Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Assembly Republicans yesterday (12/1) announced a legislative package to address the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the news release provided to the media, a number of school-related provisions are included. These include provisions that would:
- Establish limited liability for schools, businesses and local governments;
- Re-establish personal electronic computing device grants for schools ($9 million);
- Require teacher instruction from school buildings by end of January, subject to certain exceptions;
- Require school board approval of virtual instruction by two-thirds vote of the board; and
- Provide payments to parents of $371 (half of the per pupil aid increase for the year) for students who have had at least 50% virtual instruction since September.
An analysis of the proposal by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau describes these provisions in greater detail. See below:
IMMUNITY FOR INDIVIDUALS AND SCHOOLS RELATED TO COVID-19 STANDARDS AND CLAIMS
(Among other things, these provisions would) create a civil liability exemption for the death of, or injury to, an individual related to the exposure or possible exposure to COVID-19 while on school grounds, attending a school event/activity, or during transport to or from school grounds or a school event/activity for school districts, the authorizer, operator, or governing board of a charter school, the governing body of a private school, and any officer, official, employee, or agent of these entities. Specify that the immunity would be applicable until the end of the 2020-21 school year, and would be in addition to and not in lieu of any immunity currently available to school districts and officers, officials, agents, or employees of school districts. Further, extend the immunity to independent charter and private schools and their officers, officials, employees, and agents with respect to COVID-19 claims.
Immunity established under the bill would first apply to civil actions filed on the effective date of the bill.
[Under current law, school districts have immunity from intentional acts of its officers, officials, agents, and employees for acts done in the exercise of legislative, quasi-legislative, judicial, or quasi-judicial functions, with certain exceptions.]
Other provisions listed under PUBLIC INSTRUCTION are described as follows:
1. OPEN ENROLLMENT PROGRAM MODIFICATIONS
Make the following changes to the full-time open enrollment program for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years:
a. Specify that if a pupil’s parent applies under the “best interest of the pupil” criteria under the alternative application procedure, the pupil’s resident school district may not reject the application for any reason. (emphasis added)
b. Specify that the three district limit on the number of nonresident school districts to which a parent may submit applications does not apply. (emphasis added)
Specify that these provisions would first apply to applications submitted under the alternative application procedure on the effective date of the proposal.
[Under the open enrollment program, a pupil may attend a public school located outside the pupil’s resident district if the pupil’s parent complies with certain application dates and procedures. Under the regular application procedure, the pupil’s parent must submit an application to the
nonresident district between February and April of the preceding school year. Under the alternative application procedure, the pupil’s parent may apply to a nonresident district at any point in the school year if the pupil meets one of the criteria specified in statute.
Under either application procedure, parents are prohibited from submitting applications to more than three nonresident districts in any school year. Also, a pupil can attend a prekindergarten, four-year-old kindergarten, early childhood or school-operated child care program in a nonresident district only if the pupil’s resident district offers the same type of program and the pupil is eligible to attend that program in the resident district.
One of the criteria under the alternative procedure is that the parent of the pupil and the resident and nonresident districts agree that attending school in the nonresident district is in the best interests of the pupil. If the resident district does not agree, the parent may appeal the resident
district’s decision to DPI.]
2. PERSONAL ELECTRONIC COMPUTING DEVICE GRANTS
Require that DPI submit a request to the Joint Committee on Finance under s. 13.101 that asks the Committee to transfer at least $9,187,500 to the appropriation for personal electronic computing device grants in the 2020-21 fiscal year within 30 days of the effective date of the proposal.
Additionally, specify that a school board, operator of an independent charter school, governing body of a private school, or tribal school that receives funding under the Education Stabilization Fund created in the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and uses
the funding for purchasing educational technology, including hardware, software, and connectivity, would not be eligible for funding under the personal electronic computing device grant program in 2020-21.
[In 2018-19, school districts, independent charter schools, private schools, and tribal schools receive grants equal to $125 per ninth grade pupil, if they provide equal matching funds. Grants can only be used for the following purposes: (a) to purchase personal electronic computing devices; (b) to purchase software for personal electronic devices; (c) to purchase curriculum which includes content that may be accessed on a personal electronic computing device; or (d) to train staff on how to effectively incorporate personal electronic computing devices into a classroom and into a high school curriculum. Funding for the program was deleted from 2019 Act 9 by partial veto.]
