Reenrollment for Good Cause and Extreme Hardship in the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT SERVICES
Agency for Workforce Innovation

Rule No.: RULE TITLE
60BB-8.210: Reenrollment for Good Cause and Extreme Hardship in the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program

NOTICE OF CHANGE

Notice is hereby given that the following changes have been made to the proposed rule in accordance with subparagraph 120.54(3)(d)1., F.S., published in Vol. 36 No. 12, March 26, 2010 issue of the Florida Administrative Weekly.

Paragraph (1) is revised and renumbered as follows:

(1) Definitions. As used in this rule:

(a) “Delayed enrollment” means recording the initial enrollment of a student in a Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program (VPK) class after VPK instruction has begun.

(a)(b) “Reenrollment” means the enrollment of a student in a new VPK program type (school-year or summer) or with a new VPK provider following the student’s removal or withdrawal from enrollment with a VPK provider after the student has attended a portion of VPK instruction.

(b)(c) “Substantial completion” means a student has been enrolled in a VPK provider’s class for more than 70 percent of the instructional hours for the program type (school-year or summer).

Paragraph (2)(c) is revised as follows:

(c) The student’s parent or guardian completes the Delayed Enrollment and Reenrollment Application (Form AWI-VPK 05), dated April 9, 2010, which is hereby incorporated by reference, and submits it to the early learning coalition as documentation that the student was or is prevented from attending the VPK class for good cause. The Reenrollment Application (Form AWI-VPK 05) may be obtained as described in Rule 60BB-8.900, F.A.C. The following are examples of situations which prevent the student from attending the VPK class for good cause:

1. The illness of:

a. The student;

b. An individual living in the student’s household;

c. An individual which the student’s parent or guardian is responsible for caring for; or

d. The student’s parent, guardian, sibling, grandparent, step-parent, step-sibling, or step-grandparent.

2. A disagreement between the parent or guardian and the VPK provider or school concerning policies, practices, or procedures at the provider’s or school’s VPK program;

3. A change in the student’s residence;

4. A change in the employment schedule or place of employment of the student’s parent or guardian;

5. The VPK provider’s inability to meet the student’s health or educational needs;

6. The termination of the student’s VPK class before 70 percent of the class instructional hours is delivered;

7. The student is dismissed by a VPK provider for failure to comply with the provider’s attendance policy;

8. The provider’s designation as a low performing provider under Section 1002.67, F.S.;

9. Any condition described as an extreme hardship in paragraph (3)(c) below; or

10. Another reason not expressly stipulated in this rule which prevents the student from attending the VPK provider’s class or which prevents the VPK provider from serving the student in accordance with the requirements of the VPK program.

Paragraph (3)(c) is revised as follows:

(3) Reenrollment for extreme hardship. A student may be reenrolled and reported for funding purposes as one full-time equivalent student, as defined by Section 1002.71(2), F.S., in the summer VPK program, if all the following applies:

(c) The student’s parent or guardian completes and submits to the early learning coalition the Delayed Enrollment and Reenrollment Application, and, where documentation is not supplied by the coalition or provider, supporting written documentation of extreme hardship of one or more of the following:

1. The illness of the student, as documented in writing by a physician licensed under Chapter 458 or 459, F.S., if the illness would result in the student being absent from more than 30 percent of the number of hours in the program type in which the student is enrolled;

2. The provider’s misconduct or noncompliance which results in the provider’s inability to offer the VPK program, as documented by the early learning coalition;

3. The parent’s or guardian’s inability to meet the basic needs of the student, including, but not limited to, a lack of food, shelter, clothing, or transportation, as documented in writing by a federal, state, or local governmental official;

4. The provider’s inability to meet the student’s educational needs due to the student’s learning or developmental disability as documented by a federal, state, or local governmental official;

5. The provider’s inability to meet the student’s health needs as documented by a physician licensed under Chapter 458 or 459, F.S., or a federal, state, or local governmental official; or

6. Displacement of a student from his or her place of residence or closure of the student’s VPK provider as a result of a state of emergency as declared by a federal, state, or local governmental official.

Paragraph (5) is stricken in its entirety.