Florida Senate - 2009 SB 2466
By Senator Villalobos
38-01157B-09 20092466__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to school districts; creating s.
3 1001.454, F.S.; providing for the recall of district
4 school board members; providing applicability;
5 providing requirements for the petition for recall and
6 the signature process; providing requirements for the
7 recall election; requiring that the ballot for recall
8 contain certain statements; amending s. 1012.22, F.S.;
9 requiring that each district school board adopt the
10 district school superintendent's recommendations
11 relating to compensation and salary schedules unless
12 66 percent of the district school board members vote
13 to reject such recommendations; amending s. 1012.27,
14 F.S.; revising provisions relating to the district
15 school superintendent's duty to prepare and recommend
16 salary schedules for adoption by the district school
17 board; prohibiting the school superintendent from
18 recommending an increase in salary schedules of
19 administrative personnel or managers if the salary
20 schedules of instructional personnel and educational
21 support employees have not been increased; requiring
22 that the school superintendent review the salary
23 schedules of all administrative personnel and managers
24 to ensure that no person is paid in excess of twice
25 the district’s average salary of classroom teachers
26 for the prior academic year; requiring that the school
27 superintendent recommend corrective action to address
28 any pay disparity; providing for severability;
29 providing an effective date.
30
31 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
32
33 Section 1. Section 1001.454, Florida Statutes, is created
34 to read:
35 1001.454 Recall of district school board members.—
36 (1) APPLICATION.—Any member of a district school board may
37 be recalled and removed from office by the electors of the
38 district.
39 (a) If a board member is elected for single-member
40 representation within the residence areas of a district pursuant
41 to s. 1001.362, only electors from that area may sign the
42 petition to recall the member and vote in the recall election.
43 (b) If the board member is elected at-large or by the
44 electors of an entire district pursuant to s. 1001.361, all the
45 electors of the district may sign the petition to recall the
46 member and vote in the recall election.
47 (c) In addition to other procedures provided by law, board
48 members may be removed from office pursuant to the procedures
49 provided in this section.
50 (2) RECALL PETITION.—
51 (a) Petition content.—A petition for recall shall contain
52 the name of the person who is to be recalled and the position he
53 or she currently holds.
54 (b) Requisite signatures.—
55 1. In a district or a district school board member
56 residence area having fewer than 500 registered electors, the
57 petition must be signed by at least 50 electors or by 10 percent
58 of the total number of registered electors in the district or
59 district school board member residence area as of the preceding
60 district election, whichever is greater.
61 2. In a district or a district school board member
62 residence area having 500 or more but fewer than 2,000
63 registered electors, the petition must be signed by at least 100
64 electors or by 10 percent of the total number of registered
65 electors of the district or district school board member
66 residence area as of the preceding district election, whichever
67 is greater.
68 3. In a district or a district school board member
69 residence area having 2,000 or more but fewer than 5,000
70 registered electors, the petition must be signed by at least 250
71 electors or by 10 percent of the total number of registered
72 electors of the district or district school board member
73 residence area as of the preceding district election, whichever
74 is greater.
75 4. In a district or a district school board member
76 residence area having 5,000 or more but fewer than 10,000
77 registered electors, the petition must be signed by at least 500
78 electors or by 10 percent of the total number of registered
79 electors of the district or district school board member
80 residence area as of the preceding district election, whichever
81 is greater.
82 5. In a district or a district school board member
83 residence area having 10,000 or more but fewer than 25,000
84 registered electors, the petition must be signed by at least
85 1,000 electors or by 10 percent of the total number of
86 registered electors of the district or district school board
87 member residence area as of the preceding district election,
88 whichever is greater.
89 6. In a district or a district school board member
90 residence area having 25,000 or more registered electors, the
91 petition must be signed by at least 1,000 electors or by 5
92 percent of the total number of registered electors of the
93 district or district school board member residence area as of
94 the preceding district election, whichever is greater.
95 (c) Signature process.—Each elector who signs a petition
96 for recall shall sign and date his or her name in ink or
97 indelible pencil. Each petition shall contain appropriate lines
98 for each elector's original signature, printed name, street
99 address, city, county, voter registration number or date of
100 birth, and date signed.
101 (d) Filing of signed petitions.—All signed petitions shall
102 be filed at the same time, no later than 90 days after the date
103 on which the first signature is obtained, with the auditor or
104 clerk of the school board, or his or her representative. A
105 petition may not be amended after it is filed with the auditor
106 or the clerk, or his or her representative.
107 (e) Verification of signatures.—
108 1. Immediately after the filing of a petition, the clerk
109 shall submit the petition to the county supervisor of elections.
110 No more than 30 days after the date on which all petitions are
111 received, the supervisor of elections shall promptly verify the
112 signatures in accordance with s. 99.097 and determine whether
113 the requisite number of valid signatures has been obtained. Any
114 party who seeks verification of the signatures must submit a
115 payment in advance to the supervisor of elections in the amount
116 of 10 cents for each signature checked or the actual cost of
117 checking such signatures, whichever is less.
118 2. If the supervisor of elections determines that the
119 petition does not contain the requisite number of verified and
120 valid signatures, the clerk shall, upon receipt of such written
121 determination, certify to the school board that the requisite
122 number of verified and valid signatures has not been obtained
123 and file the petition without taking further action. Additional
124 names may not be added to the petition and the petition may not
125 be used in any other proceeding.
126 3. If the supervisor of elections determines that the
127 petition has the requisite number of verified and valid
128 signatures, he or she shall request that the chief judge of the
129 judicial circuit in which the school district is located fix a
130 day for holding the recall election.
