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An act relating to education; amending s. 212.055, 2
F.S.; conforming provisions to changes made by the 3
act; amending s. 1013.62, F.S.; deleting obsolete 4
language; making technical changes; revising charter 5
school eligibility and ineligibility criteria to 6
receive capital outlay funds; revising the calculation 7
methodologies for the distribution of specified funds 8
to eligible charter schools; providing school district 9
requirements for the distribution of capital outlay 10
funds to eligible charter schools; providing 11
requirements for the use of capital outlay funds; 12
providing an effective date. 13
14
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 15
16
Section 1. Paragraph (c) of subsection (6) of section 17
212.055, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 18
212.055 Discretionary sales surtaxes; legislative intent; 19
authorization and use of proceeds. —It is the legislative intent 20
that any authorization for imposi tion of a discretionary sales 21
surtax shall be published in the Florida Statutes as a 22
subsection of this section, irrespective of the duration of the 23
levy. Each enactment shall specify the types of counties 24
authorized to levy; the rate or rates which may be imposed; the 25
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maximum length of time the surtax may be imposed, if any; the 26
procedure which must be followed to secure voter approval, if 27
required; the purpose for which the proceeds may be expended; 28
and such other requirements as the Legislature may provi de. 29
Taxable transactions and administrative procedures shall be as 30
provided in s. 212.054. 31
(6) SCHOOL CAPITAL OUTLAY SURTAX. — 32
(c) The resolution providing for the imposition of the 33
surtax must set forth a plan for use of the surtax proceeds for 34
fixed capital expenditures or fixed capital costs associated 35
with the construction, reconstruction, or improvement of school 36
facilities and campuses which have a useful life expectancy of 5 37
or more years, and any land acquisition, land improvement, 38
design, and engineering costs related thereto, or any purchase, 39
lease-purchase, lease, or maintenance of school buses, as 40
defined in s. 1006.25, which have a life expectancy of 5 years 41
or more. Additionally, the plan shall include the costs of 42
retrofitting and providing for technology implementation, 43
including hardware and software, for the various sites within 44
the school district. Surtax revenues may be used to service bond 45
indebtedness to finance projects authorized by this subsection, 46
and any interest accrued thereto may be held in trust to finance 47
such projects. Neither the proceeds of the surtax nor any 48
interest accrued thereto shall be used for operational expenses. 49
Surtax revenues shared with charter schools shall be shared 50
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based on their proportionate share of tot al school district 51
capital outlay full-time equivalent enrollment as adopted by the 52
education estimating conference established in s. 216.136 and 53
expended by the charter school in a manner consistent with the 54
allowable uses set forth in s. 1013.62(4). All revenues and 55
expenditures shall be accounted for in a charter school's 56
monthly or quarterly financial statement pursuant to s. 57
1002.33(9). The eligibility of a charter school to receive funds 58
under this subsection shall be determined in accordance with s. 59
1013.62(1). If a school's charter is not renewed or is 60
terminated and the school is dissolved under the provisions of 61
law under which the school was organized, any unencumbered funds 62
received under this subsection shall revert to the sponsor. 63
Section 2. Subsections (1), (2), (3), and (4) of section 64
1013.62, Florida Statutes, are amended to read: 65
1013.62 Charter schools capital outlay funding. — 66
(1) For the 2022-2023 fiscal year, charter school capital 67
outlay funding shall consist of state funds appro priated in the 68
2022-2023 General Appropriations Act. Beginning in fiscal year 69
2023-2024, Charter school capital outlay funding shall consist 70
of state funds when such funds are appropriated in the General 71
Appropriations Act and revenue resulting from the di scretionary 72
millage authorized in s. 1011.71(2) if the amount of state funds 73
appropriated for charter school capital outlay in any fiscal 74
year is less than the average charter school capital outlay 75
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funds per unweighted full -time equivalent student for the 2018-76
2019 fiscal year, multiplied by the estimated number of charter 77
school students for the applicable fiscal year, and adjusted by 78
changes in the Consumer Price Index issued by the United States 79
Department of Labor from the previous fiscal year. Nothing in 80
this subsection prohibits a school district from distributing to 81
charter schools funds resulting from the discretionary millage 82
authorized in s. 1011.71(2) . 83
(a) To be eligible to receive capital outlay funds, a 84
charter school must: 85
1.a. Have been in operation for 2 or more years; 86
b. Be governed by a governing board established in the 87
state for 2 or more years which operates both charter schools 88
and conversion charter schools within the state; 89
c. Be an expanded feeder chain of a charter school wit hin 90
the same school district that is currently receiving charter 91
school capital outlay funds; 92
d. Have been accredited by a regional accrediting 93
