HB 1259 2023
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to education funding; amending s. 2
212.055, F.S.; conforming provisions to changes made 3
by the act; amending s. 1013.62, F.S.; deleting 4
obsolete language; making technical changes; revising 5
the calculation methodology for the distribution of 6
specified revenue to eligible charter schools; 7
providing school district requirements for the 8
distribution of capital outlay funds to charter 9
schools; providing an appropriation; providing an 10
effective date. 11
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Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 13
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Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (6) of section 15
212.055, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 16
212.055 Discretionary sales surtaxes ; legislative intent; 17
authorization and use of proceeds. —It is the legislative intent 18
that any authorization for imposition of a discretionary sales 19
surtax shall be published in the Florida Statutes as a 20
subsection of this section, irrespective of the dura tion of the 21
levy. Each enactment shall specify the types of counties 22
authorized to levy; the rate or rates which may be imposed; the 23
maximum length of time the surtax may be imposed, if any; the 24
procedure which must be followed to secure voter approval, if 25
HB 1259 2023
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
required; the purpose for which the proceeds may be expended; 26
and such other requirements as the Legislature may provide. 27
Taxable transactions and administrative procedures shall be as 28
provided in s. 212.054. 29
(6) SCHOOL CAPITAL OUTLAY SURTAX. — 30
(b) The resolution must include a statement that provides 31
a brief and general description of the school capital outlay 32
projects to be funded by the surtax. The resolution must include 33
a statement that the revenues collected must be shared with 34
eligible charter schools based on their proportionate share of 35
the total school district capital outlay full-time equivalent 36
enrollment as adopted by the education estimating conference 37
established in s. 216.136 enrollment. The statement must conform 38
to the requirements of s . 101.161 and shall be placed on the 39
ballot by the governing body of the county. The following 40
question shall be placed on the ballot: 41
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....FOR THE ....CENTS TAX
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....AGAINST THE ....CENTS TAX
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Section 2. Subsections (1), (2), and (3) of section 45
1013.62, Florida Statutes, are amended to read: 46
1013.62 Charter schools capital outlay funding. — 47
(1) For the 2022-2023 fiscal year, charter school capital 48
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
outlay funding shall consist of state funds appropriated in the 49
2022-2023 General Appropriations Act. Beginning in fiscal year 50
2023-2024, Charter school capital outlay funding shall consist 51
of state funds when such funds are appropriated in the General 52
Appropriations Act and revenue resulting from the discretionary 53
millage authorized in s. 1011.71(2) if the amount of state funds 54
appropriated for charter school capital outlay in any fiscal 55
year is less than the average charter school capital outlay 56
funds per unweighted full -time equivalent student for the 2018 -57
2019 fiscal year, multiplied by the estimat ed number of charter 58
school students for the applicable fiscal year, and adjusted by 59
changes in the Consumer Price Index issued by the United States 60
Department of Labor from the previous fiscal year. Nothing in 61
this subsection prohibits a school district f rom distributing to 62
charter schools funds resulting from the discretionary millage 63
authorized in s. 1011.71(2) . 64
(a) To be eligible to receive capital outlay funds, a 65
charter school must: 66
1.a. Have been in operation for 2 or more years; 67
b. Be governed by a governing board established in the 68
state for 2 or more years which operates both charter schools 69
and conversion charter schools within the state; 70
c. Be an expanded feeder chain of a charter school within 71
the same school district that is currently r eceiving charter 72
school capital outlay funds; 73
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
d. Have been accredited by a regional accrediting 74
association as defined by State Board of Education rule; 75
e. Serve students in facilities that are provided by a 76
business partner for a charter school -in-the-workplace pursuant 77
to s. 1002.33(15)(b); or 78
f. Be operated by a hope operator pursuant to s. 1002.333. 79
2. Have an annual audit that does not reveal any of the 80
financial emergency conditions provided in s. 218.503(1) for the 81
most recent fiscal year for which such audit results are 82
available. 83
3. Have satisfactory student achievement based on state 84
accountability standards applicable to the charter school. 85
4. Have received final approval from its sponsor pursuant 86
to s. 1002.33 for operation during tha t fiscal year. 87
5. Serve students in facilities that are not provided by 88
the charter school's sponsor. 89
(b) A charter school is not eligible to receive capital 90
outlay funds if it was created by the conversion of a public 91
school and operates in facilities provided by the charter 92
school's sponsor for a nominal fee, or at no charge, or if it is 93
directly or indirectly operated by the school district. 94
(2) The department shall use the following calculation 95
methodology to allocate state funds appropriated in t he General 96
Appropriations Act to eligible charter schools: 97
(a) Eligible charter schools shall be grouped into 98
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categories based on their student populations according to the 99
following criteria: 100
1. Seventy-five percent or greater who are eligible for 101
