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General information and responses to frequently-asked questions about this
year's school recognition program is posted on the DOE web page. |
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http://www.firn.edu/doe/evaluation/schrmain.htm |
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2.
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Who decides how the A+ award will be used?
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SS
1008.36
F.S. clearly requires the school's staff and the school advisory council to JOINTLY decide the use of funds
within the purposes allowed in law. The legislation requires the funds to be used for
non-recurring staff and faculty bonuses, non-recurring expenditures for materials and supplies, for temporary personnel to assist in maintaining or
improving student performance, or any combination of these.
The law does not, however, address how the joint decision is to be
made. The process for
making decisions and resolving conflicts is determined at the local level. |
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3. |
How did this program come to be?
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The Governor visited over 200 public schools while running for Governor and met
with hundreds of teachers, SAC members and principals. He received widespread advice that he work to get more funds directly to schools so
decisions could be at the school level. So, as a candidate, in the summer of 1998 he proposed the A+ plan, which included $100
(2009- reduced to $75; 2008 - reduced to $85) per pupil to any
school that improved a letter grade or sustained high achievement. (--- great explanation by Stewart Brown, FL-SAC
member) |
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4.
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What is the formula for the DOE granting money to schools for school grades last year and for this year or where I might find
the formulas?
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The statute citation for school recognition is 1008.36, F.S.
The dollars are annually appropriated in the General Appropriations
Act in "proviso" language, an explanation of legislative intent for
individual line items. Each recognized school will receive $___
(each year it can be different since it is renewed through the
General Appropriations Act) per full-time equivalent (FTE)
student based on last year's enrollment. |
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5. |
How much is awarded, where is the amount in law?
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It is a line item appropriation every year under the General
Appropriations for the year inquired about. |
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6.
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What is the
law that outlines the Florida School Recognition Program? |
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Title XLVIII - K-20 EDUCATION CODE, ASSESSMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY
1008.36 Florida School Recognition
Program.-- (was ss. 231.2905)
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7. |
What is the timeline for dispersing of the funds? |
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These funds will be electronically transferred to school districts in early September. School districts will place these funds
in a school account at the district level and they will be
immediately available when the school decides how to use the award
money. These funds are not to be placed in a school's internal
accounts. "(4) All selected schools shall receive financial awards depending
on the availability of funds appropriated and the number and size
of schools selected to receive an award. Funds must be distributed
to the school's fiscal agent and placed in the school's account
and must be used for purposes listed in subsection (5) as
determined jointly by the school's staff and school advisory
council. If school staff and the school advisory council cannot
reach agreement by November 1, the awards must be equally
distributed to all classroom teachers currently teaching in the
school." |
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8.
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Is there a deadline for the decision on the use of these
funds?
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November 1st is the deadline and there are no exceptions. Section
1008.36 (4), F.S.states that if
the school staff and the school advisory council cannot reach
agreement by November 1, the awards must be equally distributed to
all classroom teachers currently teaching in the
school. |
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9. |
Who is defined as "Classroom Teachers"? |
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Section 1008.36 (4),
F.S. "As defined in
Section 1012.01(2)(a), "F.S., classroom teachers are
staff members assigned the professional activity of instructing
students in courses in classroom situations, including basic
instruction, exceptional student education, career and technical
education, and adult education, including substitute teachers."
Section 1012.01(2), goes on to define student personnel
services (guidance counselors), Librarians/media specialists,
Other instructional staff (example: learning resource
specialists), Education paraprofessionals (example:
classroom paraprofessionals). |
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10. |
May faculty and staff who left at the end of the previous
school year receive a bonus? May faculty or staff who are new to
the school when funds are dispersed receive a bonus? Are these
funds subject to collective bargaining?
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Faculty and staff who left the school at the end of the previous
school year may receive an award, (after all, they were teaching
the year the school earned this award!) IF the decision is made
before November 1st.
After November 1st, current classroom teachers will
automatically receive bonuses.
According to Section 1008.36 (5),
F.S., "Notwithstanding statutory provision to the contrary,
incentive awards are not subject to collective bargaining." |
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11. |
May Florida School Recognition Program funds received pursuant to Section 231.2905, Florida Statutes, be used to provide bonuses to school staff who are not employees of the school board?
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CONCLUSION: Our (General Counsel for DOE) answer is a qualified "Yes."
"It is our opinion that bonuses resulting from the Florida School Recognition program provided at Section 231.2905, Florida Statutes, may be awarded to the faculty or staff or a school regardless of an individual's actual employer, so long as the committee composed of the school staff and school advisory council determines that such individuals may receive the bonus and so long as the individuals are not otherwise precluded from accepting the bonuses." |
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12. How did your school spend The A+ School recognition money?
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Email me and I will
add your school! The results will be posted here to help other SAC's & faculty determine how
their recognition money could be spent.
