Florida Senate - 2022 CS for SB 1386 By the Committee on Education; and Senator Diaz 581-02603-22 20221386c1 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to school personnel; amending s. 3 800.101, F.S.; prohibiting a person who is required to 4 make certain reports concerning sexual misconduct with 5 a student from knowingly or willfully failing to make 6 such report or knowingly or willfully preventing 7 another person from doing so; prohibiting a person 8 from knowingly or willfully submitting inaccurate, 9 incomplete, or untruthful information with respect to 10 a report concerning sexual misconduct with a student; 11 prohibiting a person from knowingly or willfully 12 coercing or threatening any other person with the 13 intent to alter testimony or a written report 14 concerning sexual misconduct with a student; providing 15 criminal penalties; amending s. 1012.32, F.S.; 16 specifying that certain instructional and 17 noninstructional personnel must file fingerprints with 18 the employing entity or alternative school, as 19 applicable, rather than the district school board; 20 conforming provisions to changes made by the act; 21 providing that an employing entity has the sole 22 authority for determining the employment eligibility 23 of certain personnel; providing an exception; 24 requiring the Department of Law Enforcement to report 25 the results from background screenings to the 26 employing entity; defining the term employing 27 entity; amending s. 1012.34, F.S.; providing that 28 certain procedures established by district school 29 superintendents set the standards of service to be 30 offered to the public within the meaning of a 31 specified provision and are not subject to the 32 collective bargaining process; providing an effective 33 date. 34 35 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 36 37 Section 1.Present subsection (4) of section 800.101, 38 Florida Statutes, is redesignated as subsection (5), new 39 subsection (4) is added to that section, and subsection (3) of 40 that section is amended, to read: 41 800.101Offenses against students by authority figures. 42 (3)A person who violates subsection (2) this section 43 commits a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in 44 s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. 45 (4)(a)A person who is required to make a report regarding 46 an incident of sexual misconduct with a student which could 47 impact an educators inclusion on the disqualification list 48 maintained by the Department of Education pursuant to s. 49 1001.10(4)(b) and who knowingly or willfully fails to make such 50 report, or knowingly or willfully prevents another person from 51 doing so, commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable 52 as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. 53 (b)A person who knowingly or willfully submits inaccurate, 54 incomplete, or untruthful information with respect to a report 55 regarding an incident of sexual misconduct with a student which 56 could impact an educators inclusion on the disqualification 57 list maintained by the Department of Education pursuant to s. 58 1001.10(4)(b) commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, 59 punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. 60 (c)A person who knowingly or willfully coerces or 61 threatens any other person with the intent to alter testimony or 62 a written report regarding an incident of sexual misconduct with 63 a student which could impact an educators inclusion on the 64 disqualification list maintained by the Department of Education 65 pursuant to s. 1001.10(4)(b) commits a misdemeanor of the first 66 degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. 67 Section 2.Subsection (2) and paragraph (b) of subsection 68 (3) of section 1012.32, Florida Statutes, are amended, and 69 subsection (4) is added to that section, to read: 70 1012.32Qualifications of personnel. 71 (2)(a)Instructional and noninstructional personnel who are 72 hired or contracted to fill positions that require direct 73 contact with students in any district school system or 74 university lab school must, upon employment or engagement to 75 provide services, undergo background screening as required under 76 s. 1012.465 or s. 1012.56, whichever is applicable. 77 (b)1.Instructional and noninstructional personnel who are 78 hired or contracted to fill positions in a charter school other 79 than a school of hope as defined in s. 1002.333, and members of 80 the governing board of such charter school, in compliance with 81 s. 1002.33(12)(g), upon employment, engagement of services, or 82 appointment, shall undergo background screening as required 83 under s. 1012.465 or s. 1012.56, whichever is applicable, by 84 filing with the employing entity district school board for the 85 school district in which the charter school is located a 86 complete set of fingerprints taken by an authorized law 87 enforcement agency or an employee of the school or school 88 district who is trained to take fingerprints. 89 2.Instructional and noninstructional personnel who are 90 hired or contracted to fill positions in a school of hope as 91 defined in s. 1002.333, and members of the governing board of 92 such school of hope, shall file with the school of hope a 93 complete set of fingerprints taken by an authorized law 94 enforcement agency, by an employee of the school of hope or 95 school district who is trained to take fingerprints, or by any 96 other entity recognized by the Department of Law Enforcement to 97 take fingerprints. 