outside the district in which the student resides and receive a transportation scholarship limited to $750; or
• Apply for a Hope Scholarship and enroll his or her student in an eligible private school. transfer the student to another public school or to receive a scholarship for the student to attend a private school.

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 HSP.
• Allows taxpayers to receive tax credits for eligible contributions to fund the HSP.
• Increases accountability and oversight in all K-12 scholarship programs in the state.
• Contingent upon HB 7055 or similar legislation failing to become law, appropriates $2 million to the Department of Education to implement the provisions of the bill relating to the HSP.
• In addition, the bill:
• Revises expenditures for the Gardiner Scholarship Program.
• Revises requirements for an annual report of certain student data for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program.
• Contingent upon HB 7055 or similar legislation failing to become law, appropriates $950,000 to the Department of Education to implement the additional oversight requirements for private school eligibility to participate in a scholarship program and $250,000 to the Department of Education to issue a competitive grant award to a university to annually report to the Department of Education on the performance of students participating in certain scholarship programs.

[NOTE: The Senate companion bill – SB 1172 – is comparable and has passed two of three committees of reference.]

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 that, for charter school applications received on or before February 1, the charter school will open 18 months later or at a time agreed to by the applicant (rather than at a time agreed to by the school district and the applicant).
• 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 adds provisions relating to computer science instruction. The bill:

• Defines computer science and includes computer coding and programming in the definition;
• Requires the Florida Department of Education (DOE) to identify computer science courses in the Course Code Directory and on its website by July 1, 2018;
• Requires Florida Virtual School (FLVS) to offer computer science courses so students enrolled in a school without a computer science course can receive computer science instruction;
• Requires school districts to offer students access to computer science courses through FLVS or by other means;
• Establishes, subject to appropriation, a grant program to help teachers earn a computer science educator certificate or industry certification and for paying associated examination fees;
• Establishes, subject to appropriation, a bonus program to award qualifying teachers, on a yearly basis for up to 3 years, who teach computer science courses identified by the DOE; and
• Requires the State Board of Education to adopt rules to implement these provisions.

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. [NOTE: There is no direct Senate companion bill, but SB 824 and SB 1056 contain some comparable provisions.]

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.

[NOTE: There Senate companion bill – SB 310 – is similar, has passed all committees of reference, and has been placed on the Senate Calendar on 2^nd Reading.]

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.

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

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.

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

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.  [NOTE: The Senate companion bill – SB 1240 – is similar and has passed one of three committees of reference.]

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.

[NOTE: The Senate companion bill – SB 260 – is similar, has passed all committees of reference, and has been placed on the Senate Calendar on 2^nd Reading.]

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