Florida Senate - 2025 SB 1708 By Senator Calatayud 38-01139A-25 20251708__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to education; amending s. 1002.33, 3 F.S.; providing that specified provisions relating to 4 facilities apply to schools of hope of distinction; 5 amending s. 1002.333, F.S.; revising and providing 6 definitions; providing that schools of hope of 7 distinction have the right to locate or co-locate with 8 other public schools in certain facilities beginning 9 on a specified date; requiring specified services to 10 be provided to schools of hope of distinction at no 11 cost; providing school district requirements; deleting 12 specified requirements for schools of hope; amending 13 s. 1013.31, F.S.; requiring the Department of 14 Education to selectively audit specified surveys from 15 school districts and Florida College System 16 institutions; requiring the State Board of Education 17 to adopt specified rules relating to such audits; 18 providing an effective date. 19 20 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 21 22 Section 1.Paragraph (e) of subsection (18) of section 23 1002.33, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 24 1002.33Charter schools. 25 (18)FACILITIES. 26 (e)If a district school board facility or property is 27 available because it is surplus, marked for disposal, or 28 otherwise unused, it must shall be provided for a charter 29 schools use on the same basis as it is made available to other 30 public schools in the district. A charter school receiving 31 property from the sponsor may not sell or dispose of such 32 property without written permission of the sponsor. Similarly, 33 for an existing public school converting to charter status or a 34 school of hope of distinction, no rental or leasing fee for the 35 existing facility or for the property normally inventoried to 36 the conversion school may be charged by the district school 37 board to those the parents and teachers organizing the charter 38 school. The charter school shall agree to a reasonable 39 maintenance schedule provisions in order to maintain the 40 facility in a manner similar to district school board standards. 41 The Public Education Capital Outlay maintenance funds or any 42 other maintenance funds generated by the facility operated as a 43 charter conversion school or a school of hope of distinction 44 shall remain with the conversion school. 45 Section 2.Paragraph (c) of subsection (1), paragraph (a) 46 of subsection (6), and subsection (7) of section 1002.333, 47 Florida Statutes, are amended, and paragraph (e) is added to 48 subsection (1) of that section, to read: 49 1002.333Persistently low-performing schools. 50 (1)DEFINITIONS.As used in this section, the term: 51 (c)Persistently low-performing school means a school 52 that falls into one of the following categories: 53 1.A school that Has earned three grades lower than a C, 54 pursuant to s. 1008.34, in at least 3 of the previous 5 years 55 that the school received a grade and has not earned a grade of 56 B or higher in the most recent 2 school years;, and 57 2.A school that Was closed pursuant to s. 1008.33(4) 58 within 2 years after the submission of a notice of intent; or 59 3.Is in the bottom 10 percent of schools statewide for 60 student performance on the grade 3 statewide, standardized 61 English Language Arts assessment or the grade 4 statewide, 62 standardized mathematics assessment in at least 2 of the 63 previous 3 years. 64 (e)School of hope of distinction means a school of hope 65 that has not received a grade lower than a B, pursuant to s. 66 1008.34, in at least 2 consecutive school years of published 67 test scores. 68 (6)STATUTORY AUTHORITY. 69 (a)A school of hope or a nonprofit entity that operates 70 more than one school of hope through a performance-based 71 agreement with a school district may be designated as a local 72 education agency by the department, if requested, for the 73 purposes of receiving federal funds and, in doing so, accepts 74 the full responsibility for all local education agency 75 requirements and the schools for which it will perform local 76 education agency responsibilities. 77 1.A nonprofit entity designated as a local education 78 agency may directly report its students to the department in 79 accordance with the definitions in s. 1011.61 and pursuant to 80 the departments procedures and timelines. 81 2.Students enrolled in a school established by a hope 82 operator designated as a local educational agency are not 83 eligible students for purposes of calculating the district grade 84 pursuant to s. 1008.34(5). 85 (7)FACILITIES. 86 (a)For purposes of this subsection, the term: 87 1.Underused facility means a facility with surplus 88 capacity on the departments current annual Vacant and Underused 89 Facilities Report. 90 2.Unused, vacant, or surplus facility means an entire 91 facility that is not used or is used irregularly or 92 intermittently by the school district for instructional or 93 program use. 94 (b)(a)A school of hope shall use facilities that comply 95 with the Florida Building Code, except for the State 96 Requirements for Educational Facilities. Beginning June 1, 2027, 97 a school of hope of distinction has the right to locate in any 98 unused, vacant, or surplus facility or one marked for disposal 99 pursuant to s. 1002.33(18) or to co-locate with another public 100 school in any underused facility and use all or part of such 101 facility if the combined total enrollment of the schools does 102 not exceed such facilitys capacity. The use, operation, and 103 maintenance of such facility, including all facility-related 104 noninstructional services such as school lunch services, must be 105 provided at no cost to the school of hope of distinction. The 106 school district shall share such facilities equitably based on 107 the relative enrollment of the schools. A school of hope that 108 uses school district facilities must comply with the State 109 Requirements for Educational Facilities only if the school 110 district and the hope operator have entered into a mutual 111 management plan for the reasonable maintenance of such 112 facilities. The mutual management plan shall contain a provision 113 by which