Procedure for determining state financial support and annual apportionment of state funds to each Florida College System institution district.

The procedure for determining state financial support and the annual apportionment to each Florida College System institution district authorized to operate a Florida College System institution under the provisions of s. 1001.61 shall be as follows:

(1) DETERMINING THE AMOUNT TO BE INCLUDED IN THE FLORIDA COLLEGE SYSTEM PROGRAM FUND FOR THE CURRENT OPERATING PROGRAM.—

(a) The Department of Education shall determine annually from an analysis of operating costs, prepared in the manner prescribed by rules of the State Board of Education, the costs per full-time equivalent student served in courses and fields of study offered in Florida College System institutions. This information and current college operating budgets shall be submitted to the Executive Office of the Governor with the legislative budget request prior to each regular session of the Legislature.

(b) The allocation of funds for Florida College System institutions shall be based on advanced and professional disciplines, developmental education, and other programs for adults funded pursuant to s. 1011.80.

(c) The category of lifelong learning is for students enrolled pursuant to s. 1004.93. A student shall also be reported as a lifelong learning student for his or her enrollment in any course that he or she has previously taken, unless it is a credit course in which the student earned a grade of D or F.

(d) If an adult student has been determined to be a disabled student eligible for an approved educational program for disabled adults provided pursuant to s. 1004.93 and rules of the State Board of Education and is enrolled in a class with curriculum frameworks developed for the program, state funding for that student shall be provided at a level double that of a student enrolled in a special adult general education program provided by a Florida College System institution.

(e) All state inmate education provided by Florida College System institutions shall be reported by program, FTE expenditure, and revenue source. These enrollments, expenditures, and revenues shall be reported and projected separately. Instruction of state inmates shall not be included in the full-time equivalent student enrollment for funding through the Florida College System Program Fund.

(f) When a public educational institution has been fully funded by an external agency for direct instructional costs of any course or program, the FTE generated shall not be reported for state funding.

(g) The State Board of Education shall adopt rules to implement s. 9(d)(8)f., Art. XII of the State Constitution. These rules shall provide for the use of the funds available under s. 9(d)(8)f., Art. XII by an individual Florida College System institution for operating expense in any fiscal year during which the State Board of Education has determined that all major capital outlay needs have been met. Highest priority for the use of these funds for purposes other than financing approved capital outlay projects shall be for the proper maintenance and repair of existing facilities for projects approved by the State Board of Education. However, in any fiscal year in which funds from this source are authorized for operating expense other than approved maintenance and repair projects, the allocation of Florida College System institution program funds shall be reduced by an amount equal to the sum used for such operating expense for that Florida College System institution that year, and that amount shall not be released or allocated among the other Florida College System institutions that year.