free or reduced-price school meals under the National School 102
Lunch Program or, for schools operating programs under the 103
Community Eligibility Provision of the Healthy, Hunger -Free Kids 104
Act of 2010, an equivalent percentage of the student population 105
eligible for free and reduced-price meals as determined by 106
applying the multiplier authorized under the National School 107
Lunch Act, 42 U.S.C. s. 1759a(a)(1)(F)(vii), to the number of 108
students reported for direct certification. 109
2. Twenty-five percent or greater with disabilities as 110
defined in state board rule and consistent with the requirements 111
of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 112
(b) If an eligible charter school does not meet the 113
criteria for either category under paragraph (a), its FTE shall 114
be provided as the base amount of funding and shall be assigned 115
a weight of 1.0. An eligible charter school that meets the 116
criteria under subparagraph (a)1. or subparagraph (a)2. shall be 117
provided an additional 25 percent above the base funding amount, 118
and the total FTE shall be multiplied by a weight of 1.25. An 119
eligible charter school that meets the criteria under both 120
subparagraphs (a)1. and (a)2. shall be provided an additional 50 121
percent above the base funding amount, and the FTE for that 122
school shall be multiplied by a weight of 1.5. 123
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(a)(c) Divide the state appropriation for charter school 124
capital outlay shall be divided by the total weighted FTE for 125
all eligible charter schools to determine the base charter 126
school per weighted FTE allocation amount. Th e base charter 127
school per weighted FTE allocation amount shall be multiplied by 128
the weighted FTE of each charter school to determine each 129
charter school's capital outlay allocation. 130
(b)(d) The department shall calculate the eligible charter 131
school funding allocations. Funds shall be allocated using full -132
time equivalent membership from the second and third enrollment 133
surveys and free and reduced -price school lunch data . The 134
department shall recalculate the allocations periodically based 135
on the receipt of revised information, on a schedule established 136
by the Commissioner of Education. 137
(c)(e) The department shall distribute capital outlay 138
funds monthly, beginning in the first quarter of the fiscal 139
year, based on one-twelfth of the amount the department 140
reasonably expects the charter school to receive during that 141
fiscal year. The commissioner shall adjust subsequent 142
distributions as necessary to reflect each charter school's 143
recalculated allocation. 144
(3) If the school board levies the discretionary millage 145
authorized in s. 1011.71(2), and the state funds appropriated 146
for charter school capital outlay in any fiscal year are less 147
than the average charter school capital outlay funds per 148
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
unweighted full-time equivalent student for the 2018 -2019 fiscal 149
year, multiplied by the estimated number of charter school 150
students for the applicable fiscal year, and adjusted by changes 151
in the Consumer Price Index issued by the United States 152
Department of Labor from the previous fiscal year, the 153
department shall use the followi ng calculation methodology to 154
determine the amount of revenue that a school district must 155
distribute to each eligible charter school: 156
(a) Reduce the total discretionary millage revenue by the 157
school district's annual debt service obligation incurred as o f 158
March 1, 2017, which has not been subsequently retired, and any 159
amount of participation requirement pursuant to s. 160
1013.64(2)(a)8. that is being satisfied by revenues raised by 161
the discretionary millage. 162
(b) Divide the school district's adjusted discre tionary 163
millage revenue by the district's total capital outlay full -time 164
equivalent membership and the total number of unweighted full-165
time equivalent students of each eligible charter school to 166
determine a capital outlay allocation per full -time equivalent 167
student. 168
(c) Multiply the capital outlay allocation per full -time 169
equivalent student by the total number of full -time equivalent 170
students of each eligible charter school to determine the 171
capital outlay allocation for each charter school. 172
(d) If applicable, reduce the capital outlay allocation 173
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identified in paragraph (c) by the total amount of state funds 174
allocated to each eligible charter school in subsection (2) to 175
determine the maximum calculated capital outlay allocation. 176
(e) School districts sha ll distribute capital outlay funds 177
to eligible charter schools no later than February 1 of each 178
year, as required by this subsection, based on the amount of 179
funds received by the district school board. School districts 180
shall distribute any remaining capita l outlay funds, as required 181
by this subsection, upon the receipt of such funds until the 182
total amount calculated pursuant to this subsection is 183
distributed. 184
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By October 1 of each year, each school district shall certify to 186
the department the amount of debt service and participation 187
requirement that complies with the requirement of paragraph (a) 188
and can be reduced from the total discretionary millage revenue. 189
The Auditor General shall verify compliance with the 190
requirements of paragraph (a) and s. 1011.71(2) (e) during 191
scheduled operational audits of school districts. 192
Section 3. For the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the sum of 193
$213,453,885 in nonrecurring funds is appropriated from the 194
Public Education Capital Outlay and Debt Service Trust Fund to 195
the Department of Education for charter school capital outlay 196
funding. 197
Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023. 198