FSBA Session Spotlight — March 9, 2018

The legislature has extended the 2018 Session through Sunday, March 11 in order to allow for the 72-hour cooling off period before a final vote can be taken on the budget. The chambers also agreed that they will consider ONLY the Conference Reports budget bills and a tax relief bill – HB 7087 — after today.  As a result, all of the bills considered today either passed or failed – please click on the link below for more details.  There are no meetings or floor sessions scheduled for tomorrow, but the chambers will reconvene on Sunday at 3:00 pm to consider and vote on the budget bills and the tax bill.

We are in the process of compiling our annual Legislative Session Summary that will provide an in-depth analysis of the education budget and detailed summaries of the education related bills that passed during the 2018 Legislative Session. In the meantime, as this final week of the legislative session winds down, please take a few minutes to view this week’s Legislative Weekly video featuring Andrea Messina providing an overview of the budget and summaries of the two most significant bills of this session — HB 7055, the omnibus education bill, and SB 7026, the public safety bill (which Governor Scott signed into law today).

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In the Senate Session:
Bills on 3^rd Reading:
HB 165 – Threats to Kill or Do Bodily Injury by McClain – READ 3^RD TIME; PASSED THE SENATE; IN RETURNING MESSAGES TO THE HOUSE
The bill:

• Prohibits a person from making a threat to kill or do great bodily injury in writing or other record, including an electronic record, and posting or transmitting the threat in a manner that would allow another person to view it.
• Decreases the offense from a second degree felony to a third degree felony and changes the offense from a Level 6 to a Level 4 in the Criminal Punishment Code Offense Severity Ranking Chart, which decreases the offense’s sentencing points from 36 points to 22 points.
• Exempts providers of an interactive computer service, communications service, commercial mobile service, or information service from liability.

[NOTE: The bill was amended on 2^nd Reading in the Senate. Because it was no longer identical to the version of the bill previously passed by the House, it was returned in Messages to the House for consideration.]

HB 577 – High School Graduation Requirements by Silvers – READ 3^RD TIME; PASSED THE SENATE; PASSED THE LEGISLATURE
The bill authorizes students to use apprenticeship or preapprenticeship program credit to meet specified credit requirements for high school graduation. Specifically, the bill:

• Authorizes a student who earns credit upon completion of an apprenticeship or preapprenticeship program registered with the Department of Education to use such credit to meet the credit requirements for:
  • Fine or performing arts, speech and debate, or practical arts; or
  • Electives.
• Requires the State Board of Education to approve and identify in the Course Code Directory the apprenticeship and preapprenticeship programs from which a student may use earned credit to meet the specified credit requirements for high school graduation.

HB 731 – Home Education by Sullivan – READ 3^RD TIME; PASSED THE SENATE; IN RETURNING MESSAGES TO THE HOUSE
The bill modifies requirements related to home education programs, school attendance, and the Florida Partnership for Minority and Underrepresented Student Achievement. Specifically, the bill::

• Clarifies the definition of “parent,” the home education registration process and the home education notice requirements;
• Authorizes school districts to provide a home education student access to career and technical courses and programs;
• Authorizes districts to offer industry certifications, national assessments and statewide, standardized assessments to home education students;
• Prohibits school superintendents from requiring evidence of a child’s age if the child meets regular attendance requirements by attending certain educational institutions or programs;
• Authorizes school superintendents to refer student non-enrollment cases to a child study team in order to conduct intervention services;
• Clarifies the court procedures and penalties for enforcement of compulsory school attendance;
• Updates the name of the preliminary ACT to the PreACT and adds 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.

[NOTE: The bill was amended on 2^nd Reading in the Senate. Because it was no longer identical to the version of the bill previously passed by the House, it was returned in Messages to the House for consideration.]

In the House Session:
As we noted in yesterday’s Spotlight, the House had no bills of educational interest on their agenda today, but did take up the following bills that had passed the Senate and were sent to the House in Messages:

HB 495 – Education by Diaz – RECEIVED IN MESSAGES; CONCURED WITH SENATE AMENDMENT; PASSED THE HOUSE; PASSED THE LEGISLATURE
The bill addresses computer science instruction, retirement options, educator certification and conduct, and student assessments. Specifically, the bill:

• Expands access to computer science courses by:
  • Requiring middle schools and high schools to offer computer science courses.
  • 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 an educator 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 associated with a computer science course.

Revises the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) to provide:

• 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. If, on July 1, 2018, the member’s DROP participation has already been extended for the maximum 36 calendar months and the extension period concludes before the end of the school year, 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.
• Administrative personnel in grades K-12, as defined in s. 1012.01(3), 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 if a date other than the last day of the last calendar month of the school year is designated. The employer must notify the division of the change in termination date and the additional period of DROP participation for the affected administrative personnel.

Modifies provisions relating to educator certification requirements and misconduct by authority figures against students to:

• Expand the applicability of certain employment disqualification criteria to include all positions that require direct contact with students.
• Grant the Department of Education (DOE) and the Education Practices Commission additional authority to enforce the educator certification requirements and impose penalties against persons who do not comply with certification requirements.
• Require an educator who has been placed on probation to immediately notify the investigative office in the DOE upon separation from employment in any public or private position requiring a Florida educator’s certificate.
• Deem offenses against students by authority figures as a second-degree felony.
• Add a school bus to the definition of “school,” to apply to the provisions in law regarding trespass on school grounds or facilities.
• Revise standards of ethical conduct for instructional personnel and school administrators to require training to cover misconduct that involves specified conduct that would result in disqualification from educator certification or employment.
• Require a school district to:
  • File in writing with the DOE all legally sufficient complaints against teachers and administrators, regardless of whether the subject of the complaint is still a district employee.
  • Immediately notify the DOE if the subject of a legally sufficient complaint of misconduct affecting the health, safety, or welfare of a student resigns or is terminated before the conclusion of the district investigation.
• Requires a district school superintendent to:
  • Report misconduct by instructional personnel or school administrators that would result in a disqualification from educator certification or employment to the law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction over the conduct. Provides that a superintendent who knowingly fails to report misconduct to law enforcement agencies must forfeit his or her salary for one year after the date of such failure to act.
  • Notify the parent of a student who was subjected to or affected by specified misconduct within a specified timeframe.
• Require the resignation or termination of an employee before the conclusion of an alleged misconduct investigation affecting the health, safety, or welfare of a student to be clearly indicated in the employee’s personnel file.

In addition, the bill revises provisions relating to the statewide, standardized assessment program to provide that a student enrolled in an Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), or Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) course who takes the respective AP, IB, or AICE assessment and earns the minimum score necessary to earn college credit meets the requirements of the statewide, standardized assessment program and does not have to take the EOC assessment for the course.
[NOTE: The bill was amended on 2^nd and 3^rd Reading in the Senate. Because it was no longer identical to the version of the bill previously passed by the House, it was returned in Messages to the House for consideration. The House agreed with the Senate amendments and passed the bill.]

HB 63 – Students with Disabilities in Public Schools by Edwards – RECEIVED IN MESSAGES; REFUSED TO CONCUR WITH SENATE AMENDMENT; ASKED SENATE TO RECEDE; IN RETURNING MESSAGES TO THE SENATE
The bill revises the use of restraint techniques on certain students with disabilities, prohibits placing such students in seclusion, and specifies responsibilities for school districts, schools, and the Commissioner of Education (commissioner). Specifically, the bill:

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

[NOTE: This bill was amended on 2^nd Reading in the Senate to reinsert the text of the Senate bill, so it was sent back to the House for approval. The House did not agree with the Senate’s amendment and asked the Senate to recede from their amendment. The bill was in returning Messages to the Senate, but the Senate did not take it up prior to the end of today’s Senate Session. As a result, this bill did not pass the legislature.]

HB 165 – Threats to Kill or Do Bodily Injury by McClain – RECEIVED IN MESSAGES; CONCURED WITH SENATE AMENDMENT; PASSED THE HOUSE; PASSED THE LEGISLATURE
The bill:

• Prohibits a person from making a threat to kill or do great bodily injury in writing or other record, including an electronic record, and posting or transmitting the threat in a manner that would allow another person to view it.
• Decreases the offense from a second degree felony to a third degree felony and changes the offense from a Level 6 to a Level 4 in the Criminal Punishment Code Offense Severity Ranking Chart, which decreases the offense’s sentencing points from 36 points to 22 points.
• Exempts providers of an interactive computer service, communications service, commercial mobile service, or information service from liability.

[NOTE: The bill was amended on 2^nd Reading in the Senate. Because it was no longer identical to the version of the bill previously passed by the House, it was returned in Messages to the House for consideration. The House agreed with the Senate amendment and passed the bill.]

HB 731 – Home Education by Sullivan – – RECEIVED IN MESSAGES; CONCURED WITH SENATE AMENDMENT; PASSED THE HOUSE; PASSED THE LEGISLATURE
The bill modifies requirements related to home education programs, school attendance, and assessments. Specifically, the bill::

• Clarifies the definition of “parent,” the home education registration process and the home education notice requirements;
• Authorizes school districts to provide a home education student access to career and technical courses and programs;
• Authorizes districts to offer industry certifications, national assessments and statewide, standardized assessments to home education students;
• Prohibits school superintendents from requiring evidence of a child’s age if the child meets regular attendance requirements by attending certain educational institutions or programs;
• Authorizes school superintendents to refer student non-enrollment cases to a child study team in order to conduct intervention services;
• Clarifies the court procedures and penalties for enforcement of compulsory school attendance;
• Updates the name of the preliminary ACT to the PreACT and adds 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.

[NOTE: The bill was amended on 2^nd Reading in the Senate. Because it was no longer identical to the version of the bill previously passed by the House, it was returned in Messages to the House for consideration. The House agreed with the Senate amendment and passed the bill.]

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