Merit Institute Merit

The Florida Merit-Based Education & Workforce Reform Act (FL-MEWRA)

Florida state companion to MEWRA. Creates a Florida Outcome-Based School Authorizer pathway, extends Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES) portability, and coordinates with the Florida Department of Education and CareerSource Florida on outcome-based funding.

THE FLORIDA MERIT-BASED EDUCATION & WORKFORCE REFORM ACT (FL-MEWRA)

A Florida Bill to Route State Education Dollars Through Measured Outcomes

Vehicle: State passage. Florida Legislature, regular session. Primary referral to the Senate Education Pre-K-12 Committee and Senate Education Postsecondary Committee; House PreK-12 Quality Subcommittee and House Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee. Fiscal provisions additionally referred to Senate Appropriations and House Appropriations.

Relationship to federal MEWRA: Where federal MEWRA creates an Outcome-Based School Authorizer (OBSA) pathway and a National Labor-Market Feedback (NLMF) registry, this Act creates Florida’s companion authorizer and ties Florida’s existing Family Empowerment Scholarship Program (Fla. Stat. Sec. 1002.394, Sec. 1002.395) and CareerSource Florida Individual Training Accounts under Fla. Stat. Ch. 445 to outcome-published providers.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE

This Act may be cited as the “Florida Merit-Based Education & Workforce Reform Act (FL-MEWRA).”

SECTION 2. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT

The Legislature finds that Florida has one of the nation’s largest and most mature education-choice and outcome-publication regimes, including the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (Fla. Stat. Sec. 1002.394), the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (Fla. Stat. Sec. 1002.395), the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program (Fla. Stat. Sec. 1002.395), charter school authorization under Fla. Stat. Sec. 1002.33, the School Grading System under Fla. Stat. Sec. 1008.34, the Florida College System performance-funding model under Fla. Stat. Sec. 1011.4107, and the State University System performance-funding model under Fla. Stat. Sec. 1001.92. The Legislature further finds that Florida’s CareerSource workforce infrastructure under Fla. Stat. Ch. 445 can be leveraged to direct state training dollars to providers that publish genuine labor-market outcomes. This Act builds on, and is coordinated with, these existing frameworks.

TITLE I — DEFINITIONS & COORDINATION WITH FLORIDA LAW

Vehicle (Florida): Definitional. Interpretive only.

Sec. 101. Definitions

For purposes of this Act:

  1. (a) “Florida outcome-based school” means a provisional school authorized under Title II of this Act by the Florida Outcome-Based School Authorizer.
  2. (b) “FES” means the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program established under Fla. Stat. Sec. 1002.394 and Sec. 1002.395.
  3. (c) “CareerSource ITA” means an Individual Training Account issued under Fla. Stat. Ch. 445 to a CareerSource Florida program participant.
  4. (d) “Federal NLMF” means the National Labor-Market Feedback registry established under Title III of the federal Merit-Based Education & Workforce Reform Act.

Sec. 102. Coordination with Existing Florida Law

  1. (a) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to duplicate or conflict with:
  • The Florida School Grading System under Fla. Stat. Sec. 1008.34.
  • Charter-school authorization under Fla. Stat. Sec. 1002.33.
  • Family Empowerment Scholarship programs under Fla. Stat. Sec. 1002.394 and Sec. 1002.395.
  • Florida College System performance funding under Fla. Stat. Sec. 1011.4107.
  • State University System performance funding under Fla. Stat. Sec. 1001.92.
  • CareerSource Florida and workforce-development programs under Fla. Stat. Ch. 445.
  • The Commission for Independent Education under Fla. Stat. Ch. 1005.

TITLE II — FLORIDA OUTCOME-BASED SCHOOL AUTHORIZER

Vehicle (Florida): Regular order. Creates a new authorization pathway within the Florida Department of Education using existing Ch. 1002 charter-school rulemaking authority.

Sec. 201. Establishment of the Florida Outcome-Based School Authorizer

  1. (a) The Commissioner of Education shall designate, within the Florida Department of Education, a Florida Outcome-Based School Authorizer (“FL-OBSA”).
  2. (b) FL-OBSA shall authorize provisional schools without requiring accreditation by any regional accrediting body as a condition of authorization, provided the provisional school meets the standard in Sec. 202.
  3. (c) A school authorized under this Title shall be treated as an eligible scholarship-receiving provider under Sec. 301, but shall not confer an accredited postsecondary degree absent separate Florida or federal accreditation.

Sec. 202. Outcome-Based Authorization Standard

  1. (a) To be authorized under this Title, a school shall publish, in machine-readable form, the outcome metrics required by Sec. 401.
  2. (b) The school shall additionally satisfy the facilities, safety, and criminal-background-check standards applicable to charter schools under Fla. Stat. Sec. 1002.33.
  3. (c) Authorization shall be for an initial term of four years, renewable based on satisfaction of the outcome thresholds published by FL-OBSA under Sec. 401.

