Florida Senate - 2024                                     SB 590
       
       
        
       By Senator Burgess
       
       
       
       
       
       23-00815-24                                            2024590__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the Music-based Supplemental
    3         Content to Accelerate Learner Engagement and Success
    4         Pilot Program; creating s. 1003.482, F.S.; creating
    5         the pilot program within the Department of Education;
    6         providing the purpose of the pilot program; providing
    7         requirements for the pilot program; providing
    8         eligibility; authorizing district school
    9         superintendents to contact the department for their
   10         district to participate in the pilot program;
   11         providing funding requirements, subject to legislative
   12         appropriation; requiring participating school
   13         districts to maintain eligibility; requiring the
   14         College of Education at the University of Florida to
   15         evaluate the pilot program’s effectiveness and
   16         annually share its findings with the Department of
   17         Education and the Legislature; requiring the college
   18         to submit a final report to specified entities by a
   19         specified date; providing for expiration of the pilot
   20         program; providing an effective date.
   21          
   22  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   23  
   24         Section 1. Section 1003.482, Florida Statutes, is created
   25  to read:
   26         1003.482 mSCALES Pilot Program.—
   27         (1)(a) The Music-based Supplemental Content to Accelerate
   28  Learner Engagement and Success (mSCALES) Pilot Program is
   29  created within the Department of Education. The purpose of the
   30  pilot program is to assist districts in adopting music-based
   31  supplemental materials that support STEM courses for middle
   32  school students.
   33         (b) The music-based supplemental materials must be used by
   34  teachers who are certified to teach mathematics pursuant to s.
   35  1012.55(1)(c). The supplemental materials must be used at a
   36  minimum twice per week to supplement mathematics instruction.
   37         (c) Classes that use the supplemental materials are subject
   38  to the class size requirements of s. 1003.03.
   39         (d) The school districts in Alachua, Marion, and Miami-Dade
   40  Counties are eligible to participate in the pilot program.
   41  District school superintendents may contact the Department of
   42  Education, in a format prescribed by the department, for their
   43  district to participate in the pilot program. Subject to
   44  legislative appropriation, the department may approve a school
   45  district to participate in the pilot program if sufficient
   46  funding is available.
   47         (e) Participating school districts shall receive $6 per
   48  student. Eligible middle schools must be in the same attendance
   49  zone as an elementary school that participated in the Early
   50  Childhood Music Education Incentive Program.
   51         (f) To maintain eligibility for the pilot program, a
   52  participating school district must annually certify to the
   53  department, in a format prescribed by the department, that each
   54  participating middle school within the district meets the
   55  requirements of paragraphs (b) and (c).
   56         (2)(a) The College of Education at the University of
   57  Florida shall continuously evaluate the program’s effectiveness.
   58  The College of Education must annually share the findings of its
   59  evaluations with the department and the Legislature.
   60         (b) The College of Education at the University of Florida
   61  shall prepare a comprehensive final report of the program’s
   62  overall effectiveness. The report must be presented, no later
   63  than October 1, 2026, to the department, the Legislature, and
   64  the Florida Center for Partnerships for Arts-Integrated
   65  Teaching.
   66         (3) This section expires June 30, 2026.
   67         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.