The Florida Senate
BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
(This document is based on the provisions contained in the legislation as of the latest date listed below.)
Prepared By: The Professional Staff of the Committee on Appropriations
BILL: CS/SB 926
INTRODUCER: Education Pre-K -12 Committee and Senator Rodriguez and others
SUBJECT: Florida Virtual School
DATE: April 12, 2023 REVISED:
ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR REFERENCE ACTION
1. Sagues Bouck ED Fav/CS
2. Gray Sadberry AP Favorable
Please see Section IX. for Additional Information:
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE - Substantial Changes
I. Summary:
CS/SB 926 creates a process to provide support to military children who are out-of-state due to
the duty station of their military parent. Allowing a parent to request flexibility in assessment
administration to permit a Florida Virtual School (FLVS) full-time student to participate in
statewide, standardized assessments while out-of-state.
The fiscal impact of the bill is indeterminate, but minimal. See Section V.
The bill takes effect on July 1, 2023.
II. Present Situation:
Florida Virtual School
The Florida Virtual School (FLVS) was established to develop and deliver online and distance
learning education1 and is part of Florida’s public school system.2 The Commissioner of
Education is charged with monitoring the performance of the FLVS. The FLVS is required to
serve any student in the state who meets the profile for success in online and distance learning
education, giving priority to students:
Who need expanded access to courses in order to meet their educational goals.
Seeking accelerated access to obtain a high school diploma at least one semester early.
1
Section 1002.37(1)(a), F.S.
2
Section 1000.04(5), F.S.
BILL: CS/SB 926 Page 2
Who are children of an active duty member of the United States Armed Forces whose home
of record or state of legal residence is Florida. 3
Children of military personnel not stationed in Florida are considered Florida residents for
purposes of enrollment in the FLVS if their home of record or state of legal residence is Florida.
This allows such students to enroll in the FLVS without having to pay tuition.
The FLVS is authorized to provide full-time and part-time instruction for students in
kindergarten through grade 12. Public school students receiving full-time instruction by the
FLVS must take all required statewide assessments, and students receiving part-time instruction
in courses requiring statewide end-of-course assessments must take all required assessments.
Unless an alternative testing site is mutually agreed to by the FLVS and the school district or a
qualified contractor, all industry certification examinations, national assessments, progress
monitoring, and statewide assessments must be taken at the school to which the student would be
assigned according to district school board attendance areas.4
During the 2021-2022 school year, the FLVS served 11,832 unduplicated students in the full-
time program and completed 361,362 semester enrollments in the part-time program.5
Currently there are 172 military family full-time students enrolled in the FLVS. Of these:6
Sixty-one are enrolled in grades K-5, of which 21 are stationed out-of-state.
Fifty-nine are enrolled in grades 6-8, of which 21 are living out-of-state and 7 are enrolled in
courses requiring a statewide standardized end-of-course (EOC) assessment.7
Fifty-two are in grades 9-12, of which 11 are living out-of-state and 8 are enrolled in courses
requiring a statewide standardized EOC assessment.8
Statewide Assessments
Florida’s statewide, standardized assessments measure the extent to which students have
mastered the state academic standards. Florida and federal law require that all public school
students participate in statewide, standardized English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics
assessments at least annually beginning in the 3rd grade.9 Federal law also requires that students
participate in a standardized science assessment at least once in each of grades 3 through 5, 6
through 9, and 10 through 12.10 Additionally, federal law allows a state to use multiple statewide
interim assessments that result in a single summative score,11 a single summative assessment, or
3
Section 1002.37(1), F.S.
4
Section 1002.37(9) and (10), F.S.
5
Florida Department of Education, Fact Sheet, Florida’s Public Virtual Education Programs (2022), available at
https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/5606/urlt/Virtual-Sept.pdf.
6
Email, Keenen Vernon, Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs, Florida Department of Education, (March 31, 2023) (on file
with Senate Committee on Education).
7
Sections 1003.4156(1)(b) and 1003.4282(3), F.S.
8
Section 1003.4282(3), F.S.
9
Section 1008.22(3), F.S.; 20 U.S.C. s. 6311(2)(b)(v)(II).
10
See 20 U.S.C. s. 6311(b)(2)(v)(II).
11
34 C.F.R. s. 200.2(b)(10).
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computer adaptive assessments for the purposes of meeting federal requirements.12 The
requirements for students in Florida are as follows:
English Language Arts:
o Grades 3-10: Annual participation in the statewide, standardized assessment.
Mathematics:
o Grades 3-8: Annual participation in the statewide, standardized assessment.
o High school: Algebra I and Geometry statewide, standardized EOC assessments.
Science:
o Grades 5 and 8: Participation in the statewide, standardized assessment.
o High school: Participation in the Biology I statewide, standardized EOC assessment.
Social Studies:
o Middle school: Participation in the Civics statewide, standardized EOC assessment.
o High school: Participation in the U.S. History statewide, standardized EOC assessment.
Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, the end-of-year comprehensive progress monitoring
assessment administered to students is the statewide, standardized ELA assessment for students
in grades 3 through 10 and the statewide, standardized Mathematics assessment for students in
grades 3 through 8. 13
EOC assessments count as 30 percent of a student’s final course grade.14 Results from
assessments are used to calculate school grades and school improvement ratings15 and determine
student readiness for promotion to fourth grade and high school graduation.16 In addition, school
districts use student performance data from the assessments in the performance evaluations for
instructional personnel and school administrators.17
The State Board of Education must adopt test security rules for the statewide, standardized
assessment program. Violation of the test security rules for assessments administered pursuant to
the student assessment program for public schools is a misdemeanor in the first degree.18
III. Effect of Proposed Changes:
To provide additional support to military children who are out-of-state due to the duty station of
their military parent or guardian, the bill creates s. 1008.213, F.S., and modifies s. 1008.22, F.S.,
to establish a process by which the parent or guardian can request flexibility in assessment
administration to permit the student to participate in statewide, standardized assessments while
out-of-state.
The bill defines "child of a military family residing outside this state eligible for flexibility in
assessment administration" to mean an FLVS full-time student of a military family residing
12
34 C.F.R. s. 200.2(c)(1).
13
Section 1008.22(3)(a) and (b), F.S; Rule 6A-1.09422(4), F.A.C.
14
Sections 1003.4156(1)(b) and 1003.4282(3), F.S.
15
Sections 1008.34 and 1008.341, F.S.
16
Sections 1008.25(5) and 1003.4282(3), F.S.
17
Section 1012.34(3), F.S.; Rule 6A-5.030(2)(a), F.A.C.
18
Section 1008.24(2), F.S.; see Rule 6A-10.042, F.A.C.
BILL: CS/SB 926 Page 4
outside of Florida who is prevented by his or her parent's or guardian's out-of-state military duty
station's location from participating in a Florida-based FLVS secure and proctored exam.
The bill requires that the flexibility in assessment administration must allow an eligible student
to participate in statewide, standardized assessments administered securely by a licensed,
certified instructor or education services officer test administrator at his or her parent's or
guardian's current military duty station. The administrator of the assessment must complete the
training adopted in State Board of Education (SBE) rule.
The flexibility in assessment administration authorized by the bill may be used by the student to
take a statewide, standardized comprehensive assessment, a statewide, standardized end-of-
course assessment, or a Florida Department of Education (FDOE) approved alternate assessment.
The request for flexibility in assessment administration must be made in writing by the student’s
parent or guardian to the FLVS at least 90 days prior to the assessment and include written,
official documentation of the family’s current out-of-state military duty station. The FLVS must
review and make a recommendation regarding granting or denying the request to the FDOE as
soon as practicable. The FDOE must make a final determination on the requested flexibility in
assessment administration, and report this determination to the FLVS, within 14 days. Upon
receipt of the FDOE’s determination, the FLVS must notify the parent or guardian whether the
flexibility in assessment administration has been granted or denied.
The FLVS must maintain data regarding the number of requests for flexibility in assessment
administration made, the number of requests for flexibility in assessment administration granted,
and data regarding student performance on statewide, standardized assessments, and make such
data available to the Legislature upon request.
The bill requires the SBE to adopt rules governing the flexibility in assessment administration
process established by the bill.
The bill takes effect on July 1, 2023.
IV. Constitutional Issues:
A. Municipality/County Mandates Restrictions:
None.
B. Public Records/Open Meetings Issues:
None.
C. Trust Funds Restrictions:
None.
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D. State Tax or Fee Increases:
None.
E. Other Constitutional Issues:
None.
V. Fiscal Impact Statement:
A. Tax/Fee Issues:
None.
B. Private Sector Impact:
None.
C. Government Sector Impact:
The fiscal impact of the bill is indeterminate. Florida Virtual School and the Florida
Department of Education may incur additional expenses to provide assessment flexibility
to military family students stationed out-of-state, but the cost is minimal.
VI. Technical Deficiencies:
None.
VII. Related Issues:
None.
VIII. Statutes Affected:
This bill substantially amends section 1008.22 of the Florida Statutes.
This bill creates section 1008.213 of the Florida Statutes.
IX. Additional Information:
A. Committee Substitute – Statement of Substantial Changes:
(Summarizing differences between the Committee Substitute and the prior version of the bill.)
CS by Education PreK-12 on April 4, 2023:
The committee substitute removes from the bill the following provisions:
Providing an exception to reemployment after retirement limitations and authorizing
the Florida Virtual School (FLVS) Board of Trustees to reemploy a retiree as a
substitute or hourly teacher, or education paraprofessional, and administrative and
support personnel on a noncontractual or contractual basis after the retiree has been
retired for one calendar month.
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Expressly authorizing FLVS instructional personnel to participate in the Deferred
Retirement Option Program for up to 36 calendar months beyond the 60 month period
and adding such authorization for administrative and support personnel.
Requiring a student of the FLVS to be funded for each credit completion, regardless
of the number of surveys the student is reported in.
Removing the 1.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) cap on the number of FLVS credit
completions a student may be funded for, as long as the student seeks accelerated
access to courses in order to obtain a high school diploma at least one semester early.
B. Amendments:
None.
This Senate Bill Analysis does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill’s introducer or the Florida Senate.
Statutes affected: S 926 Filed: 121.091, 1011.61