Florida Senate - 2025 CS for SB 140 By the Committee on Education Pre-K - 12; and Senator Gaetz 581-02509-25 2025140c1 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to charter schools; amending s. 3 1002.33, F.S.; revising which persons or entities may 4 apply for a conversion charter school; requiring a 5 college or state university to provide a written 6 notice of denial for denying an application for a 7 conversion charter school; revising eligible students 8 who may receive an enrollment preference; authorizing 9 a municipality to apply for a charter that it may 10 designate as a job engine charter under certain 11 conditions; providing the purpose of a job engine 12 charter school; providing requirements for a job 13 engine charter; prohibiting a district school board 14 from charging a rental or leasing fee for a conversion 15 school; requiring a municipality to negotiate certain 16 rental or leasing fees; prohibiting certain property 17 from being removed; amending s. 1011.801, F.S; 18 revising entities that are included in the Workforce 19 Development Capitalization Incentive Grant Program to 20 include charter schools; requiring the State Board of 21 Education to consider applications from a job engine 22 charter school for rulemaking purposes; amending s. 23 1013.15, F.S.; requiring a district school board to 24 approve a 5-year plan before occupying purchased or 25 acquired real property; requiring a school board to 26 dispose of real property in certain areas of the 27 district if enrollment in those areas has declined in 28 the preceding 5-year period; requiring that surplus 29 real property be given priority for conversion for 30 specified purposes; providing an effective date. 31 32 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 33 34 Section 1.Paragraph (b) of subsection (3), paragraph (d) 35 of subsection (10), paragraph (c) of subsection (15), and 36 paragraph (e) of subsection (18) of section 1002.33, Florida 37 Statutes, are amended to read: 38 1002.33Charter schools. 39 (3)APPLICATION FOR CHARTER STATUS. 40 (b)An application for a conversion charter school must 41 shall be made by the district school board, the principal, 42 teachers, parents whose children are enrolled at the school, or 43 and/or the school advisory council at an existing public school 44 that has been in operation for at least 2 years before prior to 45 the application to convert. A public school-within-a-school that 46 is designated as a school by the district school board may also 47 apply submit an application to convert to charter status. A 48 municipality seeking to attract job-producing entities by 49 establishing a job engine charter school pursuant to paragraph 50 (15)(c) may apply to the district school board to convert an 51 existing public school to a charter school. An application 52 submitted proposing to convert an existing public school to a 53 charter school must shall demonstrate the support of at least 50 54 percent of the teachers employed at the school and 50 percent of 55 the parents voting whose children are enrolled at the school, 56 provided that a majority of the parents eligible to vote 57 participate in the ballot process, according to rules adopted by 58 the State Board of Education. A district school board, college, 59 or state university that denies denying an application for a 60 conversion charter school shall provide notice of denial to the 61 applicants in writing within 10 days after the meeting at which 62 the district school board denied the application. The notice 63 must articulate in writing the specific reasons for denial and 64 must provide documentation supporting those reasons. A private 65 school, parochial school, or home education program is shall not 66 be eligible for charter school status. 67 (10)ELIGIBLE STUDENTS. 68 (d)A charter school may give enrollment preference to the 69 following student populations: 70 1.Students who are siblings of a student enrolled in the 71 charter school. 72 2.Students who are the children of a member of the 73 governing board of the charter school. 74 3.Students who are the children of an employee of the 75 charter school. 76 4.Students who are the children of: 77 a.An employee of the business partner of a charter school 78 in-the-workplace established under paragraph (15)(b) or a 79 resident of the municipality in which such charter school is 80 located; or 81 b.A resident or employee of a municipality that operates a 82 charter school-in-a-municipality pursuant to paragraph (15)(c) 83 or allows a charter school to use a school facility or portion 84 of land provided by the municipality for the operation of the 85 charter school. 86 5.Students who have successfully completed, during the 87 previous year, a voluntary prekindergarten education program 88 under ss. 1002.51-1002.79 provided by the charter school, the 89 charter schools governing board, or a voluntary prekindergarten 90 provider that has a written agreement with the governing board. 91 6.Students who are the children of an active duty member 92 of any branch of the United States Armed Forces. 93 7.Students who attended or are assigned to failing schools 94 pursuant to s. 1002.38(2). 95 8.Students who are the children of a safe-school officer, 96 as defined in s. 1006.12, at the school. 97 9.Students who transfer from a classical school in this 98 state to a charter classical school in this state. For purposes 99 of this subparagraph, the term classical school means a 100 traditional public school or charter school that implements a 101 classical education model that emphasizes the development of 102 students in the principles of moral character and civic virtue 103 through a well-rounded education in the liberal arts and 104 sciences which is based on the classical trivium stages of 105 grammar, logic, and rhetoric. 106 10.Students who attend a job engine charter school under 107 paragraph (15)(c) who are the children of an employee of a job 108 producing entity identified by the municipality in the annual 109 job engine charter report. 110 (15)CHARTER SCHOOLS-IN-THE-WORKPLACE; CHARTER SCHOOLS-IN 111 A-MUNICIPALITY. 