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Florida Senate - 2025 CS for CS for SB 140 By the Committees on Rules; and Education Pre-K - 12; and Senator Gaetz 595-03664-25 2025140c2 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 with the district school board; 17 prohibiting certain property from being removed; 18 amending s. 1011.801, F.S; revising entities that are 19 included in the Workforce Development Capitalization 20 Incentive Grant Program to include charter schools; 21 requiring the State Board of Education to consider 22 applications from a job engine charter school for 23 rulemaking purposes; providing an effective date. 24 25 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 26 27 Section 1.Paragraph (b) of subsection (3), paragraph (d) 28 of subsection (10), paragraph (c) of subsection (15), and 29 paragraph (e) of subsection (18) of section 1002.33, Florida 30 Statutes, are amended to read: 31 1002.33Charter schools. 32 (3)APPLICATION FOR CHARTER STATUS. 33 (b)An application for a conversion charter school must 34 shall be made by the district school board, the principal, 35 teachers, parents whose children are enrolled at the school, or 36 and/or the school advisory council at an existing public school 37 that has been in operation for at least 2 years before prior to 38 the application to convert. A public school-within-a-school that 39 is designated as a school by the district school board may also 40 apply submit an application to convert to charter status. A 41 municipality seeking to attract job-producing entities by 42 establishing a job engine charter school pursuant to paragraph 43 (15)(c) may apply to the district school board to convert an 44 existing public school to a charter school. An application 45 submitted proposing to convert an existing public school to a 46 charter school must shall demonstrate the support of at least 50 47 percent of the teachers employed at the school and 50 percent of 48 the parents voting whose children are enrolled at the school, 49 provided that a majority of the parents eligible to vote 50 participate in the ballot process, according to rules adopted by 51 the State Board of Education. A district school board, college, 52 or state university that denies denying an application for a 53 conversion charter school shall provide notice of denial to the 54 applicants in writing within 10 days after the meeting at which 55 the district school board denied the application. The notice 56 must articulate in writing the specific reasons for denial and 57 must provide documentation supporting those reasons. A private 58 school, parochial school, or home education program is shall not 59 be eligible for charter school status. 60 (10)ELIGIBLE STUDENTS. 61 (d)A charter school may give enrollment preference to the 62 following student populations: 63 1.Students who are siblings of a student enrolled in the 64 charter school. 65 2.Students who are the children of a member of the 66 governing board of the charter school. 67 3.Students who are the children of an employee of the 68 charter school. 69 4.Students who are the children of: 70 a.An employee of the business partner of a charter school 71 in-the-workplace established under paragraph (15)(b) or a 72 resident of the municipality in which such charter school is 73 located; or 74 b.A resident or employee of a municipality that operates a 75 charter school-in-a-municipality pursuant to paragraph (15)(c) 76 or allows a charter school to use a school facility or portion 77 of land provided by the municipality for the operation of the 78 charter school. 79 5.Students who have successfully completed, during the 80 previous year, a voluntary prekindergarten education program 81 under ss. 1002.51-1002.79 provided by the charter school, the 82 charter schools governing board, or a voluntary prekindergarten 83 provider that has a written agreement with the governing board. 84 6.Students who are the children of an active duty member 85 of any branch of the United States Armed Forces. 86 7.Students who attended or are assigned to failing schools 87 pursuant to s. 1002.38(2). 88 8.Students who are the children of a safe-school officer, 89 as defined in s. 1006.12, at the school. 90 9.Students who transfer from a classical school in this 91 state to a charter classical school in this state. For purposes 92 of this subparagraph, the term classical school means a 93 traditional public school or charter school that implements a 94 classical education model that emphasizes the development of 95 students in the principles of moral character and civic virtue 96 through a well-rounded education in the liberal arts and 97 sciences which is based on the classical trivium stages of 98 grammar, logic, and rhetoric. 99 10.Students who attend a job engine charter school under 100 paragraph (15)(c) who are the children of an employee of a job 101 producing entity identified by the municipality in the annual 102 job engine charter report. 103 (15)CHARTER SCHOOLS-IN-THE-WORKPLACE; CHARTER SCHOOLS-IN 104 A-MUNICIPALITY. 