(1) LEGISLATIVE INTENT; PURPOSE. The Legislature recognizes that high-quality prekindergarten education programs increase children's chances of achieving future educational success and becoming productive members of society. It is the intent of the Legislature that such programs be developmental, serve as preventive measures for children at risk of future school failure, enhance the educational readiness of all children, and support family education and the involvement of parents in their child's educational progress. Each prekindergarten early intervention program shall provide the elements necessary to prepare children for school, including health screening and referral and a developmentally appropriate educational program and opportunities for parental involvement in the program. It is the legislative intent that the prekindergarten early intervention program not exist as an isolated program, but build upon existing services and work in cooperation with other programs for young children. It is intended that procedures such as, but not limited to, contracting, collocation, mainstreaming, and cooperative funding be used to coordinate the program with Head Start, public and private providers of day care, preschool programs for children with disabilities, programs for migrant children, Chapter I, subsidized day care, adult literacy programs, and other services. It is further the intent of the Legislature that the Commissioner of Education seek the advice of the Secretary of Health and Rehabilitative Services in the development and implementation of the prekindergarten early intervention program and the coordination of services to young children. The purpose of the prekindergarten early intervention program is to assist school districts in implementing programs that will enable all the families and children in the school district to be prepared for the children's success in school.

(2) PROGRAM. There is hereby created the prekindergarten early intervention program for children who are 3 and 4 years of age. A prekindergarten early intervention program shall be administered by a district school board and shall receive state funds pursuant to subsection (9). Prekindergarten early intervention programs shall be implemented and conducted by school districts pursuant to a plan developed and approved as provided in this section. School district participation in the prekindergarten early intervention program shall be at the discretion of each school district.

(a) At least 75 percent of the children projected to be served by the district program shall be economically disadvantaged 4-year-old children, including migrant children. Other children projected to be served by the district program may include any of the following up to a maximum of 25 percent of the total number of children served: 1. Three-year-old and four-year-old children who are referred to the school system who may not be economically disadvantaged but who are abused, prenatally exposed to alcohol or harmful drugs, or from foster homes, or who are marginal in terms of Exceptional Student Education placement. 2. Three-year-old children and four-year-old children who may not be economically disadvantaged but who are eligible students with disabilities and served in a specific part-time or combination of part-time exceptional student education programs with required special services, aids, or equipment and who are reported for funding part-time in the Florida Education Finance Program as exceptional students. These students may be funded from prekindergarten early intervention program funds the portion of the time not funded by the Florida Education Finance Program for the actual instructional time or one full-time equivalent student membership, whichever is the lesser. These part-time students with disabilities shall be counted toward the 25-percent student limit based on full-time equivalent student membership funded part-time by prekindergarten early intervention program funds. Also, 3-year-old or 4-year-old eligible students with disabilities who are reported for funding in the Florida Education Finance Program in a full-time or an authorized combination of full-time and part-time exceptional student programs as provided in s. 236.081(1)(c) may be mainstreamed in the prekindergarten early intervention program if such programming is reflected in the student's individual educational plan; if required special services, aids, or equipment are provided; and if there is no operational cost to prekindergarten early intervention program funds. These full-time exceptional students shall not count against the 75-percent or 25-percent student limit as stated in this paragraph. 3. Economically disadvantaged 3-year-old children served in groups. 4. Economically disadvantaged children, children with disabilities, and children at risk of future school failure, from birth to age four, who are served at home through home visitor programs and intensive parent education programs such as the Florida First Start Program. 5. Children who meet federal and state requirements for eligibility for the migrant preschool program but who do not meet the criteria of "economically disadvantaged" as defined in paragraph (b), who shall not pay a fee. 6. After the groups listed in subparagraphs 1., 2., 3., and 4. have been served, 3-year-old and 4-year-old children who are not economically disadvantaged and for whom a fee is paid for the children's participation.

(b) An "economically disadvantaged" child shall be defined as a child eligible to participate in the free lunch program. Notwithstanding any change in a family's economic status or in the federal eligibility requirements for free lunch, a child who meets the eligibility requirements upon initial registration for the program shall be considered eligible through the end of that school year. In order to assist the school district in establishing the priority in which children shall be served, the central agency for state-subsidized child care or the local service district of the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services shall provide the school district with an updated list of 3-year-old and 4-year-old children residing in the school district who are on the waiting list for state-subsidized child care.

