Florida Senate - 2012                                     SB 944
       
       
       
       By Senator Wise
       
       
       
       
       5-00788-12                                             2012944__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to parental involvement and
    3         accountability in public schools; creating s.
    4         1008.347, F.S.; providing purpose to provide
    5         information and tools to parents of prekindergarten
    6         through grade 5 students and to set minimum standards
    7         for parental involvement; specifying causes for
    8         student underachievement; requiring shared information
    9         between teachers, schools, and parents; requiring
   10         prekindergarten through grade 5 teachers to evaluate
   11         parental involvement and send a parental involvement
   12         evaluation to parents under certain circumstances;
   13         requiring adoption of a process to dispute a parental
   14         involvement evaluation; requiring reports on parental
   15         involvement evaluations by district school boards and
   16         the Department of Education; providing for
   17         implementation; providing an effective date.
   18  
   19  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   20  
   21         Section 1. Section 1008.347, Florida Statutes, is created
   22  to read:
   23         1008.347 Parental involvement and accountability in public
   24  schools.—
   25         (1) PURPOSE.—Although the school environment has a great
   26  impact on a child’s well-being and academic success, parents and
   27  the home environment form the foundation of a child’s present
   28  and future life. Without proper parental involvement in all
   29  aspects of a child’s life, the child’s prospects to be an
   30  effective, successful member of society are greatly diminished.
   31  The purpose of this section is to provide information and tools
   32  to parents of prekindergarten through grade 5 students to enable
   33  them to have a positive impact on their child’s educational
   34  success and to set minimum standards for parental involvement.
   35         (2) CAUSES FOR STUDENT UNDERACHIEVEMENT.—The following
   36  conditions are identified as possible causes for a student’s
   37  underachievement:
   38         (a) A child is not physically prepared for the school day
   39  due to inadequate rest, improper clothing, lack of necessary
   40  school supplies, or frequent tardiness or absence.
   41         (b) A child is not mentally prepared for the school day due
   42  to uncompleted homework or inadequate preparation for tests.
   43         (c) Communication between parents and the teacher often
   44  occurs only when a problem has risen rather than on a consistent
   45  basis throughout the school year.
   46         (3) SHARED INFORMATION.—Teachers and schools shall develop
   47  or utilize current information packets, forms, or media for
   48  sharing information with each parent with written
   49  acknowledgement of receipt. The shared information may be
   50  presented in the parent guide to successful student achievement
   51  or in the checklist of parental actions that can strengthen
   52  parental involvement in a child’s educational progress, required
   53  under s. 1002.23, and includes:
   54         (a) Expectations of parents with respect to a child’s
   55  school attendance.
   56         (b) Expectations of parents to timely respond to a
   57  teacher’s request for communication.
   58         (c) Expectations of parents to properly and fully complete
   59  important emergency and medical information requested.
   60         (d) Expectations of parents with respect to a child’s
   61  academic work, including, but not limited to, time set aside for
   62  daily homework and reading, nightly check of homework completion
   63  and preparation for tests, and signature on forms.
   64         (4) ACCOUNTABILITY.—
   65         (a) To help parents establish a home environment that
   66  supports the child as a student, each prekindergarten through
   67  grade 5 teacher shall monitor and evaluate the involvement of
   68  the parents of each student in his or her class. Each
   69  prekindergarten through grade 5 teacher shall evaluate the
   70  parental involvement as satisfactory, needs improvement, or
   71  unsatisfactory on each of the following criteria as defined in
   72  district school board policy:
   73         1. The frequency of the student’s unexcused absence and
   74  unexcused tardiness.
   75         2. Parental response to requests for conferences or
   76  communication.
   77         3. Parental submission of complete and correct information,
   78  including, but not limited to, emergency contact information;
   79  student immunization records; and pertinent parental contact
   80  information, which shall be on file and updated if changes occur
   81  during the school year.
   82         (b) The parental involvement evaluation shall be sent along
   83  with the student’s quarterly assessment to the home of the
   84  parent, which shall indicate “needs improvement” when one of the
   85  following occurs in one quarter or “unsatisfactory” when two or
   86  more of the following occur in one quarter:
   87         1. The student has five or more unexcused absences;
   88         2. The student has 10 or more instances of unexcused
   89  tardiness;
   90         3. Five or more requests for communication between the
   91  teacher and the parent are made with no communication occurring;
   92  or
   93         4. The emergency contact information provided by the parent
   94  is determined to be incomplete or incorrect.
   95         (5) DISPUTE PROCESS.—A parent may dispute the parental
   96  involvement evaluation by the teacher through a process adopted
   97  by the district school board in rule in which the principal, the
   98  teacher, and the parent discuss how the evaluation was
   99  determined. The discussion shall also provide information and
  100  feedback on the steps needed to improve the parental involvement
  101  evaluation.
  102         (6) REPORTING.—At the end of each school year, each
  103  district school board shall prepare a report, as determined by
  104  the State Board of Education in rule, containing data on
  105  parental involvement evaluations, including data on evaluations
  106  sent to parents, pursuant to subsection (4) and submit the
  107  report to the Department of Education. Based upon the district
  108  school board reports, the department shall prepare a final
  109  report on parental involvement which shall be submitted by
  110  August 1 of each year to the Governor, the President of the
  111  Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
  112         (7) IMPLEMENTATION.—This section shall be implemented
  113  beginning with the 2013-2014 school year.
  114         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.