This docum ent does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill sponsor or House of Representatives.
STORAGE NAME: h1117a.ELE
DATE: 2/14/2022
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF ANALYSIS
BILL #: HB 1117 Education Recovery Scholarship Accounts
SPONSOR(S): Stevenson
TIED BILLS: None IDEN./SIM. BILLS: SB 488
REFERENCE ACTION ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR or
BUDGET/POLICY CHIEF
1) Early Learning & Elementary Education
Subcommittee
14 Y, 0 N Aaronson Brink
2) Secondary Education & Career Development
Subcommittee
3) PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee
4) Education & Employment Committee
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
Florida schools experience closures due to statewide emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic and
natural disasters. The bill establishes education recovery scholarship accounts to mitigate learning loss by
providing options for students who attend a public school that has been closed for no less than 10 consecutive
school days during the school year due to an emergency.
Education recovery scholarship accounts are nearly identical to reading scholarship accounts with respect to
program administration, student eligibility requirements, and qualifying expenditures. However, recovery
scholarship accounts include students struggling with mathematics, in addition to those with low reading
scores.
The bill requires each school district to notify the parents of each student eligible for a recovery education
scholarship account within 10 days after the school qualifies due to closure. The DOE must be notified within
20 days of any eligible student at a qualifying public school.
The bill also provides that a student may receive both an education recovery scholarship and a reading
scholarship, if eligible.
The bill has an indeterminate fiscal impact. See fiscal comments, infra.
The bill provides an effective date of July 1, 2022. STORAGE NAME: h1117a.ELE PAGE: 2
DATE: 2/14/2022
FULL ANALYSIS
I. SUBSTANTIVE ANALYSIS
A. EFFECT OF PROPOSED CHANGES:
Emergency School Closures in Florida
Present Situation
Overview
The Governor of Florida is responsible for meeting the dangers presented to this state and its people
by emergencies.
1
An “emergency” is defined by law as any occurrence, or threat thereof, whether
natural, technological, or manmade, in war or in peace, which results or may result in substantial injury
or harm to the population or substantial damage to or loss of property.
2
The Governor may declare, by
executive order or proclamation, that an emergency requires closure of or restricted in-person
attendance at kindergarten through grade 12 public schools with specific reasons for those
determinations.
3
Florida has experienced emergency school closures in the past due to a variety of
circumstances, including the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters.
Impact of COVID-19 on Florida’s Students
On March 10, 2020, the Governor declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
4
On
March 23, 2020, the Florida Department of Education (DOE) issued an emergency order closing all
public schools,
5
which remained closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.
6
Schools
transferred to distance learning plans in coordination with the DOE, and the DOE website provided
educators, parents, and students access to free distance learning resources offered by state and
federal agencies.
7
However, many students experienced learning loss from the abrupt transfer to online
learning. Achievement gaps for minority and low-income students were exacerbated by the nationwide
crisis resulting in school closures.
8
Student performance on the statewide, standardized mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA)
assessments significantly decreased between the 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 school years,
9
due to
COVID-19 related school closures.
10
The impact on passing scores for statewide standardized ELA and
Mathematics assessments is displayed below.
11
1
Section 252.36, F.S.
2
Section 252.34(4), F.S.
3
Section 252.36(1)(c)(1)
4
Fla. Exec. Order 20-52 (March 10, 2020), available at https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/orders/2020/EO_20-52.pdf.
5
Florida Department of Education, Emergency Order No. 2021-EO (2020), available at
https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt/DOEORDERNO2020-EO-01.pdf.
6
Florida Department of Education, Florida Extends Distance Learning Through Remainder of Academic Year (April 18, 2020),
https://www.fldoe.org/newsroom/latest-news/florida-extends-distance-learning-through-remainder-of-academic-year.stml (last visited
Jan. 27, 2022).
7
Florida Department of Education, Distance Learning Resources (April 1, 2020), available at
https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt/DistanceLearningMemo.pdf.
8
Florida Department of Education, Reopening Florida’s Schools and the CARES Act- Closing Achievement Gaps and Creating Safe
Spaces for Learning (May 2020), available at https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt/FLDOEReopeningCARESAct.pdf.
9
Due to statewide school closures, standardized assessments were not administered for the 2019-2020 school year. See Florida
Department of Education, Emergency Order No. 2020-EO-1 (2020), available at
https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt/DOEORDERNO2020-EO-01.pdf.
