Title: Education

Summary: Revises requirements for annual report governing body of charter school must submit to its sponsor; revises private school obligations for Family Empowerment Scholarship Program; requires, rather than authorizes, Commissioner of Education to determine that private school is ineligible to participate in such program; requires eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organizations to comply with specified statutes.

Full Text:
An act relating to education; amending s. 1002.33, F.S.; revising requirements for the annual report a governing body of a charter school must submit to its sponsor; amending s. 1002.394, F.S.; adding additional private school requirements for the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program; requiring, rather than authorizing, the Commissioner of Education to determine that a private school is ineligible to participate in such program under certain circumstances; amending s. 1002.395, F.S.; requiring eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organizations to comply with specified statutes; adding additional private school requirements for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program; requiring, rather than authorizing, the Commissioner of Education to determine that a private school is ineligible to participate in such program under certain circumstances; including the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program in a specified project grant award for reporting certain student data; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: HB 1285 2020 Section 1. Paragraph (k) of subsection (9) of section 1002.33, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 1002.33 Charter schools.-(9) CHARTER SCHOOL REQUIREMENTS.-(k) The governing body of the charter school shall report its progress annually to its sponsor, which shall forward the report to the Commissioner of Education at the same time as other annua lschool accountability reports. The Department of Education shall develop a uniform, online annual accountability report to be completed by charter schools. This report shall be easy to utilize and contain demographic information, student performance data,and financial accountability information. A charter school shall not be required to provide information and data that is duplicative and already in the possession of the department. The Department of Education shall include in its compilation a notation if a school failed to file its report by the deadline established by the department. The report shall include at least the following components: 1. Student achievement performance data, including the information required for the annual school report and the education accountability system governed by ss. 1008.31 and 1008.345. Charter schools are subject to the same accountability requirements as other public schools, including reports of student achievement information that links baseline student data to the school's performance projections identified in the HB 1285 2020 charter. The charter school shall identify reasons for any difference between projected and actual student performance. 2. Financial status of the charter school which must include revenues and expen ditures at a level of detail that allows for analysis of the charter school's ability to meet financial obligations and timely repayment of debt. 3. Documentation of the facilities in current use and any planned facilities for use by the charter school for instruction of students, administrative functions, or investment purposes. 4. Descriptive information about the charter school's personnel, including salary and benefit levels of charter school employees, the proportion of instructional personnel who hold professional or temporary certificates, and the proportion of instructional personnel teaching in-field or out-of-field. 5. Documentation of the total number of public records requests the charter school received pursuant to chapter and any cost sassociated with fulfilling the requests. 6. A list of contracts the charter school has with any other entity, including the name of the entity and the terms of the contract. Section 2. Subsection (8) of section 1002.394, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 1002.394 The Family Empowerment Scholarship Program.-(8) PRIVATE SCHOOL ELIGIBILITY AND OBLIGATIONS.-To be eligible to participate in the Family Empowerment Scholarship HB 1285 2020 Program, a private school may be sectarian or nonsectarian and must: (a) Comply with all requirements for private schools participating in state school choice scholarship programs pursuant to s. 1002.421. (b) Provide to the department all documentation required for a student's participation, including the private sc hool's and student's fee schedules, at least days before any quarterly scholarship payment is made for the student pursuant to paragraph (11)(f). A student is not eligible to receive a quarterly scholarship payment if the private school fails to meet this deadline. (c)1. Annually administer or make provision for students participating in the program in grades through to take one of the nationally norm-referenced tests identified by the department or to take the statewide assessments pursuant to s. 1008.22. Students with disabilities for whom standardized testing is not appropriate are exempt from this requirement. A participating private school shall report a student's scores to his or her parent. 