Summary

The 1999 Florida Legislature enacted the Supplemental Academic Instruction (SAI) Categorical Fund to provide for supplemental instruction to students in grades K-12. Supplemental instruction strategies may include, but are not limited to: modified curriculum, reading instruction, after-school instruction, tutoring, mentoring, class size reduction, extended school year, intensive skills development in summer school, and other methods for improving student achievement. Such supplemental instruction may be provided to a student in any manner and at any time identified by the school as being the most effective and efficient way to best help that student progress from grade to grade and to graduate. Each school district is required to submit to the Florida Department of Education (Department) a plan in which it identifies the students to be served and the scope of supplemental academic instruction to be provided.

We found that school districts prepared SAI plans and made efforts to implement their plans. We also noted that the Department issued annual reports to the Legislature for the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 fiscal years. However, our review disclosed certain enhancements that could be made in the administration of SAI resources. We noted that:

• The school districts’ procedures were generally not documented to evidence the specific steps followed in preparing the SAI plans. In addition, for most of the school districts included in our review, the school boards did not review and approve the 1999-2000 or 2000-2001 fiscal year SAI plans.
• The SAI plan format could be improved to include a provision that school districts identify in the SAI plans only those instructional programs and strategies that can reasonably be funded with the SAI allocation.
• For several school districts, procedures were not in place to provide for maintaining a record of students receiving intensive and regularly scheduled SAI services for the purpose of monitoring student achievement.
• Many school districts had not developed methodologies of record for evaluating and measuring the effectiveness of the uses of SAI resources.
• The Department did not timely issue the annual report to the Legislature on the school districts' progress in the SAI instructional strategy areas.

The Commissioner of Education's response, in its entirety, may be viewed on the Auditor General Web site.