10
Florida Department of Education, Florida’s PK-12 Education Information Portal, Florida Standards Assessments,
https://edstats.fldoe.org/SASPortal/navigate.do?PortalPage=PortalPage%2Bomi%3A%2F%2FMETASERVER.Foundation%2Freposn
ame%3DFoundation%2FPSPortalPage%3Bid%3DA5YWB4SY.BN00000A (last visited Jan. 27, 2022). Data available on a year-by-
year basis includes results and averages of all Florida students on each assessment.
11
Florida Department of Education, PK-20 Education Information Portal, Florida Standards Assessments (FSA),
https://edstats.fldoe.org/SASPortal/navigate.do?PortalPage=PortalPage%2Bomi%3A%2F%2FMETASERVER.Foundation%2Freposn
ame%3DFoundation%2FPSPortalPage%3Bid%3DA5YWB4SY.BN00000A (last visited Feb. 10, 2022). STORAGE NAME: h1117a.ELE PAGE: 3
DATE: 2/14/2022
English Language Arts
Year 2018 2019 2021
Grade 3 Students Scoring Level 3 and Above 56.90% 57.60% 54.40%
Grade 8 Students Scoring Level 3 and Above 57.50% 56.30% 52.40%
Grade 10 Students Scoring Level 3 and Above 53.00% 52.50% 50.90%
Mathematics
Year 2018 2019 2021
Grade 3 Students Scoring Level 3 and Above 61.70% 62.40% 51.40%
Grade 8 Students Scoring Level 3 and Above 44.70% 45.90% 37.10%
Natural Disasters
Florida has a well-documented history of natural disasters causing significant damages to communities,
specifically along its coasts. The Florida Division of Emergency Management is responsible for
maintaining a comprehensive statewide emergency management system, as well as the coordination of
efforts with departments including state agencies and school boards.
12
This includes the notification of
natural emergencies, such as hurricanes and tropical storms.
13
Natural disasters have resulted in
thousands of students missing school and experiencing learning loss throughout the school year.
Due to Tropical Storm Michael, the Governor declared a state of emergency in 26 Florida counties on
October 7, 2018,
14
and thousands of students missed school for multiple days.
15
Some schools were
unable to reopen for an extended period of time due to damaged facilities, and many Bay County
students did not return to schools for almost a month.
16
Additional recent examples of tropical systems
causing school closures include Tropical Depression Fred (2021)
17
and Tropical Storm Elsa (2021).
18
Student Assistance
Reading Scholarship Accounts
In 2018, Florida became the first state to offer an education savings account for students who struggle
with reading through the Reading Scholarship Accounts program.
19
The program provides scholarship
accounts for public school students in grades 3 through 5 who scored below a Level 3 on the statewide,
standardized ELA assessment in the prior school year.
20
Funding for reading scholarship accounts is
12
Section 252.32(1), F.S.
13
Section 252.34(8), F.S.
14
Fla. Exec. Order 18-277 (Oct. 7, 2018), available at https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/SLT-
BIZHUB18100810270.pdf.
15
Florida Department of Education, Gov. Scott Issues Updates on Hurricane Michael (Oct. 9, 2018),
https://www.fldoe.org/newsroom/latest-news/2025342-gov-scott-issues-updates-on-hurricane-michael.stml (last visited Feb. 10,
2022).
16
Florida Division of Emergency Management, Gov. Scott Releases Updates on Hurricane Michael Recovery in Bay County (Nov. 2,
2018), available at https://www.floridadisaster.org/news-media/news/20181102-gov.-scott-releases-updates-on-hurricane-michael-
recovery-in-bay-county/.
17
See Fla. Exec. Order 21-190 (Aug. 13, 2021), available at https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/orders/2020/EO_20-52.pdf.
18
See Fla. Exec. Order 21-150 (July 3, 2021), available at https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Executive-Order-21-
150.pdf.
19
Section 17, ch. 2018-6, L.O.F.
20
Section 1002.411(2), F.S. STORAGE NAME: h1117a.ELE PAGE: 4
DATE: 2/14/2022
provided in the General Appropriations Act,
21
and eligible students may receive a scholarship award of
$500 for qualifying expenses.
22
For a student to be eligible to participate, the student’s parent must apply to an eligible nonprofit
scholarship-funding organization and submit qualifying expenditures to the nonprofit organization for
reimbursement.