association as defined by State Board of Education rule; 94
e. Serve students in facilities that are provided by a 95
business partner for a charter school -in-the-workplace pursuant 96
to s. 1002.33(15)(b); or 97
f. Be operated by a hope operator pursuant to s. 1002.333. 98
2. Have an annual audit that does not reveal any of the 99
financial emergency conditions provided in s. 218.503(1) for the 100
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most recent fiscal year for which such audit results are 101
available. 102
3. Have satisfactory student achievement based on state 103
accountability standards applicable to the charter school . 104
4. Have received final approval from its sponsor pursuant 105
to s. 1002.33 for operation during that fiscal year. 106
5. Serve students in facilities that are not provided by 107
the charter school's sponsor. 108
6. Attest in writing to the department that if the charter 109
school is nonrenewed or terminated, any unencumbered funds and 110
all equipment and property purchased with public funds shall 111
revert pursuant to subsection (5). 112
(b) A charter school is not eligible to receive capital 113
outlay funds if: 114
1. It was created by the conversion of a public school and 115
operates in facilities provided by the charter school's sponsor 116
for a nominal fee, or at no charge, or if it is directly or 117
indirectly operated by the school district ; 118
2. It is a developmental research (lab oratory) school that 119
receives state funding for capital improvement purposes pursuant 120
to s. 1002.32(9)(e); or 121
3. A member of the governing board, or his or her family 122
member as defined in s. 440.13(1)(b), has an interest in or is 123
an employee of the lesso r, excluding charter schools operating 124
pursuant to s. 1002.33(15) . 125
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(2) The department shall use the following calculation 126
methodology to allocate state funds appropriated in the General 127
Appropriations Act to eligible charter schools: 128
(a) Eligible charter schools shall be grouped into 129
categories based on their student populations according to the 130
following criteria: 131
1. Seventy-five percent or greater who are eligible for 132
free or reduced-price school meals under the National School 133
Lunch Program or, for schools operating programs under the 134
Community Eligibility Provision of the Healthy, Hunger -Free Kids 135
Act of 2010, an equivalent percentage of the student population 136
eligible for free and reduced -price meals as determined by 137
applying the multiplier author ized under the National School 138
Lunch Act, 42 U.S.C. s. 1759a(a)(1)(F)(vii), to the number of 139
students reported for direct certification. 140
2. Twenty-five percent or greater with disabilities as 141
defined in state board rule and consistent with the requiremen ts 142
of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 143
(b) If an eligible charter school does not meet the 144
criteria for either category under paragraph (a), its FTE shall 145
be provided as the base amount of funding and shall be assigned 146
a weight of 1.0. An eligible charter school that meets the 147
criteria under subparagraph (a)1. or subparagraph (a)2. shall be 148
provided an additional 25 percent above the base funding amount, 149
and the total FTE shall be multiplied by a weight of 1.25. An 150
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eligible charter school that meets the criteria under both 151
subparagraphs (a)1. and (a)2. shall be provided an additional 50 152
percent above the base funding amount, and the FTE for that 153
school shall be multiplied by a weight of 1.5. 154
(a)(c) Divide the state appropriation for chart er school 155
capital outlay shall be divided by the total weighted FTE for 156
all eligible charter schools to determine the base charter 157
school per weighted FTE allocation amount. The base charter 158
school per weighted FTE allocation amount shall be multiplied by 159
the weighted FTE of each charter school to determine each 160
charter school's capital outlay allocation. 161
(b)(d) The department shall calculate the eligible charter 162
school funding allocations. Funds shall be allocated using full -163
time equivalent membership fr om the second and third enrollment 164
surveys and free and reduced -price school lunch data . The 165
department shall recalculate the allocations periodically based 166
on the receipt of revised information, on a schedule established 167
by the Commissioner of Education. 168
(c)(e) The department shall distribute capital outlay 169
funds monthly, beginning in the first quarter of the fiscal 170
year, based on one-twelfth of the amount the department 171
reasonably expects the charter school to receive during that 172
fiscal year. The commis sioner shall adjust subsequent 173
distributions as necessary to reflect each charter school's 174
recalculated allocation. 175
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(3) If the school board levies the discretionary millage 176
authorized in s. 1011.71(2), and the state funds appropriated 177
for charter school capital outlay in any fiscal year are less 178
than the average charter school capital outlay funds per 179
unweighted full-time equivalent student for the 2018 -2019 fiscal 180
year, multiplied by the estimated number of charter school 181
students for the applicable fisc al year, and adjusted by changes 182
in the Consumer Price Index issued by the United States 183
Department of Labor from the previous fiscal year, the 184