(3) PLANS. Each district school board that chooses to participate in the prekindergarten early intervention program shall submit to the Commissioner of Education a plan for implementing and conducting a prekindergarten early intervention program. Each plan or amended plan shall be developed in cooperation with the local interagency coordinating council on early childhood services pursuant to [Footnote 1] subsection (11) and shall be approved by the commissioner. A district school board shall submit a plan or amended plan for planning and evaluating prekindergarten programs, implementing new services, enhancing existing early childhood, prekindergarten, or child care programs provided by public or nonpublic entities, or contracting for the provision of services or facilities. School boards shall include in their plans an explanation of the role of the prekindergarten early intervention program in the school district's effort to meet the first state education goal, readiness to start school, and the plan must include the utilization of public and private programs already in existence in the district, business-education partnerships, and preschool programs operated by vocational-technical schools, community colleges, and universities. A district school board plan shall identify the locations where services will be provided and may include public school property or other sites that meet state and local licensing requirements for child day care facilities or State Board of Education rules, except that sites shall be located to the maximum extent practicable so as to provide easy access by parents, especially working parents of economically disadvantaged children. When a district uses nonschool facilities or nonschool facility staff for the provision of services, a contract is required; when a district uses nonschool facilities and provides district instructional staff, a cooperative agreement is required. Unless the commissioner requests a revised plan, districts with plans approved subsequent to July 1, 1989, must submit only amendments to their initial plans to the commissioner by November 15 of each subsequent year.

(4) PLAN APPROVAL. To be considered for approval, each plan, or amendment to a plan, must be prepared according to instructions issued by the Commissioner of Education and must include, without limitation:

(a) A description of the program curriculum and assurances that the program curriculum will be developmentally appropriate according to current nationally recognized recommendations for high-quality prekindergarten programs.

(b) The estimated number of children who will participate in the program based upon a needs assessment that considers existing services and unmet needs.

(c) The projected percentage of children who will participate in the program and who are economically disadvantaged.

(d) The criteria used by the district to establish a sliding fee scale for participants who are not economically disadvantaged, and a description of the sliding scale.

(e) A description of the program's administrative and supervisory structure.

(f) The ratio of direct instructional staff to children. The ratio must be one adult to 10 children, or a lower ratio. Upon written request from a school district, the commissioner may grant permission for a ratio of up to 1 adult to 15 children for individual schools or centers for which a 1 to 10 ratio would not be feasible.

(g) Information on the training and qualifications of program staff, including an assurance that all staff will have met the following minimum requirements: 1. The minimum level of training is to be the completion of a 30-clock-hour training course planned jointly by the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services to include the following areas: state and local rules that govern child care, health, safety, and nutrition; identification and report of child abuse and neglect; child growth and development; use of developmentally appropriate early childhood curricula; and avoidance of income-based, race-based, and gender-based stereotyping. 2. When individual classrooms are staffed by certified teachers, those teachers must be certified for the appropriate grade levels under s. 231.17 and State Board of Education rules. Teachers who are not certified for the appropriate grade levels must obtain proper certification within 2 years. However, the commissioner may make an exception on an individual basis when the requirements are not met because of serious illness, injury, or other extraordinary, extenuating circumstance. 3. When individual classrooms are staffed by noncertified teachers, there must be a program director or lead teacher who is eligible for certification or certified for the appropriate grade levels pursuant to s. 231.17 and State Board of Education rules in regularly scheduled direct contact with each classroom. Notwithstanding s. 231.15, such classrooms must be staffed by at least one person who has, at a minimum, a child development associate credential (CDA) or an amount of training determined by the commissioner to be equivalent to or to exceed the minimum, such as an associate in science degree in the area of early childhood education. 4. Beginning October 1, 1994, principals and other school district administrative and supervisory personnel with direct responsibility for the program must demonstrate knowledge of prekindergarten education programs that increase children's chances of achieving future educational success and becoming productive members of society in a manner established by the State Board of Education by rule. To be eligible for state funding, all program plans must include a requirement that all personnel who are not certified under s. 231.17 must comply with screening requirements under ss. 231.02 and 231.1713.

(h) A description of proposed staff development activities, including arrangements for staff access to training in child growth and development and developmentally appropriate early childhood curriculum, coordination with local teacher education centers established under [Footnote 2] s. 231.603, and integration with district master inservice plans required under s. 236.0811.

(i) A description of the number and location of all program sites and how each site is considered easily accessible to the population to be served and to coordinated services.

(j) A description of the arrangements for transporting children to and from the program sites and their homes, if appropriate.

(k) A requirement that student participation be contingent upon parental involvement, and a description of the parental involvement activities integral to the program, which must include program site-based parental activities designed to fully involve parents in the program and which may include parenting education, home visitor activities, family support services coordination, and other activities.

(l) A description of the interagency coordinating council and efforts made to coordinate and maximize use of existing funds and community facilities, equipment, medical, educational, and social services, including coordination with adult literacy and vocational programs.

