SAC Membership

Click here for useful Opinions & Research on "Balanced SAC"
NEW!  2007 Auditor General Reports Research regarding SAC membership - SI Funds, Gov't in Sunshine - 2007
NEW!!!   Combined Report of 2007 + earlier 2004 Report on SAC, SI funds & Reward audit problems

Answers for the "frequently asked questions" are  answered through the law.

Key:  SAC = school advisory council     SIP = school improvement plan     SI = school improvement

1. Who are the members of SAC? What about the Principal?
2. Define "Certified Student Services Personnel" (teacher members) as per FL statutes.
3. Why are SAC members appointed?
4. How are the SAC members determined?
5. Who monitors SAC membership composition & what if SAC is not compliant?
6. What is a "balanced" SAC?
7. May an elementary student or an Assistant Principal be an official SAC member?   NEW!! UPDATED!!! 9/16/07
8. Are Community/Business members required?
9. What is the allowable difference % between composition of SAC and student composition?
10. Memo from DOE General Counsel regarding balanced SAC membership
11. Statute that establishes SAC membership composition - 1001.452
12. Sample of an election packet used by Volusia County for the election process

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1001.452 "[1a] "“Each advisory council shall be composed of the principal and an appropriately balanced number of teachers, education support employees, students, parents, and other business and community citizens who are representative of the ethnic, racial, and economic community served by the school.”  Technical centers and high school advisory councils shall include students, and middle and junior high school advisory councils may include students. School advisory councils of technical and adult education centers are not required to include parents as members."

Then further down is: (same law)

"For the purposes of school advisory councils and district advisory councils, the term "teacher" shall include classroom teachers, certified student services personnel, and media specialists. For purposes of this paragraph, "education support employee" means any person employed by a school who is not defined as instructional or administrative personnel pursuant to s. 1012.01 and whose duties require 20 or more hours in each normal working week."

So you can see, with the first paragraph I used…"a (meaning one) principal" and education support employees and teachers as the ‘employed' school members. The same law then clarifies what is a teacher and what is an education support employees. Furthermore 1012.01  states:

(3) ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL.--"Administrative personnel" includes K-12 personnel who perform management activities such as developing broad policies for the school district and executing those policies through the direction of personnel at all levels within the district. Administrative personnel are generally high-level, responsible personnel who have been assigned the responsibilities of systemwide or schoolwide functions, such as district school superintendents, assistant superintendents, deputy superintendents, school principals, assistant principals, career center directors, and others who perform management activities. Broad classifications of K-12 administrative personnel are as follows:

……………..(c) School administrators.--Included in this classification are:

1. School principals or school directors who are staff members performing the assigned………

2. Assistant principals who are staff members assisting the administrative head of the school. This classification also includes assistant principals for curriculum and administration.

The auditors  must interpret the law to determine that assistant principals are not faculty nor are they staff and the only other administrator named is the principal - all of which is not the AP.  See my documentation - February 2004 Auditor General School Board District Audits - complete with links   
I also researched district policies via the internet and this report details my report regarding elementary students serving as voting SAC members.

ELEMENTARY STUDENTS AS VOTING SAC MEMBERS....
The law specifically addresses school levels, yet omits elementary level, which would lead us to conclude that elementary students are precluded to be members - although participating and attending meetings is appropriate. This would be a typical FCAT type question when one reads a short story and has to gather the main point of the story or main ideas.  Legislators would have specifically stated elementary students if they were to be on SAC.  In fact, it would have made the law even easier to write....just state all schools must have students on SAC.  Instead, they elaborated on the various levels.  Remember, students must be elected by students.  I see many districts adding the wording 'when appropriate' which is highly illegal in my opinion.  I think someone should disallow a superintendent or school board member from voting - based on my assumption of 'when appropriate' I will allows them.  It waters down the law and is insulting to our intelligence.

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