CS/HB 109 2024
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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 charter schools; amending s. 2
1002.33, F.S.; revising the requirements for an 3
application for a conversion charter school; 4
authorizing municipalities to apply for the conversion 5
of specified public schools to charter schools; 6
authorizing the Charter School Review Commission to 7
solicit and review applications for conversion charter 8
schools; requiring certain school district real 9
property to be designated as surplus by the Department 10
of Education and Department of Management Services; 11
requiring such surplus real property to be available 12
to certain charter schools and governing boards; 13
providing requirements for the transfer of such real 14
property; requiring such real property to be made 15
available for affordable housing under certain 16
circumstances; providing an effective date. 17
18
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 19
20
Section 1. Paragraph (c) is added to subsection (3) of 21
section 1002.33, Florida Statutes, and paragraph (b) of 22
subsection (3), paragraph (a) of subsection (5), and paragraph 23
(e) of subsection (18) of that section are amended, to read: 24
1002.33 Charter schools. — 25
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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
(3) APPLICATION FOR CHARTER STATUS. — 26
(b) An application for a conversion charter school shall 27
be made by a municipality, the district school board, the 28
principal, teachers, parents, and/or the school advisory council 29
at an existing public school that has been in operation for at 30
least 2 years prior to the application to convert. A public 31
school-within-a-school that is designated as a school by the 32
district school board may also submit an application to convert 33
to charter status. An application submitted proposing to convert 34
an existing public sch ool to a charter school shall demonstrate 35
the support of at least 50 percent of the teachers employed at 36
the school and 50 percent of the parents voting whose children 37
are enrolled at the school, provided that a majority of the 38
parents eligible to vote par ticipate in the ballot process, 39
according to rules adopted by the State Board of Education. The 40
Charter School Review Commission or a district school board 41
denying an application for a conversion charter school shall 42
provide notice of denial to the applica nts in writing within 10 43
days after the meeting at which the commission or district 44
school board denied the application. The notice must articulate 45
in writing the specific reasons for denial and must provide 46
documentation supporting those reasons. A privat e school, 47
parochial school, or home education program shall not be 48
eligible for charter school status. 49
(c) A municipality may submit an application for 50
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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
conversion for any or all of the public schools within its 51
jurisdictional boundary as part of a single application for 52
approval. 53
(5) SPONSOR; DUTIES. — 54
(a) Sponsoring entities. — 55
1. A district school board may sponsor a charter school in 56
the county over which the district school board has 57
jurisdiction. 58
2. A state university may grant a charter to a l ab school 59
created under s. 1002.32 and shall be considered to be the 60
school's sponsor. Such school shall be considered a charter lab 61
school. 62
3. Because needs relating to educational capacity, 63
workforce qualifications, and career education opportunities a re 64
constantly changing and extend beyond school district 65
boundaries: 66
a. A state university may, upon approval by the Department 67
of Education, solicit applications and sponsor a charter school 68
to meet regional education or workforce demands by serving 69
students from multiple school districts. 70
b. A Florida College System institution may, upon approval 71
by the Department of Education, solicit applications and sponsor 72
a charter school in any county within its service area to meet 73
workforce demands and may off er postsecondary programs leading 74
to industry certifications to eligible charter school students. 75
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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 charter school established under subparagraph (b)4. may not be 76
sponsored by a Florida College System institution until its 77
existing charter with the school district expires as provided 78
under subsection (7). 79
c. Notwithstanding paragraph (6)(b), a state university or 80
Florida College System institution may, at its discretion, deny 81
an application for a charter school. 82
d. The Charter School Review Commission, as authorized 83
under s. 1002.3301, may solicit and review applications for 84
conversion charter schools and charter schools overseen by 85
district school boards and, upon the commission approving an 86
application, the dis trict school board that oversees the school 87
district in which the charter school will be located shall serve 88
as sponsor. 89
(18) FACILITIES.— 90
(e) In order to preserve the availability of scarce vacant 91
land for educational purposes, the Department of Educa tion and 92
the Department of Management Services shall designate vacant 93
school district real property as surplus if such school district 94
has experienced a decline in student enrollment of 1 percent or 95
more for at least 2 consecutive years. Upon the designati on of 96
such real property as surplus, the school district must make 97
such real property available to approved charter schools and 98
charter school governing boards within the school district. The 99
school district shall transfer the control and operation of such 100
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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
real property to the charter school or charter school governing 101
board without charging the charter school or charter school 102
governing board any rental, leasing, or other usage fees. If a 103
charter school or charter school governing board within the 104
school district does not request the use of the surplus real 105
property within 6 months after such real property is designated 106
as surplus by the Department of Education and the Department of 107
Management Services, the real property shall be made available 108
for affordable housing within the county pursuant to s. 109
1001.43(12). If a district school board facility or property is 110
available because it is surplus, marked for disposal, or 111
otherwise unused, it shall be provided for a charter school's 112
use on the same basis as it i s made available to other public 113
schools in the district. A charter school receiving surplus real 114
property pursuant to this subsection property from the sponsor 115
may not sell or dispose of such property without written 116
permission of the sponsor. Similarly, for an existing public 117
school converting to charter status, no rental or leasing fee 118
for the existing facility or for the property normally 119
inventoried to the conversion school may be charged by the 120
district school board to the parents and teachers organiz ing the 121
charter school. The charter school shall agree to reasonable 122
maintenance provisions in order to maintain the facility in a 123
manner similar to district school board standards. The Public 124
Education Capital Outlay maintenance funds or any other 125
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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
maintenance funds generated by the facility operated as a 126
conversion school shall remain with the conversion school. 127
Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024. 128