2. Administer the statewide assessments pursuant to s. 1008.22 if the private school chooses to offer the statewide assessments. A participating private school may choose to offer and administer the statewide assessments to all students who attend the private school in grades through and must submit HB 1285 2020 a request in writing to the department by March of each year in order to administer the statewide assessments in the subsequent school year. (d) For private schools that have enrolled at least 104 Florida Tax Credit Scholarship recipients, Family Empow erment Scholarship recipients, or a combination thereof, employ at least one academic support counselor whose employment responsibilities are exclusively to provide any and all academic and social support needed by such students. (e) For private schools that have enrolled or more Florida Tax Credit Scholarship recipients, Family Empowerment Scholarship recipients, or a combination thereof, not enroll additional Florida Tax Credit Scholarship or Florida Empowerment Scholarship recipients in any subseque nt academic year if the private school's most recent academic average gain score, as documented in the most recent annual evaluation conducted pursuant to s. 1002.395(9)(f), indicates a negative average gain score, combined for reading and mathematics, dur ing the most recent-year period examined by the state university selected pursuant to s. 1002.395(9)(f). Such private school may, thereafter, only be authorized to enroll additional Florida Tax Credit Scholarship or Florida Empowerment Scholarship recipi ents in an academic year immediately following the earlier of: 1. Two consecutive academic years of positive average gain scores, combined for reading and mathematics, by such private HB 1285 2020 school, as documented pursuant to this paragraph; or 2. A positive a verage gain score, combined for reading and mathematics, for such private school during its most recent-year period, as documented pursuant to this paragraph. (f) Limit the combined enrollment of Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and Florida Empowerment Scholarship recipients to not more than percent of the total student enrollment in the private school. If a private school fails to meet the requirements of this subsection or s. 1002.421, the commissioner shall may determine that the private school is ineligible to participate in the scholarship program. Section 3. Subsection (8) and paragraph (f) of subsection (9) of section 1002.395, Florida Statutes, are amended, paragraphs (r) and (s) are added to subsection (6), and paragraph (f) of subsection (2) of that section is republished, to read: 1002.395 Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program.-(2) DEFINITIONS.-As used in this section, the term: (f) "Eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization" means a state university; or an independent college or university that is eligible to participate in the William L. Boyd, IV, Effective Access to Student Education Grant Program, located and chartered in this state, is not for profit, and is HB 1285 2020 accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools; or is a charitable organization that: 1. Is exempt from federal income tax pursuant to s. 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; 2. Is a Florida entity formed under chapter 605, chapter 607, or chapter and whose principal office is located in the state; and 3. Complies with subsections (6) and (15). (6) OBLIGATIONS OF ELIGIBLE NONPROFIT SCHOLARSHIP-FUNDING ORGANIZATIONS.-An eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization: (r) Must comply with chapter,relating to public records. For purposes of this paragraph, an eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization is considered an agency as defined in s. 119.011. This paragraph does not abrogate the provisions of ss. 1002.22 and 1002.221 or the requir ements of 167 U.S.C. s. 1232g, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. (s) Must comply with s. 286.011, relating to public meetings and records, public inspection, and criminal and civil penalties. For purposes of this paragraph, an eligible nonpro fit scholarship-funding organization is considered an agency as defined in s. 119.011. Information and documentation provided to the Department of HB 1285 2020 Education and the Auditor General relating to the identity of a taxpayer that provides an eligible contribut ion under this section shall remain confidential at all times in accordance with s. 213.053. (8) PRIVATE SCHOOL ELIGIBILITY AND OBLIGATIONS.-An eligible private school may be sectarian or nonsectarian and must: (a) Comply with all requirements for priv ate schools participating in state school choice scholarship programs pursuant to s. 1002.421. (b)1. Annually administer or make provision for students participating in the scholarship program in grades through 187 to take one of the nationally norm-referenced tests identified by the Department of Education or the statewide assessments pursuant to s. 1008.22. Students with disabilities for whom standardized testing is not appropriate are exempt from this requirement. A participating private schoo lmust report a student's scores to the parent. A participating private school must annually report by August the scores of all participating students to a state university described in paragraph (9)(f). 