Bill Text: FL S1284 | 2019 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: District Cost Differential
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-2-1)
Status: (Failed) 2019-05-03 - Died in Appropriations Subcommittee on Education [S1284 Detail]
Download: Florida-2019-S1284-Comm_Sub.html
Florida Senate - 2019 CS for SB 1284 By the Committee on Education; and Senators Diaz, Rodriguez, Taddeo, Pizzo, Braynon, Flores, and Farmer 581-03534-19 20191284c1 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to the district cost differential; 3 amending s. 1011.62, F.S.; revising the method of 4 calculating the district cost differential used in 5 determining the annual allocation to school districts 6 from the Florida Education Finance Program beginning 7 in a specified school year; requiring the Department 8 of Education to consult with specified individuals and 9 entities during the development of the wage level 10 index; requiring the department to complete the 11 development and calculation of the wage level index by 12 a specified date for application beginning in the 13 2020-2021 fiscal year; amending s. 213.053, F.S.; 14 conforming provisions to changes made by the act; 15 reenacting ss. 402.22(6), 1002.37(3), 1002.71(3)(b), 16 1003.52(13)(a), F.S., relating to the education 17 program for students who reside in residential care 18 facilities operated by the Department of Children and 19 Families or the Agency for Persons with Disabilities; 20 the Florida Virtual School; funding and financial and 21 attendance reporting relating to the Voluntary 22 Prekindergarten Education Program; and educational 23 services in Department of Juvenile Justice programs, 24 respectively, to incorporate the amendment made to s. 25 1011.62, F.S., in references thereto; providing an 26 effective date. 27 28 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 29 30 Section 1. Subsection (2) of section 1011.62, Florida 31 Statutes, is amended to read: 32 1011.62 Funds for operation of schools.—If the annual 33 allocation from the Florida Education Finance Program to each 34 district for operation of schools is not determined in the 35 annual appropriations act or the substantive bill implementing 36 the annual appropriations act, it shall be determined as 37 follows: 38 (2) DETERMINATION OF DISTRICT COST DIFFERENTIALS.— 39 (a) Through the 2019-2020 fiscal year, the Commissioner of 40 Education shall annually compute for each district the current 41 year’s district cost differential. The district cost 42 differential shall be calculated by adding each district’s price 43 level index as published in the Florida Price Level Index for 44 the most recent 3 years and dividing the resulting sum by 3. The 45 result for each district shall be multiplied by 0.008 and to the 46 resulting product shall be added 0.200; the sum thus obtained 47 shall be the cost differential for that district for that year. 48 (b) Beginning in the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the district 49 cost differential shall be calculated by multiplying the most 50 recent 3-year average wage level index for each school district 51 by 0.008 and then adding 0.200 to the product. The data for the 52 most recent 3 years must include, but is not limited to, county 53 level wage index data and occupational-level wage index data. 54 During the development of the wage level index, the Department 55 of Education shall consult with informed stakeholders, including 56 school districts, industry representatives, the Department of 57 Economic Opportunity, and academic and private sector experts in 58 econometric modeling and data. The Department of Education shall 59 develop and calculate the wage level index by January 1, 2020. 60 Section 2. Paragraphs (a) and (d) of subsection (7) of 61 section 213.053, Florida Statutes, are amended to read: 62 213.053 Confidentiality and information sharing.— 63 (7)(a) Any information received by the Department of 64 Revenue in connection with the administration of taxes, 65 including, but not limited to, information contained in returns, 66 reports, accounts, or declarations filed by persons subject to 67 tax, shall be made available to the following in performance of 68 their official duties: 69 1. The Auditor General or his or her authorized agent; 70 2. The director of the Office of Program Policy Analysis 71 and Government Accountability or his or her authorized agent; 72 3. The Chief Financial Officer or his or her authorized 73 agent; 74 4. The Director of the Office of Insurance Regulation of 75 the Financial Services Commission or his or her authorized 76 agent; 77 5. A property appraiser or tax collector or their 78 authorized agents pursuant to s. 195.084(1); 796. Designated employees of the Department of Education80solely for determination of each school district’s price level81index pursuant to s. 1011.62(2);82 6.7.The executive director of the Department of Economic 83 Opportunity or his or her authorized agent; 84 7.8.The taxpayers’ rights advocate or his or her 85 authorized agent pursuant to s. 20.21(3); and 86 8.9.The coordinator of the Office of Economic and 87 Demographic Research or his or her authorized agent. 88(d) For the purpose of this subsection, “designated89employees of the Department of Education” means only those90employees directly responsible for calculation of price level91indices pursuant to s. 1011.62(2). It does not include the92supervisors of such employees or any other employees or elected93officials within the Department of Education.94 Section 3. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment 95 made by this act to section 1011.62, Florida Statutes, in a 96 reference thereto, subsection (6) of section 402.22, Florida 97 Statutes, is reenacted to read: 98 402.22 Education program for students who reside in 99 residential care facilities operated by the Department of 100 Children and Families or the Agency for Persons with 101 Disabilities.— 102 (6) Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 1001.42(4)(n), the 103 educational program at the Marianna Sunland Center in Jackson 104 County shall be operated by the Department of Education, either 105 directly or through grants or contractual agreements with other 106 public educational agencies. The annual state allocation to any 107 such agency shall be computed pursuant to s. 1011.62(1), (2), 108 and (6) and allocated in the amount that would have been 109 provided the local school district in which the residential 110 facility is located. 