105 (c)1.A charter school-in-a-municipality designation may be 106 granted to a municipality that possesses a charter; enrolls 107 students based upon a random lottery that involves all of the 108 children of the residents of that municipality who are seeking 109 enrollment, as provided for in subsection (10); and enrolls 110 students according to the racial and ethnic racial/ethnic 111 balance provisions described in subparagraph (7)(a)8. When a 112 municipality has submitted charter applications for the 113 establishment of a charter school feeder pattern, consisting of 114 elementary, middle, and senior high schools, and each individual 115 charter application is approved by the sponsor, such schools 116 shall then be designated as one charter school for all purposes 117 listed pursuant to this section. Any portion of the land and 118 facility used for a public charter school shall be exempt from 119 ad valorem taxes, as provided for in s. 1013.54, for the 120 duration of its use as a public school. 121 2.A municipality may seek a charter under subparagraph 1. 122 from a sponsor in subsection (5). If granted, such a charter may 123 be designated a job engine charter. The purpose of a job engine 124 charter school is to attract job-producing entities to the 125 municipality. The charter must require the municipality to: 126 a.Provide an annual report to the sponsor which will be 127 made publicly available and include investments made to attract 128 and maintain job-producing entities, such as private sector 129 industries, in the municipality. 130 b.Include career education opportunities. 131 c.Include the provision of exceptional student education 132 administration services, pursuant to subparagraph (20)(a)1. 133 d.Require the use of sufficient security technology to 134 ensure a secure facility. 135 e.Notwithstanding paragraph (8)(e), accept responsibility 136 for all debts incurred by the job engine charter school. 137 3.A job engine charter school may give enrollment 138 preferences pursuant to subparagraph (10)(d)10. 139 (18)FACILITIES. 140 (e)If a district school board facility or property is 141 available because it is surplus, marked for disposal, or 142 otherwise unused, it shall be provided for a charter schools 143 use on the same basis as it is made available to other public 144 schools in the district. A charter school receiving property 145 from the sponsor may not sell or dispose of such property 146 without written permission of the sponsor. Similarly, for an 147 existing public school converting to charter status, a district 148 school board may not charge no rental or leasing fees fee for 149 the existing facility or for the property normally inventoried 150 to the conversion school may be charged by the district school 151 board to the parents, principal, school advisory council, or and 152 teachers organizing the charter school. The municipality must 153 negotiate rental or leasing fees with the district school board. 154 Property normally inventoried to the school may not be removed. 155 The charter school shall agree to reasonable maintenance 156 provisions in order to maintain the facility in a manner similar 157 to district school board standards. The Public Education Capital 158 Outlay maintenance funds or any other maintenance funds 159 generated by the facility operated as a conversion school shall 160 remain with the conversion school. 161 Section 2.Section 1011.801, Florida Statutes, is amended 162 to read: 163 1011.801Workforce Development Capitalization Incentive 164 Grant Program.The Legislature recognizes that the need for 165 school districts, charter schools, and Florida College System 166 institutions to be able to respond to emerging local or 167 statewide economic development needs is critical to the 168 workforce development system. The Workforce Development 169 Capitalization Incentive Grant Program is created to provide 170 grants to school districts, charter schools, and Florida College 171 System institutions to fund some or all of the costs associated 172 with the creation or expansion of career and technical education 173 programs that lead to industry certifications included on the 174 CAPE Industry Certification Funding List. The programs may serve 175 secondary students or postsecondary students if the 176 postsecondary career and technical education program also serves 177 secondary students in grades 6-12. 178 (1)Funds awarded for a workforce development 179 capitalization incentive grant may be used for instructional 180 equipment, laboratory equipment, supplies, personnel, student 181 services, or other expenses associated with the creation or 182 expansion of a career and technical education program that 183 serves secondary students. Expansion of a program may include 184 either the expansion of enrollments in a program or expansion 185 into new areas of specialization within a program. No grant 186 funds may be used for recurring instructional costs or for 187 institutions indirect costs. 188 (2)The Department of Education shall administer the 189 program. The State Board of Education may adopt rules for 190 program administration. The State Board of Education shall 191 consider the statewide geographic dispersion of grant funds in 192 ranking the applications and shall give priority to applications 193 from education agencies that are making maximum use of their 194 workforce development funding by offering high-performing, high 195 demand programs or to applications from a job engine charter 196 school under s. 1002.33(15)(c). 197 Section 3.This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.
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