2. Administer the statewide assessments pursuan tto s. 1008.22 if a private school chooses to offer the statewide assessments. A participating private school may choose to offer and administer the statewide assessments to all students who HB 1285 2020 attend the private school in grades through and must submit a request in writing to the Department of Education by March 202 of each year in order to administer the statewide assessments in the subsequent school year. (c) For private schools that have enrolled at least 205 Florida Tax Credit Scholarship recipients, Family Empowerment Scholarship recipients, or a combination thereof, employ at least one academic support counselor whose employment responsibilities are exclusively to provide any and all academic and social support needed by such students. (d) For private schools that have enrolled or more Florida Tax Credit Scholarship recipients, Family Empowerment Scholarship recipients, or a combination thereof, not enroll additional Florida Tax Credit Scholarship or Florida Empowerment Scholarship recipients in any subsequent academic year if the private school's most recent academic average gain score, as documented in the most recent annual evaluation conducted pursuant to paragraph (9)(f), indicates a negative average gain score, combined for reading and mathematics, during the most recent-year period examined by the state university selected pursuant to paragraph (9)(f). Such private school may, thereafter, only be authorized to enroll additional Florida Tax Credit Scholarship or Florida Empowerment Scho larship recipients in an academic year immediately following the earlier of: 1. Two consecutive academic years of positive average gain HB 1285 2020 scores, combined for reading and mathematics, by such private school, as documented pursuant to this paragraph; or 2. A positive average gain score, combined for reading and mathematics, for such private school during its most recent-year period, as documented pursuant to this paragraph. (e) Limit the combined enrollment of Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and Florida Empowerment Scholarship recipients to not more than percent of the total student enrollment in the private school. If a private school fails to meet the requirements of this subsection or s. 1002.421, the commissioner shall may determine that the priv ate school is ineligible to participate in the scholarship program. (9) DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OBLIGATIONS.-The Department of Education shall: (f) Issue a project grant award to a state university, to which participating private schools in the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program or the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program must report the scores of participating students on the nationally norm-referenced tests or the statewide assessments administered by the private school in grades through 10. The project term is years, and the amount of the project is up to $250,000 per year. The project grant award must be reissued in 2-year intervals in accordance with this paragraph. HB 1285 2020 1. The state university must annually report to the Department of Educat ion on the student performance of participating students: a. On a statewide basis. The report shall also include, to the extent possible, a comparison of scholarship students' performance to the statewide student performance of public school students wit hsocioeconomic backgrounds similar to those of students participating in the scholarship program. To minimize costs and reduce time required for the state university's analysis and evaluation, the Department of Education shall coordinate with the state un iversity to provide data to the state university in order to conduct analyses of matched students from public school assessment data and calculate control group student performance using an agreed-upon methodology with the state university; and b. On an individual school basis. The annual report must include student performance for each participating private school in which at least percent of the total enrolled students in the private school participated in the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program,the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program, or combination thereof, in the prior school year. The report shall be according to each participating private school, and for participating students, in which there are at least 273 participating students who have scores for tests administered. If the state university determines that the-participating HB 1285 2020 student cell size may be reduced without disclosing personally identifiable information, as described in C.F.R. s. 99.12, of a participating student, the state university may reduce the participating-student cell size, but the cell size must not be reduced to less than participating students. The department shall provide each private school's prior school year's student enrollment information to the state univ ersity no later than June of each year, or as requested by the state university. 2. The sharing and reporting of student performance data under this paragraph must be in accordance with requirements of ss. 1002.22 and 1002.221 and U.S.C. s. 1232g, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and the applicable rules and regulations issued pursuant thereto, and shall be for the sole purpose of creating the annual report required by subparagraph 1. All parties must preserve the confidentiality of su ch information as required by law. The annual report must not disaggregate data to a level that will identify individual participating schools, except as required under sub-subparagraph 1.b., or disclose the academic level of individual students. 3. The annual report required by subparagraph 1. shall be published by the Department of Education on its website. Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.