Florida Senate - 2020                                    SB 1218
       
       
        
       By Senator Diaz
       
       
       
       
       
       36-00873-20                                           20201218__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to anti-bullying and anti-harassment
    3         in schools; amending s. 1002.421, F.S.; expanding the
    4         information that private schools participating in an
    5         educational scholarship program are required to
    6         publish and provide to parents; requiring such private
    7         schools to adopt bullying and harassment policies;
    8         requiring such schools to report bullying and
    9         harassment incidents to the Department of Education;
   10         requiring the department to include reported incidents
   11         in annual accountability reports; requiring private
   12         school principals or their designees to meet and share
   13         specified information with students and parents prior
   14         to student enrollment in the school; providing an
   15         effective date.
   16          
   17  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   18  
   19         Section 1. Paragraph (j) of subsection (1) of section
   20  1002.421, Florida Statutes, is amended, and paragraphs (r) and
   21  (s) are added to that subsection, to read:
   22         1002.421 State school choice scholarship program
   23  accountability and oversight.—
   24         (1) PRIVATE SCHOOL ELIGIBILITY AND OBLIGATIONS.—A private
   25  school participating in an educational scholarship program
   26  established pursuant to this chapter must be a private school as
   27  defined in s. 1002.01(2) in this state, be registered, and be in
   28  compliance with all requirements of this section in addition to
   29  private school requirements outlined in s. 1002.42, specific
   30  requirements identified within respective scholarship program
   31  laws, and other provisions of Florida law that apply to private
   32  schools, and must:
   33         (j) Publish on the school’s website and, or provide in a
   34  written format, information for parents regarding the school,
   35  including, but not limited to, programs, services, and the
   36  qualifications of classroom teachers, the code of student
   37  conduct, the ethical conduct policies required by paragraph (n),
   38  and the bullying and harassment policies required by paragraph
   39  (r).
   40         (r) Notwithstanding the school’s status as a private
   41  school, adopt policies that comply with the bullying and
   42  harassment definitions, responsibilities, and protections
   43  required pursuant to s. 1006.147. The school shall comply with
   44  the incident reporting requirements of s. 1006.147(4)(k)
   45  according to procedures specified by the department. Such
   46  reporting must be made annually by the department in both the
   47  report required pursuant to s. 1006.147(8) and the annual
   48  private school accountability report required under subsection
   49  (2).
   50         (s) Require the school principal or the principal’s
   51  designee to meet with any student and his or her parent or
   52  guardian before the student’s enrollment to review information
   53  about the school, including, but not limited to, the school’s
   54  academic programs and services, customized educational programs,
   55  code of student conduct, attendance policies, bullying and
   56  harassment policies, and ethical conduct policies.
   57  
   58  The department shall suspend the payment of funds to a private
   59  school that knowingly fails to comply with this subsection, and
   60  shall prohibit the school from enrolling new scholarship
   61  students, for 1 fiscal year and until the school complies. If a
   62  private school fails to meet the requirements of this subsection
   63  or has consecutive years of material exceptions listed in the
   64  report required under paragraph (q), the commissioner may
   65  determine that the private school is ineligible to participate
   66  in a scholarship program.
   67         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.