112 (c)1.A charter school-in-a-municipality designation may be 113 granted to a municipality that possesses a charter; enrolls 114 students based upon a random lottery that involves all of the 115 children of the residents of that municipality who are seeking 116 enrollment, as provided for in subsection (10); and enrolls 117 students according to the racial and ethnic racial/ethnic 118 balance provisions described in subparagraph (7)(a)8. When a 119 municipality has submitted charter applications for the 120 establishment of a charter school feeder pattern, consisting of 121 elementary, middle, and senior high schools, and each individual 122 charter application is approved by the sponsor, such schools 123 shall then be designated as one charter school for all purposes 124 listed pursuant to this section. Any portion of the land and 125 facility used for a public charter school shall be exempt from 126 ad valorem taxes, as provided for in s. 1013.54, for the 127 duration of its use as a public school. 128 2.A municipality may seek a charter under subparagraph 1. 129 from a sponsor in subsection (5). If granted, such a charter may 130 be designated a job engine charter. The purpose of a job engine 131 charter school is to attract job-producing entities to the 132 municipality. The charter must require the municipality to: 133 a.Provide an annual report to the sponsor which will be 134 made publicly available and include investments made to attract 135 and maintain job-producing entities, such as private sector 136 industries, in the municipality. 137 b.Include career education opportunities. 138 c.Include the provision of exceptional student education 139 administration services, pursuant to subparagraph (20)(a)1. 140 d.Require the use of sufficient security technology to 141 ensure a secure facility. 142 e.Notwithstanding paragraph (8)(e), accept responsibility 143 for all debts incurred by the job engine charter school. 144 3.A job engine charter school may give enrollment 145 preferences pursuant to subparagraph (10)(d)10. 146 (18)FACILITIES. 147 (e)If a district school board facility or property is 148 available because it is surplus, marked for disposal, or 149 otherwise unused, it shall be provided for a charter schools 150 use on the same basis as it is made available to other public 151 schools in the district. A charter school receiving property 152 from the sponsor may not sell or dispose of such property 153 without written permission of the sponsor. Similarly, for an 154 existing public school converting to charter status, a district 155 school board may not charge no rental or leasing fees fee for 156 the existing facility or for the property normally inventoried 157 to the conversion school may be charged by the district school 158 board to the parents and, principal, school advisory council, or 159 teachers organizing the charter school. The municipality must 160 negotiate rental or leasing fees with the district school board. 161 Property normally inventoried to the school may not be removed. 162 The charter school shall agree to reasonable maintenance 163 provisions in order to maintain the facility in a manner similar 164 to district school board standards. The Public Education Capital 165 Outlay maintenance funds or any other maintenance funds 166 generated by the facility operated as a conversion school shall 167 remain with the conversion school. 168 Section 2.Section 1011.801, Florida Statutes, is amended 169 to read: 170 1011.801Workforce Development Capitalization Incentive 171 Grant Program.The Legislature recognizes that the need for 172 school districts, charter schools, and Florida College System 173 institutions to be able to respond to emerging local or 174 statewide economic development needs is critical to the 175 workforce development system. The Workforce Development 176 Capitalization Incentive Grant Program is created to provide 177 grants to school districts, charter schools, and Florida College 178 System institutions to fund some or all of the costs associated 179 with the creation or expansion of career and technical education 180 programs that lead to industry certifications included on the 181 CAPE Industry Certification Funding List. The programs may serve 182 secondary students or postsecondary students if the 183 postsecondary career and technical education program also serves 184 secondary students in grades 6-12. 185 (1)Funds awarded for a workforce development 186 capitalization incentive grant may be used for instructional 187 equipment, laboratory equipment, supplies, personnel, student 188 services, or other expenses associated with the creation or 189 expansion of a career and technical education program that 190 serves secondary students. Expansion of a program may include 191 either the expansion of enrollments in a program or expansion 192 into new areas of specialization within a program. No grant 193 funds may be used for recurring instructional costs or for 194 institutions indirect costs. 195 (2)The Department of Education shall administer the 196 program. The State Board of Education may adopt rules for 197 program administration. The State Board of Education shall 198 consider the statewide geographic dispersion of grant funds in 199 ranking the applications and shall give priority to applications 200 from education agencies that are making maximum use of their 201 workforce development funding by offering high-performing, high 202 demand programs or to applications from a job engine charter 203 school under s. 1002.33(15)(c). 204 Section 3.Subsection (5) is added to section 1013.15, 205 Florida Statutes, to read: 206 1013.15Lease, rental, and lease-purchase of educational 207 plants, ancillary plants, and auxiliary facilities and sites. 208 (5)Before occupying purchased or acquired real property, a 209 district school board shall, in a public meeting, approve a 5 210 year plan for the proposed use of the real property, taking into 211 consideration enrollment growth, demographic shifts, and changes 212 in curriculum. 213 (a)A school board must demonstrate actual or projected 5 214 year growth in certain areas of a school district before 215 purchasing or acquiring real property, if enrollment in the 216 school district has declined by more than 4 percent in the 217 preceding 5-year period. If such a decline has occurred, a 218 school board must dispose of real property pursuant to s. 219 1013.28 in areas of the district which have declining 220 enrollment. 221 (b)Surplus real property must be disposed of only in the 222 best interests of the public, but priority must be given for 223 conversion to affordable housing for teachers, first responders, 224 or military servicemembers; charter school facilities; or the 225 use by a local government for the development of a recreational 226 facility. 227 Section 4.This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.