STORAGE NAME: h0171a.EAS
DATE: 3/28/2025
1
FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
BILL ANALYSIS
This bill analysis was prepared by nonpartisan committee staff and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.
BILL #: HB 171
TITLE: Youth Conflict Resolution and Peer Mediation
Pilot Program
SPONSOR(S): Bracy Davis
COMPANION BILL: SB 1014 (Rouson)
LINKED BILLS: None
RELATED BILLS: None
Committee References
Education Administration
17 Y, 0 N
Education & Employment
SUMMARY
Effect of the Bill:
The bill requires the University of Central Florida (UCF) Center for Community Schools (Center) to administer, for a
period of 3 years, the Peer Mediation Pilot Program (pilot program). The pilot program must begin no later than the
2026-2027 school year and implement a conflict resolution and peer mediation curriculum aimed at reducing
juvenile violence. Under the bill, the Center must seek input from the Department of Education (DOE) on the
selection of curriculum materials and to identify middle and high schools to participate in the program—giving
priority to those with high rates of juvenile violence and community partners to assist with implementation. The
Center and participating schools are tasked with collecting data to inform implementation of the pilot program.
Upon conclusion of the pilot, the Center must submit a report to the DOE providing findings of implementing a
youth conflict resolution and peer mediation curriculum.
Fiscal or Economic Impact:
The bill appears to have an indeterminate fiscal impact because the number of schools selected by the Center to
implement the pilot program is unknown.
JUMP TO SUMMARY ANALYSIS RELEVANT INFORMATION BILL HISTORY
ANALYSIS
EFFECT OF THE BILL:
The bill requires the Center for Community Schools (Center) at the University of Central Florida (UCF) to
administer the Youth Conflict Resolution and Peer Mediation Pilot Program (pilot program), beginning no later
than the 2026-2027 school year, for a period of 3 school years. The pilot program must implement a conflict
resolution and peer mediation curriculum to reduce juvenile violence by equipping students with essential skills
for peaceful conflict resolution. (Section 1)
The bill requires the Center to seek input from the Department of Education (DOE) on the selection of curriculum
and identify middle or high schools to participate in the pilot program with priority given to schools with a high
rate of juvenile violence and community partners who will assist with implementation. The Center must monitor
the implementation of the pilot program, collect relevant student discipline data and information relating to the
rates of juvenile violence in selected schools, and create a pre-pilot program and post-pilot program survey to be
completed by school personnel and parents at participating schools. The Center must provide periodic updates to
the DOE on the implementation of the program. (Section 1)
A school selected to participate in the pilot program is required to provide training on the curriculum and, where
possible, include community partners who interact with the students in the training. The school must also provide
students with skills to resolve conflicts both at and away from school without undermining the school’s existing
disciplinary framework. Participating schools must provide data and information requested by the Center, and JUMP TO SUMMARY ANALYSIS RELEVANT INFORMATION BILL HISTORY
2
complete a pre- and post-pilot program survey created by the Center. Upon completion of the pilot program, the
Center must provide a report to the DOE. At minimum, the report must include:
The number of students enrolled at the participating schools;
The rates of student discipline and juvenile violence in selected schools before the program;
The rates of student discipline and juvenile violence in selected schools after the implementation of the
program;
The results from the pre-and post-pilot program surveys; and
Recommendations for including the curriculum at middle and high schools across the state. (Section 1)
The bill becomes effective upon becoming law. (Section 2)
FISCAL OR ECONOMIC IMPACT:
STATE GOVERNMENT:
Since the number of schools selected by the Center to implement the pilot is unknown, the fiscal is indeterminate. If
passed, the bill would take effect upon becoming law; however, the bill specifies that the Center must implement
the pilot program no later than the 2026-2027 school year. Given this implementation timeline, and with an
effective date as early as July 2025, the Center may not incur costs until the following year, depending on its
implementation schedule.
RELEVANT INFORMATION
SUBJECT OVERVIEW:
The UCF Center for Community Schools
The Center is a practice-based organization that provides comprehensive support for community schools,
including the administration of the Community Partnership School Model.
1 The Community Partnership Schools
model, co-founded in 2010 at UCF, connects schools with organizations that use their specialized capabilities to
cultivate an educational environment attuned to a community’s unique needs.
2
Community Partnership Schools
Community schools combine a rigorous academic program with a wide range of in-school services, support, and
opportunities to promote children’s learning and development.
3 To achieve this, the Community Partnership
Schools model includes four core community partners, a school district, a university or college, a nonprofit, and a
healthcare provider.
4
In 2010, the University of Central Florida (UCF) co-founded a Community Partnership School model with the
Children’s Home Society of Florida and Orange County Public schools at Evans High School in Orlando.
5 UCF
founded the Center in 2014 to help expand Community Partnerships Schools across the state and to advance
community schools more broadly.
6 Currently, there are 43 schools implementing a community partnership school
model across 22 school districts in the state, with 18 operating as UCF-Certified Community Partnership Schools.
7
In total, over 41,000 students are served by community partnership schools.
8
Community School Grant Program
1
University of Central Florida, About the Center, https://ccie.ucf.edu/communityschools/about/ (last visited Mar. 24, 2025).
2
Center for Community Schools, The Community Partnership Schools Model, https://ccie.ucf.edu/communityschools/cps-
model/ (last visited Mar. 24, 2025).
3
Id.
4
Id.
5
University of Central Florida, About the Center, https://ccie.ucf.edu/communityschools/about/ (last visited Mar. 24, 2025).
6
Id.
7
Center for Community Schools, The Community Partnership Schools Model, https://ccie.ucf.edu/communityschools/cps-
model/ (last visited Mar. 24, 2025).
8
Id. JUMP TO SUMMARY ANALYSIS RELEVANT INFORMATION BILL HISTORY
3
In 2019, the Legislature established the Community School Grant Program (grant program) to fund and support
the planning and implementation of community school programs, subject to legislative appropriation.
9
Contingent upon available funds, the Center may facilitate the implementation of its community school model in
Florida through grants that enable community organizations to establish long-term partnerships and secure
resources for planning, staffing, and providing services to students and families through the community school
model.
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As part of administering the grant program, the Center must:
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Require a participating public school to establish long-term partnerships through a memorandum
of understanding. After receiving a grant award, the Center must condition the award of grant funds
in the subsequent years upon the matching funds secured through the long-term partnerships.
Prioritize grant awards based on demonstration of the technical and financial ability to sustain the
community school model beyond an initial grant award. For planning grant awards, priority must
be given to school districts in which the community school model has not been established and
which demonstrate the technical and financial ability to sustain the community school model or to
school districts expanding a program based on the feeder pattern of an existing community school
in the district.
The Center is required to annually publish on its website information on each community organization receiving a
grant to implement the community school model.
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OTHER RESOURCES:
UCF Center for Community Schools
BILL HISTORY
COMMITTEE REFERENCE ACTION DATE
STAFF
DIRECTOR/
POLICY CHIEF
ANALYSIS
PREPARED BY
Education Administration
Subcommittee
17 Y, 0 N 3/27/2025 Sleap Blank
Education & Employment
Committee
9
Section 1003.64(1), F.S.
10
Section 1003.64(3), F.S.
11
Id.
12
Section 1003.64(4), F.S.; see also University of Central Florida, UCF Center for Community Schools,
https://ccie.ucf.edu/communityschools/ (last visited Mar. 24, 2025).