Florida Public Education Bills Effective Today, July 1, 2010
Jul 1, 2010
The following bills relating to public education have been signed by Florida Governor Charlie Crist and will become effective today, July 1, 2010, unless otherwise provided.
Should you have any questions or comments, please contact Colodny Fass.
SB 4 Relating to Education Accountability
Amends a provision relating to secondary school redesign to delete obsolete provisions and to conform to changes made by SB 4; revises requirements for middle grades promotion; provides that successful completion of a high school-level Algebra I, Geometry or Biology I course is not contingent upon a student’s performance on the end-of-course assessment; revises requirements for high school graduation; and creates the Credit Acceleration Program.
HB 31 Relating to Public Education
In the absence of certain consent, prohibits district school boards, administrative personnel and instructional personnel from taking affirmative action that infringes or waives rights or freedoms afforded by the First Amendment to United States Constitution.
HB 105 Relating to Civics Education
Designates HB 105 as the “Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Civics Education Act”; requires that the reading portion of language arts curriculum includes civics education content for all grade levels; provides requirements for the civics education course that a student must successfully complete for promotion to middle grades; requires the administration of an end-of-course assessment in civics education as a field test at the middle school level; provides requirements for a course grade and course credit; requires the inclusion of civics education end-of-course assessment data in determining school grades.
SB 140 Relating to School Food Service Programs
Creates the Florida Farm Fresh Schools Program within the Florida Department of Education (“DOE”); requires the DOE to work with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (“DOACS”) to develop policies that encourage school districts to buy fresh and local food and select foods with maximum nutritional content; requires the DOE, in collaboration with the DOACS, to provide outreach services regarding the benefits of fresh food products from Florida.
SB 150 Relating to Athletic Coaches
Requires the independent sanctioning authorities of youth athletic teams to screen the backgrounds of current and prospective athletic coaches through designated state and federal sex offender registries; requires the independent sanctioning authorities to disqualify any athletic coach appearing on a registry; requires said sanctioning authorities to maintain documentation of screening results and disqualification notices.
SB 206 Relating to District School Board Policies and Procedures
Provides legislative intent to recognize student academic achievement; encourages each district school board to adopt policies and procedures that provide for an annual “Academic Scholarship Signing Day.”
SB 434 Relating to Suicide Prevention Education
Deletes references to inactive organizations represented by members of the Suicide Prevention Coordinating Council and replaces them with active organizations; requires that district school boards provide access to suicide prevention educational resources for all instructional and administrative personnel as part of the school district professional development system.
HB 467 Relating to Public K-12 Education
Provides that comprehensive health education taught in public schools shall include a component on teen dating violence and abuse for students in grades 7 through 12; requires district school boards to adopt and implement a dating violence and abuse policy; requires the DOE to develop a model policy; requires school personnel training.
SB 1058 Relating to Cooperation Between Schools & Juvenile Authorities
Requires that specified school personnel be notified when a child of any age is formally charged by a state attorney with a felony or a delinquent act that would be a felony if committed by an adult and the disposition of the charges; authorizes certain entities to release a student’s education records to parties to an interagency agreement for specified purposes without the consent of the student or parent.
HB 5101 Relating to Pre-kindergarten through Grade 12 Education Funding
Deletes a requirement that district school boards imposing the school capital outlay surtax implement freezes on noncapital local school property taxes; deletes provisions relating to the transfer of certain funds for class size reduction; extends the duration of a provision specifying methods to calculate the salary of a district school board member; revises provisions relating to the appropriation of funds for regional consortium service organizations.
Revises and repeals provisions relating to vocational rehabilitation programs and services; revises provisions relating to eligibility for these services; provides for the duties of the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation in the DOE; allows records to be released for audit, program evaluation and research purposes; repeals provisions relating to SMART (Soundly Made, Accountable, Reasonable and Thrifty) Schools Clearinghouse; specifies criteria for prioritization of the School Infrastructure Thrift Program awards; requires statutory revision to prepare a reviser’s bill relating to the Florida College System; repeals and conforms miscellaneous provisions relating to K-12 education; repeals various loan forgiveness, scholarship and tuition reimbursement programs.
To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please send an email to bellis@cftlaw.com.