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School Recognition Funds are additional funds supplied by the state for a job
well done. The spending of the money is, however, supposed to be decided on
by both the school staff and the SAC. |
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HOW SOME SCHOOLS
SPENT THEIR A+ FUNDS: |
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Mariposa Elementary -
2001
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Mariposa elementary received $70,550. from the A+ school recognition
program. The SAC decided to give bonuses to the staff and from there it went to a vote from the staff.
The bonus monies will be allocated so that eighty percent will be expended on certified staff and twenty percent will be expended on support staff
"all certified staff members who returned to Mariposa will receive an equal share of the eighty percent and all support staff members who returned to Mariposa will
receive an equal share of the twenty percent."
37 teachers against 27 support staff. MARIPOSA ELEMENTARY IS NOW TORN APART,
WHILE OUR COUNTRY STANDS UNITED, MARIPOSA STANDS DIVIDED, HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOU WERE TOLD YOU WERE ONLY WORTH TWENTY PERCENT BY YOUR PEERS!?!
~submitted by 'jadew' (first part of email address)
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Lowry Elementary, Hillsborough County,
2001
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Hillsborough County / Lowry Elementary - All $80,000 + went to bonuses. I don't understand this when parents and students are equally responsible for improvements in my opinion. The recognition program statute, 231.2905, states that incentives are commonplace in the private sector. This is true, however, the parents and students are ultimately responsible for almost all of the criteria listed for the award! The staff should absolutely share in the bonus, as they are an integral part of the equation.
~ John Barker
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2000 - Ocean Breeze Elementary,
Brevard County |
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The staff was given a questionnaire to give input; SAC
also gave input to the decision. Ocean Breeze decided to divide
the recognition money this way: 66% -- staff bonuses; 56% to certified employees;
10% to classified employees; 34% -- retained for equipment expenses -- they are talking about new
TV sets for each classroom.
Also each staff member was asked to fill out a form stating whether they wanted it as a bonus in their check or as a classroom fund.
Some of our teachers felt that they would be farther ahead of the game by
having these funds put into a classroom account. That way they would get 100%
of the money -- if it comes in their checks they are going to taxed as much
as 28%. (submitted by C. Michocki, SAC Parent)
(PERSONAL NOTE: I thought this was a great idea - using the money
without taxes being taken!) |
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1999 - Woodlands Elementary,
Seminole County - $80,000.00 |
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"$1000.00 bonus to staff , $100.00 to each support staff. $250.00 for class expense and they wanted the balance for
future years needs.
We are an upper middle class neighborhood, not a single apartment in our zone, therefore our mobility
rate is lower than other schools, we have some many parent volunteers that we are actually duking it
out over positions (as all may be aware from my PTA/SAC postings), we can pick
from the crème of the crop as far as teachers go, we will have the newest
elementary school in district soon, etc......."From Sheila |
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1999 - Lake Mary High
School - $100,000.00's |
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Lake Mary High School received an amount in the $100,000.00"s and gave $money to all of the lower performing
elementary schools that feed into them. One other school (middle) set up and
funded special programs for feeder school. (post on
FL-SAC email
newslist) |
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1999 - Ashton Elementary
Elementary School, Sarasota County - $114,000 |
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Elementary school received $114,000 which used 80%
of the money for teacher bonus and 20% for curriculum extras. The
teachers ended up with about $700 a piece (and we decided on current staff, not
the previous staff.)-- from Laura in Sarasota County |
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J.J. Finley Elementary,
Alachua County
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Gainesville Sun.
: The J.J. Finley Elementary SAC, had an emergency meeting and decided to spend $32K out of $52K to hire another teacher to reduce class size.
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2000 - St. Petersburg
High School, Pinellas County
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Basically spent it all on teacher's bonuses. They had the option of leaving
it at the school to use for their classroom. Don't know exactly how many took it versus left it in the school but the sense was that most would take
it as a bonus (submitted by Van C. Sayler, St. Pete High)
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2001 - Sugarloaf
School, Monroe County (Elementary & Middle) |
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"The School Advisory Council voted 8-3 to accept a proposal developed by a committee of teachers and SAC members to allocate 74% to teachers, administrators, and staff bonuses and 24% to playground improvements and our Accelerated Math Initiative. The average bonus for an elementary teacher and administrators was $800 and the average for a middle school teacher was $250.00 (this differentiation was because the elementary school earned the “A”; a similar process was followed last year when the middle school earned the “A”). All other members of the staff were also recognized with small bonuses under $200.00. Sugarloaf School apportioned its A+ money in a comparable way to the other schools that were awarded money in the school district. These are: HOB Middle School, Poinciana Elementary School, Plantation Key Elementary and Middle School and Glynn Archer Elementary School."
(This was taken from
their
web site as a direct quote from the principal)
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Gateway High School,
Osceola Co. |
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We gave all the teachers a bonus and gave the band $5000.
Updated computer labs.
~ Sandee at Gateway High School, SAC - Osceola Co
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