| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education |
| 3 | Program; amending s. 402.3057, F.S.; exempting certain |
| 4 | Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program personnel from |
| 5 | refingerprinting or rescreening; amending s. 1002.67, |
| 6 | F.S.; requiring curriculum selected or designed by a |
| 7 | private prekindergarten provider or a public school to |
| 8 | include certain assessments of a student's progress; |
| 9 | amending s. 1002.69, F.S.; deleting a restriction with |
| 10 | respect to the minimum kindergarten readiness rate adopted |
| 11 | by the State Board of Education as satisfactory for a |
| 12 | private prekindergarten provider or a public school; |
| 13 | providing an effective date. |
| 14 |
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| 15 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 16 |
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| 17 | Section 1. Section 402.3057, Florida Statutes, is amended |
| 18 | to read: |
| 19 | 402.3057 Persons not required to be refingerprinted or |
| 20 | rescreened.--Any provision of law to the contrary |
| 21 | notwithstanding, human resource personnel who have been |
| 22 | fingerprinted or screened pursuant to chapters 393, 394, 397, |
| 23 | 402, and 409, and teachers and noninstructional personnel who |
| 24 | have been fingerprinted pursuant to chapter 1012 or requirements |
| 25 | of the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program, who have not |
| 26 | been unemployed for more than 90 days thereafter, and who under |
| 27 | the penalty of perjury attest to the completion of such |
| 28 | fingerprinting or screening and to compliance with the |
| 29 | provisions of this section and the standards for good moral |
| 30 | character as contained in such provisions as ss. 110.1127(3), |
| 31 | 393.0655(1), 394.457(6), 397.451, 402.305(2), and 409.175(6), |
| 32 | shall not be required to be refingerprinted or rescreened in |
| 33 | order to comply with any caretaker screening or fingerprinting |
| 34 | requirements. |
| 35 | Section 2. Paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section |
| 36 | 1002.67, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 37 | 1002.67 Performance standards; curricula and |
| 38 | accountability.-- |
| 39 | (2)(a) Each private prekindergarten provider and public |
| 40 | school may select or design the curriculum that the provider or |
| 41 | school uses to implement the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education |
| 42 | Program, except as otherwise required for a provider or school |
| 43 | that is placed on probation under paragraph (3)(c). The |
| 44 | curriculum selected or designed pursuant to this paragraph must |
| 45 | include a curriculum-based preassessment and postassessment for |
| 46 | the purpose of determining a student's progress during the |
| 47 | program year. |
| 48 | Section 3. Subsection (6) of section 1002.69, Florida |
| 49 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 50 | 1002.69 Statewide kindergarten screening; kindergarten |
| 51 | readiness rates.-- |
| 52 | (6)(a) The State Board of Education shall periodically |
| 53 | adopt a minimum kindergarten readiness rate that, if achieved by |
| 54 | a private prekindergarten provider or public school, would |
| 55 | demonstrate the provider's or school's satisfactory delivery of |
| 56 | the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program. |
| 57 | (b) The minimum rate must not exceed the rate at which |
| 58 | more than 15 percent of the kindergarten readiness rates of all |
| 59 | private prekindergarten providers and public schools delivering |
| 60 | the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program in the state |
| 61 | would fall below the minimum rate. |
| 62 | Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2006. |