111 Section 4. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment 112 made by this act to section 1011.62, Florida Statutes, in a 113 reference thereto, subsection (3) of section 1002.37, Florida 114 Statutes, is reenacted to read: 115 1002.37 The Florida Virtual School.— 116 (3) Funding for the Florida Virtual School shall be 117 provided as follows: 118 (a)1. The calculation of “full-time equivalent student” 119 shall be as prescribed in s. 1011.61(1)(c)1.b.(V) and is subject 120 to s. 1011.61(4). 121 2. For a student in a home education program, funding shall 122 be provided in accordance with this subsection upon course 123 completion if the parent verifies, upon enrollment for each 124 course, that the student is registered with the school district 125 as a home education student pursuant to s. 1002.41(1)(a). 126 (b) Full-time equivalent student credit completed through 127 the Florida Virtual School, including credits completed during 128 the summer, shall be reported to the Department of Education in 129 the manner prescribed by the department and shall be funded 130 through the Florida Education Finance Program. 131 (c) School districts may not limit student access to 132 courses offered through the Florida Virtual School. 133 (d) Full-time equivalent student credit completion for 134 courses offered through the Florida Virtual School shall be 135 reported only by the Florida Virtual School. School districts 136 shall report full-time equivalent student membership only for 137 courses for which the district provides the instruction. Courses 138 delivered by the Florida Virtual School on a public school 139 campus shall be reported only by the school district in which 140 the student is enrolled. 141 (e) The district cost differential as provided in s. 142 1011.62(2) shall be established as 1.000. 143 (f) The Florida Virtual School shall receive funds for 144 operating purposes in an amount determined as follows: multiply 145 the maximum allowable nonvoted discretionary millage for 146 operations pursuant to s. 1011.71(1) and (3) by the value of 96 147 percent of the current year’s taxable value for school purposes 148 for the state; divide the result by the total full-time 149 equivalent membership of the state; and multiply the result by 150 the full-time equivalent membership of the school. The amount 151 thus obtained shall be discretionary operating funds and shall 152 be appropriated from state funds in the General Appropriations 153 Act. 154 (g) The Florida Virtual School shall receive additional 155 state funds as may be provided in the General Appropriations 156 Act; however, such funds may not be provided for the purpose of 157 fulfilling the class size requirements in ss. 1003.03 and 158 1011.685. 159 (h) In addition to the funds provided in the General 160 Appropriations Act, the Florida Virtual School may receive other 161 funds from grants and donations. 162 Section 5. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment 163 made by this act to section 1011.62, Florida Statutes, in a 164 reference thereto, paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of section 165 1002.71, Florida Statutes, is reenacted to read: 166 1002.71 Funding; financial and attendance reporting.— 167 (3) 168 (b) Each county’s allocation per full-time equivalent 169 student in the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program shall 170 be calculated annually by multiplying the base student 171 allocation provided in the General Appropriations Act by the 172 county’s district cost differential provided in s. 1011.62(2). 173 Each private prekindergarten provider and public school shall be 174 paid in accordance with the county’s allocation per full-time 175 equivalent student. 176 Section 6. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment 177 made by this act to section 1011.62, Florida Statutes, in a 178 reference thereto, paragraph (a) of subsection (13) of section 179 1003.52, Florida Statutes, is reenacted to read: 180 1003.52 Educational services in Department of Juvenile 181 Justice programs.— 182 (13)(a) Funding for eligible students enrolled in juvenile 183 justice education programs shall be provided through the Florida 184 Education Finance Program as provided in s. 1011.62 and the 185 General Appropriations Act. Funding shall include, at a minimum: 186 1. Weighted program funding or the basic amount for current 187 operation multiplied by the district cost differential as 188 provided in s. 1011.62(2); 189 2. The supplemental allocation for juvenile justice 190 education as provided in s. 1011.62(10); 191 3. A proportionate share of the district’s exceptional 192 student education guaranteed allocation, the supplemental 193 academic instruction allocation, and the instructional materials 194 allocation; 195 4. An amount equivalent to the proportionate share of the 196 state average potential discretionary local effort for 197 operations, which shall be determined as follows: 198 a. If the district levies the maximum discretionary local 199 effort and the district’s discretionary local effort per FTE is 200 less than the state average potential discretionary local effort 201 per FTE, the proportionate share shall include both the 202 discretionary local effort and the compression supplement per 203 FTE. If the district’s discretionary local effort per FTE is 204 greater than the state average per FTE, the proportionate share 205 shall be equal to the state average; or 206 b. If the district does not levy the maximum discretionary 207 local effort and the district’s actual discretionary local 208 effort per FTE is less than the state average potential 209 discretionary local effort per FTE, the proportionate share 210 shall be equal to the district’s actual discretionary local 211 effort per FTE. If the district’s actual discretionary local 212 effort per FTE is greater than the state average per FTE, the 213 proportionate share shall be equal to the state average 214 potential local effort per FTE; and 215 5. A proportionate share of the district’s proration to 216 funds available, if necessary. 217 Section 7. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.