Florida Senate - 2020 CS for SB 602 By the Committee on Education; and Senator Montford 581-02001A-20 2020602c1 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to the Open Educational Resources 3 Grant Program; creating s. 1004.086, F.S.; 4 establishing the Open Educational Resources Grant 5 Program; requiring the Department of Education, the 6 Board of Governors, and the State Board of Education 7 to administer the program; providing the purpose of 8 the program; defining the term “open educational 9 resources”; authorizing state universities and Florida 10 College System institutions to submit applications for 11 grant awards under the program; requiring the 12 department, in coordination with specified entities, 13 to consider all applications; authorizing the 14 department in coordination with the boards to make 15 awards; requiring participating state universities and 16 Florida College System institutions to use grant funds 17 for a specified purpose and, in curating and adopting 18 open educational resources, to give priority to 19 certain courses; requiring the state board to adopt 20 rules; authorizing the Board of Governors to adopt 21 regulations; specifying that implementation of the 22 program is subject to legislative appropriation; 23 providing an effective date. 24 25 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 26 27 Section 1. Section 1004.086, Florida Statutes, is created 28 to read: 29 1004.086 Open educational resources grant program.— 30 (1)(a) There is created the Open Educational Resources 31 Grant Program, which shall be administered by the Department of 32 Education in coordination with the Board of Governors and the 33 State Board of Education. The purpose of the program is to 34 provide grant assistance to state universities and Florida 35 College System institutions for the development of high-quality, 36 low-cost open educational resources for students. 37 (b) The term “open educational resources” means licensed 38 teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the 39 public domain or have been released under a license that allows 40 their free use, reuse, modification, and sharing with others. 41 The term includes open-access textbooks and instructional 42 materials. 43 (2) A state university or Florida College System 44 institution may submit an application in a format prescribed by 45 the department to be awarded a grant under the program. The 46 department, in coordination with the Board of Governors and the 47 State Board of Education, shall consider each proposal and may 48 award grants to state universities and Florida College System 49 institutions that demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the 50 department and the boards, a plan for the development of open 51 educational resources. 52 (3) Each participating state university and Florida College 53 System institution shall use the grant to curate or adopt open 54 educational resources for general education courses. In curating 55 and adopting the open educational resources, each state 56 university and Florida College System institution must give 57 priority to required general education courses as provided in 58 the statewide articulation agreement. 59 (4) The State Board of Education shall adopt rules, and the 60 Board of Governors may adopt regulations, to implement this 61 section. 62 (5) Implementation of the program is subject to legislative 63 appropriation. 64 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.