Title: Blended Learning Courses

Summary: Deleting a requirement that students in a blended learning course be full-time students and receive online instruction in a classroom setting at their schools, etc.

Full Text:
An act relating to blended learning courses; amending s. 1003.498, F.S.; deleting a requirement that students in a blended learning course be full-time students and receive online instruction in a classroom setting at their schools; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 1003.498, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 1003.498 School district virtual course offerings.  (1) School districts may deliver courses in the traditional school setting by personnel certified pursuant to s. 1012.55 who provide direct instruction through virtual instruction or through blended learning courses consisting of both traditional classroom and online instructional techniques. Students in a blended learning course must be full-time students of the school and receive the online instruction in a classroom setting at the school. The funding, performance, and accountability requirements for blended learning courses are the same as those for traditional courses. To facilitate the delivery and coding of blended learning courses, the department shall provide identifiers for existing courses to designate that they are being used for blended learning courses for the purpose of ensuring the efficient reporting of such courses. A district may report full-time equivalent student membership for credit earned by a student who is enrolled in a virtual education course provided by the district which is completed after the end of the regular school year if the FTE is reported no later than the deadline for amending the final student membership report for that year. Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.