- April 25, 2024
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Now that the 2013 legislative session has concluded, Flagler County governing boards are assessing which bills passed and what changes they might bring locally. Both the Flagler County School Board and the Flagler County Board of County Commissioners have been debriefed about the session, each touching on major bills that will impact residents.
Career and professional education
The most significant changes this bill brings are to graduation requirements. Students will no longer need to pass all of their year-end assessments to graduate. Instead, high school students will only need to pass a year-end Algebra I exam.
The bill requires that the scores for other year-end assessments — for classes like Biology I, Algebra II and U.S. History — must account for 30% of a student’s final grade, which means students could theoretically fail the exams but still graduate if they do well enough in their coursework through the year.
The bill also mandates how technology will be integrated into classrooms. Elementary schools will now focus on cyber security and Internet safety, while middle schools will focus on career computer skills, such as Microsoft Office. New teacher certifications are available for the bills.
Under this bill, the Legislature also approved changes to the way students participating in dual enrollment programs are funded to shift some of the costs of students taking college classes to high schools.
The new law states that students are entitled to take as many classes as they wish, but that the state will pay for seven, whether in a traditional school or on a college campus, said Bob Cerra, owner of Cerra Consulting, which lobbies for school districts throughout Florida. That money will be divided between whichever schools the student attends, and the difference must be paid by the district.
Teacher pay raise changes
After Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill giving teachers and administrators performance-based pay raises, he was criticized by many school boards that worried about granting pay raises before the money to fund them came through. The raises mean an additional $2.1 million in Flagler County to fund those raises for the first year.
Complications also arose when school boards questioned whether the raises should take effect immediately (before funding from the state is received) or after assessments for the 2013-2014 school year were available.
To simplify, the state is now giving local school boards the authority to decide the terms for the raises. Boards can either use 2012-2013 teacher and administrator evaluations to determine who qualifies for the raises, or they can wait until after next year’s assessments are available.
Florida Reitrement System contributions
Under Senate Bill 1810, a the cost for the Florida Retirement System was shifted slightly from the state to counties. The bill increases the employer contribution rates for the retiree health insurance subsidy for county employees to 1.25%. Previously, the contribution rate was 1.1%.
The slight increase will cost $327,000 for departments under the County Commission, $420,000 for the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office and $75,000 for the clerk’s office, according to a county-funded lobbyist.