23
Eligible expenses include:
24
instructional materials;
curriculum including a course of study for a particular content area or grade level, including
required supplemental materials and associated online instruction;
tuition and fees for part-time tutoring services provided by a person who holds a valid Florida
educator’s certificate, a person who holds an adjunct teaching certificate, or a person who has
demonstrated mastery of subject area knowledge;
fees for summer education programs designed to improve reading or literacy skills; and
fees for after-school education programs designed to improve reading or literacy skills.
The parent of a student is responsible for payment of all eligible expenses in excess of funds in the
account, and may not receive a refund or rebate of any qualifying expenditures.
25
Reading scholarship accounts must be administered by a scholarship funding organization (SFO) that
is eligible to participate in the Florida Tax Credit scholarship program.
26
An SFO may establish reading
scholarship accounts for eligible students, subject to requirements for administering scholarship
programs, including:
verification of eligible students;
verification of eligible expenditures;
processing scholarship applications;
issuing scholarships on a first-come, first-served basis; and
complying with annual expenditure requirements.
27
Additionally, a participating SFO:
may develop a system for payment of benefits by funds transfer, including, but not limited to,
debit cards, electronic payment cards, or any other means of payment that the department
deems to be commercially viable or cost-effective;
must provide payments no less frequently than on a quarterly basis; and
may withhold up to 3 percent of the amount of each scholarship award from state funds for
administrative expenses under certain circumstances.
28
The DOE has the same oversight responsibilities for reading scholarship accounts as those required for
other scholarship programs,
29
including but not limited to verifying eligible expenditures and requiring
quarterly reports by the SFO.
30
21
Section 1002.411(7)(a)-(c), F.S.
22
Florida Department of Education, Reading Scholarship Accounts, https://www.fldoe.org/schools/school-choice/k-12-scholarship-
programs/reading/ (last visited Feb. 9, 2022).
23
Section 1002.411(3)(a), F.S.
24
Section 1002.411(3)(a)(2), F.S.
25
Section 1002.411(3)(b), F.S.
26
See s. 1002.395(2)(f), F.S.
27
See s. 1002.395(6), F.S.
28
See s. 1002.395(6)(j)1., F.S.
29
Section 1002.411(5), F.S.
30
See ss. 1002.385(9), F.S., 1002.39(9), F.S., and 1002.395(9), F.S. STORAGE NAME: h1117a.ELE PAGE: 5
DATE: 2/14/2022
The reading scholarship accounts program served 3,496 students in the 2020-2021 school year
31
and
1,608 students have been identified so far in the 2021-2022 school year.
32
Early Warning Systems
Florida district school boards must maintain a system of school improvement and education
accountability, including school improvement plans, public disclosure regarding performance of
students and educational programs, school improvement funds, and implementation of early warning
systems.
33
A school serving students in grade kindergarten through grade 8 is required to implement an early
warning system to identify students needing additional support to improve academic performance and
engagement in school. The early warning system must include the following indicators:
34
Attendance below 90 percent, regardless of whether absence is excused or a result of out-of-
school suspension.
One or more suspensions.
Course failure in ELA or mathematics during any grading period.
A Level 1 score on the ELA or mathematics statewide, standardized assessments, or for
students below grade 3, an identified substantial reading deficiency.
35
The system must include data on the number of students identified by the system as exhibiting two or
more early warning indicators, the number of students by grade level who exhibit each indicator, and a
description of all intervention strategies employed by the school for the student.
36
A school team is responsible for implementing the early warning system and monitoring student data to
identify students with two or more early warning indicators. The team, in consultation with the student’s
parent, must determine appropriate intervention strategies unless the student is already being assisted
at the direction of a school-based, multidisciplinary team.
37
Effect of Proposed Changes
To mitigate learning loss by providing options for students who attend a public school that has been
closed for no less than 10 consecutive school days during the school year due to an emergency,
38
the
bill establishes education recovery scholarship accounts.
31
Step Up for Students, Basic Program Facts about the Reading Scholarship, https://www.stepupforstudents.org/research-and-
reports/reading-scholarship/basic-program-facts-
reading/#:~:text=The%20scholarship%20served%205%2C375%20students,Scholarship%20Account%20Fact%20Sheet%20here.&tex
t=The%20Reading%20Scholarship%20is%20available,the%20third%20or%20fourth%20grades. (last visited Jan. 19, 2022).