department shall use the following calculation methodology to 185
determine the amount of revenue that a school dist rict must 186
distribute to each eligible charter school: 187
(a) Reduce the total discretionary millage revenue by the 188
school district's annual debt service obligation incurred as of 189
March 1, 2017, which has not been subsequently retired, and any 190
amount of participation requirement pursuant to s. 191
1013.64(2)(a)8. that is being satisfied by revenues raised by 192
the discretionary millage. 193
(b) Divide the school district's adjusted discretionary 194
millage revenue by the district's total capital outlay full -time 195
equivalent membership and the total number of unweighted full-196
time equivalent students of each eligible charter school to 197
determine a capital outlay allocation per full -time equivalent 198
student. 199
(c) Multiply the capital outlay allocation per full -time 200
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equivalent student by the total number of full -time equivalent 201
students of each eligible charter school to determine the 202
capital outlay allocation for each charter school. 203
(d) If applicable, reduce the capital outlay allocation 204
identified in paragraph (c) by the t otal amount of state funds 205
allocated to each eligible charter school in subsection (2) to 206
determine the maximum calculated capital outlay allocation. The 207
amount of funds a school district must distribute to charter 208
schools shall be as follows: 209
1. For fiscal year 2023-2024, the amount is 20 percent of 210
the amount calculated under this paragraph. 211
2. For fiscal year 2024 -2025, the amount is 40 percent of 212
the amount calculated under this paragraph. 213
3. For fiscal year 2025 -2026, the amount is 60 percent of 214
the amount calculated under this paragraph. 215
4. For fiscal year 2026 -2027, the amount is 80 percent of 216
the amount calculated under this paragraph. 217
5. For fiscal year 2027 -2028, and each fiscal year 218
thereafter, the amount is 100 percent of the amount cal culated 219
under this paragraph. 220
(e) School districts shall distribute capital outlay funds 221
to eligible charter schools no later than February 1 of each 222
year, as required by this subsection, based on the amount of 223
funds received by the district school board. School districts 224
shall distribute any remaining capital outlay funds, as required 225
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by this subsection, upon the receipt of such funds until the 226
total amount calculated pursuant to this subsection is 227
distributed. 228
229
By October 1 of each year, each school district shall certify to 230
the department the amount of debt service and participation 231
requirement that complies with the requirement of paragraph (a) 232
and can be reduced from the total discretionary millage revenue. 233
The Auditor General shall verify compliance with the 234
requirements of paragraph (a) and s. 1011.71(2)(e) during 235
scheduled operational audits of school districts. 236
(4) A charter school's governing body may use charter 237
school capital outlay funds for the foll owing purposes: 238
(a) Purchase of real property. 239
(b) Construction of school facilities. 240
(c) Purchase, lease -purchase, or lease of permanent or 241
relocatable school facilities. 242
(d) Purchase of vehicles to transport students to and from 243
the charter school. 244
(e) Renovation, repair, and maintenance of school 245
facilities that the charter school owns or is purchasing through 246
a lease-purchase or long-term lease of 5 years or longer. 247
(f) Payment of the cost of premiums for property and 248
casualty insurance nece ssary to insure the school facilities. 249
(g) Purchase, lease -purchase, or lease of driver's 250
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education vehicles; motor vehicles used for the maintenance or 251
operation of plants and equipment; security vehicles; or 252
vehicles used in storing or distributing mat erials and 253
equipment. 254
(h) Purchase, lease -purchase, or lease of computer and 255
device hardware and operating system software necessary for 256
gaining access to or enhancing the use of electronic and digital 257
instructional content and resources; and enterprise resource 258
software applications that are classified as capital assets in 259
accordance with definitions of the Governmental Accounting 260
Standards Board, have a useful life of at least 5 years, and are 261
used to support schoolwide administration or state -mandated 262
reporting requirements. Enterprise resource software may be 263
acquired by annual license fees, maintenance fees, or lease 264
agreement. 265
(i) Payment of the cost of the opening day collection for 266
the library media center of a new school. 267
268
Any purchase, lease-purchase, or lease made pursuant to this 269
subsection must be at the appraised value. For purposes of this 270
subsection, the term "appraised value" means the fair market 271
value as determined by an independent, Florida -licensed, 272
qualified appraiser selected by the governing board. 273
Documentation of the appraised value shall be provided to the 274
department upon its request. Conversion charter schools may use 275
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capital outlay funds received through the reduction in the 276
administrative fee provided in s. 1002.33(20) for ren ovation, 277
repair, and maintenance of school facilities that are owned by 278
the sponsor. 279
Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023. 280