The Florida Senate

The Department of Education shall determine annually from an analysis of operating costs, prepared in the manner prescribed by rules of the State Board of Education, the costs per full-time equivalent student served in courses and fields of study offered in ¹community colleges. This information and current college operating budgets shall be submitted to the Executive Office of the Governor with the legislative budget request prior to each regular session of the Legislature.

The allocation of funds for ¹community colleges shall be based on advanced and professional disciplines, college-preparatory programs, and other programs for adults funded pursuant to s. 1011.80.

The category of lifelong learning is for students enrolled pursuant to s. 1004.93. A student shall also be reported as a lifelong learning student for his or her enrollment in any course that he or she has previously taken, unless it is a credit course in which the student earned a grade of D or F.

If an adult student has been determined to be a disabled student eligible for an approved educational program for disabled adults provided pursuant to s. 1004.93 and rules of the State Board of Education and is enrolled in a class with curriculum frameworks developed for the program, state funding for that student shall be provided at a level double that of a student enrolled in a special adult general education program provided by a ¹community college.

All state inmate education provided by ¹community colleges shall be reported by program, FTE expenditure, and revenue source. These enrollments, expenditures, and revenues shall be reported and projected separately. Instruction of state inmates shall not be included in the full-time equivalent student enrollment for funding through the ¹Community College Program Fund.

When a public educational institution has been fully funded by an external agency for direct instructional costs of any course or program, the FTE generated shall not be reported for state funding.

The State Board of Education shall adopt rules to implement s. 9(d)(8)f., Art. XII of the State Constitution. These rules shall provide for the use of the funds available under s. 9(d)(8)f., Art. XII by an individual ¹community college for operating expense in any fiscal year during which the State Board of Education has determined that all major capital outlay needs have been met. Highest priority for the use of these funds for purposes other than financing approved capital outlay projects shall be for the proper maintenance and repair of existing facilities for projects approved by the State Board of Education. However, in any fiscal year in which funds from this source are authorized for operating expense other than approved maintenance and repair projects, the allocation of ¹community college program funds shall be reduced by an amount equal to the sum used for such operating expense for that ¹community college that year, and that amount shall not be released or allocated among the other ¹community colleges that year.

By December 15 of each year, the Department of Education shall estimate the annual enrollment of each ¹community college for the current fiscal year and for the 3 subsequent fiscal years. These estimates shall be based upon prior years’ enrollments, upon the initial fall term enrollments for the current fiscal year for each college, and upon each college’s estimated current enrollment and demographic changes in the respective ¹community college districts. Upper-division enrollment shall be estimated separately from lower-division enrollment.

The apportionment to each ¹community college from the ¹Community College Program Fund shall be determined annually in the General Appropriations Act. In determining each college’s apportionment, the Legislature shall consider the following components:

Student fees in the base budget plus student fee revenues generated by increases in fee rates shall be deducted from the sum of the components determined in subparagraphs 1.-5. The amount remaining shall be the net annual state apportionment to each college.

No ¹community college shall commit funds for the employment of personnel or resources in excess of those required to continue the same level of support for either the previously approved enrollment or the revised enrollment, whichever is lower.

The apportionment to each ¹community college district for capital outlay and debt service shall be the amount determined in accordance with subsection (2). This amount, less any amount determined as necessary for administrative expense by the State Board of Education and any amount necessary for debt service on bonds issued by the State Board of Education, shall be transmitted to the ¹community college board of trustees to be expended in a manner prescribed by rules of the State Board of Education.

If at any time the unencumbered balance in the general fund of the ¹community college board of trustees approved operating budget goes below 5 percent, the president shall provide written notification to the State Board of Education.

Expenditures for apprenticeship programs shall be reported separately.

Expenditures for upper-division enrollment in a ¹community college that grants baccalaureate degrees shall be reported separately from expenditures for lower-division enrollment, in accordance with law and State Board of Education rule.