Sec. 203. Interaction with SUS, FCS, and Ch. 1005 Institutions

  1. (a) A provisional school authorized under this Title may articulate with State University System institutions (Fla. Stat. Ch. 1001) and Florida College System institutions (Fla. Stat. Ch. 1007) on a basis established by the State Board of Education.
  2. (b) Nothing in this Title shall affect the Commission for Independent Education’s jurisdiction under Fla. Stat. Ch. 1005 over nonpublic postsecondary institutions.

TITLE III — EDUCATION-FUND PORTABILITY

Vehicle (Florida): Regular order with fiscal provisions. Extends existing Florida scholarship programs rather than creating new programs; appropriations addressed through the General Appropriations Act.

Sec. 301. Family Empowerment Scholarship Extension

  1. (a) A Florida outcome-based school authorized under Title II is eligible to receive Family Empowerment Scholarship funds under Fla. Stat. Sec. 1002.394 and Sec. 1002.395, provided it meets all other eligibility requirements applicable to an eligible private school under those Sections.
  2. (b) Step Up For Students and the Florida AAA Scholarship Foundation, as the scholarship-funding organizations designated under Fla. Stat. Sec. 1002.395, shall treat Title II-authorized schools on the same footing as other eligible private schools for administrative purposes.

Sec. 302. CareerSource Florida Individual Training Accounts

  1. (a) CareerSource Florida shall ensure that, not later than 24 months after the effective date of this Act, at least 50 percent of CareerSource ITA disbursements flow to providers that publish outcome data in the FL-OBSA Registry established under Sec. 401 or the Federal NLMF.
  2. (b) This requirement shall be implemented through CareerSource Florida’s existing Eligible Training Provider List under 29 U.S.C. Sec. 3152 and Fla. Stat. Ch. 445.

TITLE IV — PUBLISHED OUTCOME METRICS

Vehicle (Florida): Regular order. Extends existing Florida School Grading and FCS/SUS performance-metrics infrastructure into the FL-OBSA framework.

Sec. 401. Florida Outcome-Metrics Registry

  1. (a) FL-OBSA shall publish a Florida Outcome-Metrics Registry that, for each authorized provisional school, reports at minimum:
  • Completion rate.
  • Post-completion one-year and three-year earnings medians.
  • Post-completion licensure, FRMC, or Federal FRAC attainment rate.
  1. (b) Data sources shall include the Florida Education and Training Placement Information Program (“FETPIP”) under Fla. Stat. Sec. 1008.39, and the Florida Department of Revenue unemployment-insurance wage records to the extent permitted by Florida and federal law.
  2. (c) FL-OBSA shall publish the Registry in machine-readable form and shall update it at least annually.

Sec. 402. Coordination with the Federal NLMF

  1. (a) FL-OBSA shall publish the Registry in a format crosswalked to the Federal NLMF so that a Florida outcome-based school appears in both the Florida Registry and, where eligible, the Federal NLMF.
  2. (b) Nothing in this Title shall be construed to authorize disclosure of personally identifiable student data except to the extent permitted by Fla. Stat. Sec. 1002.22 (the Florida Student Records Act) and 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g (FERPA).

TITLE V — ENFORCEMENT & REMEDIES

Vehicle (Florida): Regular order. Administrative remedies within existing Commissioner of Education authority; does not create a private right of action.

Sec. 501. Non-Compliant Provider Remedies

  1. (a) A provisional school that fails to publish the required outcome metrics, or that publishes materially false metrics, shall be subject to:
  • Suspension of scholarship eligibility under Sec. 301.
  • Suspension from the FL-OBSA Registry under Sec. 401.
  • Administrative penalty not to exceed $500,000 per willful violation, consistent with the schedule applicable to charter-school enforcement actions under Fla. Stat. Sec. 1002.33.
  1. (b) This Section does not create a private right of action.

TITLE VI — IMPLEMENTATION & GENERAL PROVISIONS

Vehicle (Florida): Structural.

Sec. 601. Severability

If any provision of this Act, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect the remainder of this Act.

Sec. 602. Effective Date

This Act shall take effect July 1 of the year following enactment, except that Title III shall apply to scholarship and ITA disbursements made on or after July 1 of the second fiscal year following enactment, and Sec. 402 shall take effect concurrent with the effective date of Title III of the federal Merit-Based Education & Workforce Reform Act.

Canonical federal version: MEWRA. Other Florida bills: FL-ACSA, FL-GT&P, FL-AI-Workforce.