32
Step Up for Students, 2020-21 Reading Scholarship Account Fact Sheet (2022), available at https://www.stepupforstudents.org/wp-
content/uploads/22.1.12-Reading-Scholarship.pdf.
33
Section 1001.42(18), F.S.
34
Section 1001.42(18)(b)1., F.S.
35
Section 1008.25(5)(a), F.S. Any student in kindergarten through grade 3 who exhibits a substantial deficiency in reading based upon
screening, diagnostic, progress monitoring, or assessment data; statewide assessments; or teacher observations must be provided
intensive, explicit, systematic, and multisensory reading interventions immediately following the identification of the reading
deficiency.
36
Section 1001.32(18)(b)1.d., F.S. (flush-left provision at end of subsection).
37
Section 1001.32(18)(b)2., F.S.
38
See s. 252.34(4), F.S. “Emergency” is defined as any occurrence, or threat thereof, whether natural, technological, or manmade, in
war or in peace, which results or may result in substantial injury or harm to the population or substantial damage to or loss of property. STORAGE NAME: h1117a.ELE PAGE: 6
DATE: 2/14/2022
Education recovery scholarship accounts are nearly identical to reading scholarship accounts with
respect to program administration, student eligibility requirements, and qualifying expenditures.
However, recovery scholarship accounts include students struggling with mathematics, in addition to
those with low reading scores.
A student enrolled in a qualifying school in grades 3 through grade 5 may receive an education
recovery scholarship account if he or she scored below a Level 3 on the statewide, standardized
mathematics or ELA assessment in the previous school year. Students in grades 3 through grade 5
identified as needing additional support through the school’s early warning system are also eligible.
Similar to reading scholarship accounts, qualifying expenditures for recovery scholarships include
instructional materials, tutoring, curriculum, after-school programs, and summer education programs to
include mathematics, reading, or literacy skills.
The bill requires each school district to notify the parents of each student eligible for a recovery
education scholarship account within 10 days after the school qualifies due to closure. The DOE must
be notified within 20 days of any eligible student at a qualifying public school.
Recovery scholarship accounts are funded as provided in the General Appropriations Act. The bill
prohibits a SFO providing reading scholarship accounts from distributing more than 25 percent of the
available remaining funds before May 1 of each year. After May 1, the SFO may distribute the
remaining funds to eligible students for recovery scholarships.
The bill provides that a student may receive both an education recovery scholarship and a reading
scholarship, if eligible.
B. SECTION DIRECTORY:
Section 1: Creates s. 1002.4111, F.S.; establishing education recovery scholarship accounts;
providing the purpose of the accounts; specifying eligibility requirements; providing
requirements for parent and student participation; defining the term "curriculum";
prohibiting providers from sharing scholarship account moneys with parents or students;
prohibiting a parent, student, or provider from billing specified entities for the same
services that are paid for using scholarship account funds; providing that parents are
responsible for certain unreimbursed expenses; providing for administration of the
scholarship; specifying Department of Education scholarship obligations; specifying
school district scholarship obligations; providing for funding and payment of
scholarships; providing immunity from liability for the state; authorizing the State Board
of Education to adopt rules.
Section 2: Provides an effective date of July 1, 2022.
II. FISCAL ANALYSIS & ECONOMIC IMPACT STATEMENT
A. FISCAL IMPACT ON STATE GOVERNMENT:
1. Revenues:
None.
2. Expenditures:
None.
B. FISCAL IMPACT ON LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: STORAGE NAME: h1117a.ELE PAGE: 7
DATE: 2/14/2022
1. Revenues:
None.
2. Expenditures:
See fiscal comments.
C. DIRECT ECONOMIC IMPACT ON PRIVATE SECTOR:
None.
D. FISCAL COMMENTS:
The bill establishes education recovery scholarship accounts, which are funded by remaining funds
from reading scholarship accounts. Reading scholarship accounts were funded with nonrecurring funds
for 2021-2022 in the General Appropriations Act. Funding for scholarship accounts is subject to
legislative appropriation in the 2022-2023 General Appropriations Act.
III. COMMENTS
A. CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES:
1. Applicability of Municipality/County Mandates Provision:
None.
2. Other:
None.
B. RULE-MAKING AUTHORITY:
None.
C. DRAFTING ISSUES OR OTHER COMMENTS:
None.
IV. AMENDMENTS/COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE CHANGES
None.