(m) Identification of the days and hours when services are to be provided, including a school day and school year equal to or exceeding the requirements for kindergarten under ss. 228.041 and 236.013 and strategies to provide care before school, after school, and 12 months a year, when needed. The strategies specified by this paragraph must be developed by the school district in cooperation with the central agency for state-subsidized child care or the local service district of the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services and must be approved by the district interagency coordinating council established under subsection (10). Programs may be provided on Saturdays and through other innovative scheduling arrangements.

(n) A description of the developmental and health screening and referral services to be provided each child in the program and assurances that needed developmental and health services will be provided through interagency coordination to the extent possible.

(o) A written description of the role of the program in the school district's effort to meet the first state education goal, readiness to start school, including a description of the school board's plan to involve nonpublic schools, public and private providers of day care and early education, and other community agencies that provide services to young children. This may include private child care programs, subsidized child care programs, and Head Start programs. The written description of the school board's plan to involve the groups listed above must be submitted annually.

(p) A description of how the program will be coordinated with the district program for grades K through 3 and with district preschool programs for children with disabilities and migrant children.

(q) A tentative budget.

(r) Strategies to allow for parental option regarding a child's participation at a school-based site or among contracted sites, when such an option is appropriate and within the school district. The school district may consider availability of sites, transportation, staffing ratios, costs, and other factors in determining the assignment and setting district guidelines. Parents may request and be assigned a site other than one first assigned by the district, provided the parents pay the cost of transporting the child to the site of the parents' choice.

(s) Strategies for school district coordination with the central agency for state-subsidized child care or the local service district of the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services to verify family participation in Project Independence, thus ensuring accurate reporting and full utilization of federal funds available through the Family Support Act, and for the agency's or service district's sharing of the waiting list for state-subsidized child care under paragraph (2)(b).

(5) PLAN APPROVAL. The Commissioner of Education has the final authority to approve or disapprove plans and amended plans.

(6) EVALUATION. Each school district shall conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of the prekindergarten early intervention program. This evaluation shall include measures of the following:

(a) The children's achievement as measured by assessments upon entry into the program and upon completion of the program; and

(b) The children's readiness for kindergarten as measured by the instrument the district uses to assess the school readiness of all children entering kindergarten. The results of this evaluation must be maintained by the school district and made available to the public upon request.

(7) MONITORING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. Pursuant to s. 229.565(5), the Commissioner of Education shall monitor each district prekindergarten early intervention program at least annually to determine compliance with the district plan and the provisions of this section. If a school board fails to bring its program into compliance within 3 months after the commissioner's evaluation citing specific deficiencies, the commissioner must withhold such funds as have been allocated to the school board for its prekindergarten early intervention program and which have not yet been released. The department shall develop manuals and guidelines for the development of district plans and shall provide ongoing technical assistance to ensure that each district program maintains high standards of quality and effectiveness.

(8) ANNUAL REPORT. Each district school board that implements a prekindergarten early intervention program under this section shall, with the assistance of the district interagency coordinating council on early childhood services, submit an annual report of its program to the Commissioner of Education. The report must describe the overall program operations; activities of the district interagency coordinating council on early childhood services; expenditures; the number of students served; ratio of staff to children; staff qualifications; evaluation findings, including identification of program components that were most successful; and other information required by the Commissioner of Education or the state advisory council.

(9) FUNDING.

(a) This section shall be implemented only to the extent that funding is available. State funds appropriated for the prekindergarten early intervention program may not be used for the construction of new facilities, the transportation of students, or the purchase of buses, but may be used for educational field trips which enhance the curriculum. 1. At least 70 percent of the total funds allocated to each school district under this section must be used for implementing and conducting a prekindergarten early intervention program or contracting with other public or nonpublic entities for programs to serve eligible children. The maximum amount to be spent per child for this purpose is to be designated annually in the General Appropriations Act. 2. No more than 30 percent of the funds allocated to each school district pursuant to this section may be used to enhance existing public and nonpublic programs for eligible children, to provide before-school and after-school care for children served under this section, to remodel or renovate existing facilities under chapter 235, to lease or lease-purchase facilities in accordance with subsection (3) of this section, to purchase classroom equipment to allow the implementation of the prekindergarten early intervention program, and to provide training for program teachers and administrative personnel employed by the school district and by agencies with which the school district contracts for the provision of prekindergarten services. 3. Funds may also be used pursuant to subparagraphs 1. and 2. to provide the prekindergarten early intervention program for more than 180 school days.

(b) A minimum grant for each district is to be determined annually in the General Appropriations Act. The funds remaining after allocating the minimum grants must be prorated based on an allocation factor for each district and must be added to each district's minimum grant. The allocation factor is to be calculated as follows: