Title: Use of Federal Funding to Support Online Learning

Summary: Requires DOE to publish a report on its website; provides requirements for report; requires DOE to consult with Office of Broadband to make recommendations.

Full Text:
An act relating to use of federal funding to support online learning; requiring the Department of Education to publish a report on its website by a specified date; providing requirements for the report; requiring the department, in consultation with the Office of Broadband, to make certain recommendations; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. (1) By November 1, 2021, the Department of Education shall publish, on its website, a report which must include, at a minimum: (a) The amount of federal relief funding and other funding, by source, used by each school district in the 2019 2020 and 0-2021 school years to provide: 1. Students with Internet access and devices suitable for online learning and instructional continuity pursuant to Department of Education emergency orders and federal relief funding plans. 2. Learning management systems and other platform-based supports for in-person and online learning and related professional development. (b) The amount of unexpended federal relief funding, CS/HB 2021 including as a percentage of total received, by source. (c) The estimated number and percent age of students who do not have Internet access or devices suitable for online learning, by district. (d) Details of state and local initiatives to provide students with Internet access or devices suitable for online learning. (e) Barriers identified by school districts to providing students with Internet access or devices suitable for online learning. (2) As part of its report, the department shall identify programming, initiatives, and strategies that were effective in providing Internet access and devices to students and supporting innovative instructional practices. The report must include recommendations, in consultation with the Office of Broadband, for appropriating remaining federal relief funding to close the digital divide for students withou tInternet access or devices suitable for online learning, consistent with best practices and according to geographical need. Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.