the district school board agrees to maintain the school 114 facilities in the same manner as its other public schools within 115 the district. The local governing authority may shall not adopt 116 or impose any local building requirements or site-development 117 restrictions, such as parking and site-size criteria, student 118 enrollment, and occupant load, that are addressed by and more 119 stringent than those found in the State Requirements for 120 Educational Facilities of the Florida Building Code. A local 121 governing authority must treat schools of hope equitably in 122 comparison to similar requirements, restrictions, and site 123 planning processes imposed upon public schools. The agency 124 having jurisdiction for inspection of a facility and issuance of 125 a certificate of occupancy or use shall be the local 126 municipality or, if in an unincorporated area, the county 127 governing authority. If an official or employee of the local 128 governing authority refuses to comply with this paragraph, the 129 aggrieved school or entity has an immediate right to bring an 130 action in circuit court to enforce its rights by injunction. An 131 aggrieved party that receives injunctive relief may be awarded 132 reasonable attorney fees and court costs. 133 (c)(b)Any facility, or portion thereof, used to house a 134 school of hope shall be exempt from ad valorem taxes pursuant to 135 s. 196.1983. Library, community service, museum, performing 136 arts, theater, cinema, church, Florida College System 137 institution, college, and university facilities may provide 138 space to schools of hope within their facilities under their 139 preexisting zoning and land use designations without obtaining a 140 special exception, rezoning, or a land use change. 141 (d)(c)School of hope facilities are exempt from 142 assessments of fees for building permits, except as provided in 143 s. 553.80; fees for building and occupational licenses; impact 144 fees or exactions; service availability fees; and assessments 145 for special benefits. 146 (e)(d)No later than January 1, the department shall 147 annually provide to school districts a list of all underused 148 facilities and unused, vacant, or surplus facilities owned or 149 operated by the school district as reported in the Florida 150 Inventory of School Houses. A school district may provide 151 evidence to the department that the list contains errors or 152 omissions within 30 days after receipt of the list. By each 153 April 1, the department shall update and publish a final list of 154 all underused facilities and unused, vacant, or surplus 155 facilities owned or operated by each school district, based upon 156 updated information provided by each school district. Beginning 157 August 1, 2026, a hope operator opening establishing a school of 158 hope of distinction on or after June 1, 2027, or operating a 159 school of hope of distinction after June 1, 2027, may submit to 160 a school district a notice of intent to use, and the school 161 district must execute an agreement authorizing the use of, an 162 educational facility identified in this paragraph at no cost 163 pursuant to rules of the State Board of Education or at a 164 mutually agreeable cost not to exceed $600 per student. A hope 165 operator using a facility pursuant to this paragraph may not 166 sell or dispose of such facility without the written permission 167 of the school district. For purposes of this paragraph, the term 168 underused, vacant, or surplus facility means an entire 169 facility or portion thereof which is not fully used or is used 170 irregularly or intermittently by the school district for 171 instructional or program use. 172 Section 3.Paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section 173 1013.31, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 174 1013.31Educational plant survey; need assessment criteria; 175 PECO project funding. 176 (1)At least every 5 years, each Florida College System 177 institution and state university board shall arrange for an 178 educational plant survey, to aid in formulating plans for 179 housing the educational program and student population, faculty, 180 administrators, staff, and auxiliary and ancillary services of 181 the district or campus, including consideration of the local 182 comprehensive plan. The Department of Education shall document 183 the need for additional career and adult education programs and 184 the continuation of existing programs before facility 185 construction or renovation related to career or adult education 186 may be included in the educational plant survey of a school 187 district or Florida College System institution that delivers 188 career or adult education programs. Information used by the 189 Department of Education to establish facility needs must 190 include, but need not be limited to, labor market data, needs 191 analysis, and information submitted by the Florida College 192 System institution. 193 (c)Review and validation.The Department of Education 194 shall review, and validate, and selectively audit the surveys of 195 school districts and Florida College System institutions, and 196 the Chancellor of the State University System shall review and 197 validate the surveys of universities, and any amendments thereto 198 for compliance with the requirements of this chapter and shall 199 recommend those in compliance for approval by the State Board of 200 Education or the Board of Governors, as appropriate. The 201 commissioner may condition the receipt of fixed capital outlay 202 funds provided from general revenue or from state trust funds by 203 district school boards until such time as the district school 204 board submits a survey that accurately projects facilities needs 205 as indicated by the Florida Inventory of School Houses, as 206 compared with the districts capital outlay full-time equivalent 207 enrollment, as determined by the department. The State Board of 208 Education shall adopt rules to determine the frequency and scope 209 of such audit. It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure 210 transparency as it relates to the use of such facilities. 211 Section 4.This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.