131 4. Upon request, the auditor or the clerk, or his or her
132 representative, shall make the petition and all subsequent
133 papers or forms required or permitted to be filed in compliance
134 with this section available in alternative formats.
135 (3) RECALL ELECTION.—A recall election shall be held not
136 less than 30 days or more than 60 days after the supervisor of
137 elections requests the election and at the same time as any
138 other general or special election held within the period. If the
139 election is not held within the required period, the judge shall
140 call a special recall election to be held within the period
141 provided in this subsection.
142 (4) BALLOTS.—
143 (a) The ballot at the recall election must state the
144 following: “Shall....be removed from the office of....by
145 recall?”
146 (b) The following propositions must be stated after each
147 question on the ballot:
148 1. “[Name of person] should be removed from office.”
149 2. “[Name of person] should not be removed from office.”
150 (5) RESULTS OF RECALL ELECTION.—If a majority of the
151 electors votes to not remove the member from office, the member
152 shall continue to serve in office under the terms of his or her
153 preceding election. If the majority of electors votes to recall
154 the member, he or she shall, regardless of any defect in the
155 recall petition, be deemed removed from office immediately.
156 (6) FILLING OF VACANCIES.—Any vacancy created by recall
157 shall be filled by appointment in accordance with s. 1001.38.
158 Section 2. Paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section
159 1012.22, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
160 1012.22 Public school personnel; powers and duties of the
161 district school board.—The district school board shall:
162 (1) Designate positions to be filled, prescribe
163 qualifications for those positions, and provide for the
164 appointment, compensation, promotion, suspension, and dismissal
165 of employees as follows, subject to the requirements of this
166 chapter:
167 (c) Compensation and salary schedules.—
168 1. The district school board shall adopt a salary schedule
169 or salary schedules designed to furnish incentives for
170 improvement in training and for continued efficient service to
171 be used as a basis for paying all school employees and fix and
172 authorize the compensation of school employees on the basis
173 thereof.
174 2. A district school board, in determining the salary
175 schedule for instructional personnel, must base a portion of
176 each employee's compensation on performance demonstrated under
177 s. 1012.34, must consider the prior teaching experience of a
178 person who has been designated state teacher of the year by any
179 state in the United States, and must consider prior professional
180 experience in the field of education gained in positions in
181 addition to district level instructional and administrative
182 positions.
183 3. In developing the salary schedule, the district school
184 board shall seek input from parents, teachers, and
185 representatives of the business community.
186 4. Beginning with the 2007-2008 academic year, each
187 district school board shall adopt a salary schedule with
188 differentiated pay for both instructional personnel and school
189 based administrators. The salary schedule is subject to
190 negotiation as provided in chapter 447 and must allow
191 differentiated pay based on district-determined factors,
192 including, but not limited to, additional responsibilities,
193 school demographics, critical shortage areas, and level of job
194 performance difficulties.
195 5. Beginning with the 2009-2010 academic year, each
196 district school board shall adopt the district school
197 superintendent's recommendations relating to the compensation
198 and salary schedules pursuant to s. 1012.27(2) unless 66 percent
199 of the district school board members vote to reject such
200 recommendations.
201 Section 3. Subsection (2) of section 1012.27, Florida
202 Statutes, is amended to read:
203 1012.27 Public school personnel; powers and duties of
204 district school superintendent.—The district school
205 superintendent is responsible for directing the work of the
206 personnel, subject to the requirements of this chapter, and in
207 addition the district school superintendent shall perform the
208 following:
209 (2) COMPENSATION AND SALARY SCHEDULES.—
210 (a) Prepare and recommend to the district school board for
211 adoption a salary schedule or salary schedules.
212 (b) In developing or recommending a salary schedule or
213 salary schedules, the district school superintendent:
214 1. The district school superintendent Must recommend a
215 salary schedule for instructional personnel which bases a
216 portion of each employee's compensation on performance
217 demonstrated under s. 1012.34.
218 2. In developing the recommended salary schedule, the
219 district school superintendent Shall include input from parents,
220 teachers, and representatives of the business community.
221 3. Shall recommend a Beginning with the 2007-2008 academic
222 year, the recommended salary schedule for classroom teachers
223 shall be consistent with the district's differentiated-pay
224 policy based upon s. 1012.22.
225 4. Beginning with the 2009-2010 academic year, shall
226 recommend increases to the salary schedules of administrative
227 personnel or managers only if the salary schedules of
228 instructional personnel, as defined in s. 1012.01(2), and
229 educational support employees, as defined in s. 1012.01(6), have
230 also been increased, before or at the same time as the proposed
231 salary increases for administrative personnel or managers, by a
232 percentage greater than that proposed for any of the
233 administrative personnel or managers.
234 5. Beginning with the 2009-2010 academic year, shall review
235 the salary schedules of all administrative personnel and manager
236 positions and ensure that no person is paid in excess of twice
237 the district’s average salary of classroom teachers for the
238 prior academic year. If the school superintendent finds that a
239 person is receiving more than twice the district’s average
240 salary of classroom teachers for the prior academic year, the
241 school superintendent shall recommend corrective action to
242 address the pay disparity by reducing the administrative
243 personnel or manager salary or commensurately increasing the
244 salary schedule and salaries of classroom teachers.
245 Section 4. If any provision of this act or its application
246 to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity
247 does not affect other provisions or applications of the act
248 which can be given effect without the invalid provision or
249 application, and to this end the provisions of this act are
250 severable.
251 Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.