3. VIRTUAL INSTRUCTION REPORTS
Require school boards to submit a report to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) within 30 days of the end of each semester in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school year regarding virtual instruction provided during the semester. Specify that the end of the semester would be defined as the last day on which instruction is provided to pupils in a semester, or if the district does not use semesters, as the last day of the first half of the school term and the last day of the school term.
Define virtual instruction as instruction provided by means of the Internet if the pupils participating in and instructional staff providing the instruction are geographically remote from each other. A school board would not be required to submit a report in the 2021-22 school year for a semester in which virtual instruction is not provided in lieu of in-person instruction.
Require that each report include the following: (a) whether or not virtual instruction was implemented in the school district during the semester, and, if so, in which grades it was implemented and the process for implementing the virtual instruction; (b) whether or not in-person instruction was provided in the school district during the semester, and if so, which grades it was provided and the number of school days of in-person instruction that were provided in each grade; (c) any challenges or barriers the school board faced related to implementing virtual instruction during the semester; and (d) the total amount by which the school board reduced or increased expenditures in each of the following categories because the school board provided virtual instruction: utilities, transportation, food service, salary and fringe benefits for personnel (including teachers, submit staff, and administrators, and including reductions that result from lay-offs), and contract terminations.
Require DPI to compile and submit the information received from the school board reports to the appropriate standing committees of the Legislature no later than January 1, 2022, for reports received for the 2020-21 school year, and January 1, 2023, for reports received for the 2021-22 school year.
A similar report was required for the 2019-20 school year under 2019 Act 185.
4. SPECIAL NEEDS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM PARTIAL PAYMENTS
Require that DPI make an additional payment to a private school participating in the special needs scholarship program if an otherwise eligible pupil was not included in the 3rd Friday of September pupil count for the 2020-21 school year because he or she did not have an individualized education program (IEP) or services plan in effect on that date, but does have an IEP or services plan in place by the 2nd Friday of January, 2021. The additional payment would be made in February, 2021, and would be equal to 50% of the amount calculated as follows: (a) determine the number of school days between the date the pupil obtained an IEP or services plan and the 2nd Friday of January, 2021; (b) determine the total number of school days between the start of the school year at the private school and the 2nd Friday of January; (c) divide the amount determined under (a) by the amount
determined under (b); and (d) multiply the result by the per pupil payment (equal to $12,977 in 2020-21).
5. TEACHER INSTRUCTION FROM SCHOOL BUILDINGS
Require school boards to ensure that all hours of direct pupil instruction are provided by a teacher who is physically located in a school building, beginning on January 31, 2021, and ending on the last day of the 2020-21 school term. Specify that this provision would not apply to virtual
charter schools. Specify that hours of direct pupil instruction may be provided by a teacher who is not physically located in a school building if the teacher submits to the school board a COVID-19-related written exemption from a physician or physician assistant licensed in the state. Specify that
this exception would not apply 60 days after the DOA Secretary determines that a vaccine for COVID-19 is widely available in the state.
Require each school board to certify to DPI by March 5, 2021, whether or not the board complied with the above requirement during the period beginning on January 31, 2021, and ending on February 26, 2021. Provide that if a school board does not comply with the above requirement
during that time period, DPI would be required to withhold the district’s March, 2021, equalization aid payment (25% of its total 2020-21 payment).
Require each school board to certify to DPI by June 16, 2021, whether or not the board complied with the above requirement during the period beginning on March 1, 2021, and ending on June 11, 2021. Provide that if a school board does not comply with the above requirement during
that time period, DPI would be required to withhold the district’s June, 2021, equalization aid payment (35% of its total 2020-21 payment).
6. SCHOOL BOARD APPROVAL OF VIRTUAL INSTRUCTION
Specify that, during the time period beginning on January 11, 2021, and ending June 30, 2022, a school board may not provide virtual instruction to pupils in lieu of in-person instruction unless approved by a two-thirds vote of the board. Provide that such an approval would be valid for 14 days. Specify that a board may extend virtual instruction only by a two-thirds vote of the board and that each extension may not be for more than 14 days.
7. PAYMENTS TO PARENTS FOR VIRTUAL INSTRUCTION
Require that, if a school board provides virtual instruction to a pupil in lieu of in-person instruction during the 2020-21 school year, the board shall pay $371 to the parent or guardian of the pupil. Specify that this provision would also apply to schools that have virtual instruction for 50% of the semester.
