Bill Text: FL S1558 | 2023 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Reading Achievement Initiative for Scholastic Excellence Program
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2023-05-05 - Died in Education Pre-K -12 [S1558 Detail]
Download: Florida-2023-S1558-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2023 SB 1558
By Senator Stewart
17-01441-23 20231558__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the Reading Achievement Initiative
3 for Scholastic Excellence Program; amending s.
4 1008.365, F.S.; authorizing tutoring provided through
5 the tutoring program within the Reading Achievement
6 Initiative for Scholastic Excellence Program to be
7 provided after the school day; conforming provisions
8 to changes made by the act; authorizing school
9 districts that participate in the tutoring program to
10 provide a stipend to instructional personnel and high
11 school students serving as tutors for after-school
12 tutoring; providing an effective date.
13
14 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
15
16 Section 1. Subsection (8) of section 1008.365, Florida
17 Statutes, is amended to read:
18 1008.365 Reading Achievement Initiative for Scholastic
19 Excellence Act.—
20 (8) As part of the RAISE Program, the department shall
21 establish a tutoring program and develop training in effective
22 reading tutoring practices and content, based on evidence-based
23 practices and aligned to the English Language Arts standards
24 under s. 1003.41, which prepares eligible high school students
25 to tutor students in kindergarten through grade 3 in schools
26 identified under this section, instilling in those students a
27 love of reading and improving their literacy skills.
28 (a) To be eligible to participate in the tutoring program,
29 a high school student must be a rising junior or senior who has
30 a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, has no
31 history of out-of-school suspensions or expulsions, is on track
32 to complete all core course requirements to graduate, and has
33 written recommendations from at least two of his or her present
34 or former high school teachers of record or extracurricular
35 activity sponsors.
36 (b) School districts that wish to participate in the
37 tutoring program must recruit, train, and deploy eligible high
38 school students using the materials developed under this
39 section. Tutoring must occur during or after the school day on
40 school district property in the presence and under the
41 supervision of instructional personnel who are school district
42 employees. A parent must give written permission for his or her
43 child to receive tutoring through the program.
44 (c) Tutoring may be part of a service-learning course
45 adopted pursuant to s. 1003.497. Students may earn up to three
46 elective credits for high school graduation based on the
47 verified number of hours the student spends tutoring under the
48 program. The hours of volunteer service must be documented in
49 writing, and the document must be signed by the student, the
50 student’s parent or guardian, and an administrator or designee
51 of the school in which the tutoring occurred. Unpaid The hours
52 that a high school student devotes to tutoring may be counted
53 toward meeting community service requirements for high school
54 graduation and community service requirements for participation
55 in the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program as provided in
56 s. 1003.497(3)(b). The department shall designate a high school
57 student who provides at least 75 verified hours of tutoring
58 under the program as a New Worlds Scholar and award the student
59 with a pin indicating such designation.
60 (d) School districts participating in the tutoring program
61 may provide a stipend to instructional personnel and high school
62 students serving as tutors for after-school tutoring.
63 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.