98 (c)Instructional and noninstructional personnel who are 99 hired or contracted to fill positions that require direct 100 contact with students in an alternative school that operates 101 under contract with a district school system must, upon 102 employment or engagement to provide services, undergo background 103 screening as required under s. 1012.465 or s. 1012.56, whichever 104 is applicable, by filing with the alternative school district 105 school board for the school district to which the alternative 106 school is under contract a complete set of fingerprints taken by 107 an authorized law enforcement agency or an employee of the 108 school or school district who is trained to take fingerprints. 109 (d)Student teachers and persons participating in a field 110 experience pursuant to s. 1004.04(5) or s. 1004.85 in any 111 district school system, lab school, or charter school must, upon 112 engagement to provide services, undergo background screening as 113 required under s. 1012.56. 114 115 Required fingerprints must be submitted to the Department of Law 116 Enforcement for statewide criminal and juvenile records checks 117 and to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for federal criminal 118 records checks. A person subject to this subsection who is found 119 ineligible for employment under s. 1012.315, or otherwise found 120 through background screening to have been convicted of any crime 121 involving moral turpitude as defined by rule of the State Board 122 of Education, may shall not be employed, engaged to provide 123 services, or serve in any position that requires direct contact 124 with students. Probationary persons subject to this subsection 125 who are terminated because of their criminal record have the 126 right to appeal such decisions. Except for a persons 127 ineligibility for employment as provided in this section, an 128 employing entity has the sole authority for determining a 129 persons employment eligibility. The cost of the background 130 screening may be borne by the employing entity district school 131 board, the charter school, the employee, the contractor, or a 132 person subject to this subsection. A district school board shall 133 reimburse a charter school the cost of background screening if 134 it does not notify the charter school of the eligibility of a 135 governing board member or instructional or noninstructional 136 personnel within the earlier of 14 days after receipt of the 137 background screening results from the Florida Department of Law 138 Enforcement or 30 days of submission of fingerprints by the 139 governing board member or instructional or noninstructional 140 personnel. 141 (3) 142 (b)The Department of Law Enforcement shall search all 143 arrest fingerprints received under s. 943.051 against the 144 fingerprints retained in the statewide automated biometric 145 identification system under paragraph (a). Any arrest record 146 that is identified with the retained fingerprints of a person 147 subject to the background screening under this section must 148 shall be reported to the employing entity or contracting school 149 district or the school district with which the person is 150 affiliated. Each employing entity school district is required to 151 participate in this search process by payment of an annual fee 152 to the Department of Law Enforcement and by informing the 153 Department of Law Enforcement of any change in the affiliation, 154 employment, or contractual status or place of affiliation, 155 employment, or contracting of its instructional and 156 noninstructional personnel whose fingerprints are retained under 157 paragraph (a). The Department of Law Enforcement shall adopt a 158 rule setting the amount of the annual fee to be imposed upon 159 each employing entity school district for performing these 160 searches and establishing the procedures for the retention of 161 instructional and noninstructional personnel fingerprints and 162 the dissemination of search results. The fee may be borne by the 163 employing entity district school board, the contractor, or the 164 person fingerprinted. 165 (4)For purposes of this section, the term employing 166 entity means a district school board, charter school, 167 alternative school, or any other entity that requires employees 168 to complete a background screening pursuant to this section. 169 Section 3.Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 170 1012.34, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 171 1012.34Personnel evaluation procedures and criteria. 172 (1)EVALUATION SYSTEM APPROVAL AND REPORTING. 173 (a)For the purpose of increasing student academic 174 performance by improving the quality of instructional, 175 administrative, and supervisory services in the public schools 176 of this the state, the district school superintendent shall 177 establish procedures for evaluating the performance of duties 178 and responsibilities of all instructional, administrative, and 179 supervisory personnel employed by the school district. The 180 procedures established by the district school superintendent set 181 the standards of service to be offered to the public within the 182 meaning of s. 447.209 and are not subject to the collective 183 bargaining process. The district school superintendent shall 184 provide instructional personnel the opportunity to review their 185 class rosters for accuracy and to correct any mistakes. The 186 district school superintendent shall report accurate class 187 rosters for the purpose of calculating district and statewide 188 student performance and annually report the evaluation results 189 of instructional personnel and school administrators to the 190 Department of Education in addition to the information required 191 under subsection (5). 192 Section 4.This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.