FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
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STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
F. PHILIP HANDY,
Chairman
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T. WILLARD FAIR,
Vice Chairman
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Members
SALLY B RADSHAW
LINDA J. EADS, ED.D.
CHARLES PATRICK G ARCÍA
JULIA L. J OHNSON
WILLIAM L. PROCTOR, PH.D.
June 9, 2003
M E M O R A N D U M
JIM HORNE
Commissioner of Education
TO:
Community College and State University Registrars and Admissions Officers
FROM:
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J. David Armstrong, Jr., Chancellor, Division of Community Colleges
Debra Austin, Chancellor, Division of Colleges and Universities
SUBJECT:
Repeal of Bright Futures Testing Program - Acceptance of CLEP Credit
During the 2003 Regular Legislative Session, the passage of Senate Bill 354 resulted in the
repeal of the Bright Futures Scholarship (CLEP) Testing Program (Section 1009.539, Florida
Statutes).
The effect of this legislation is that Bright Futures recipients will no longer be
required to make at least 5 acceleration attempts.
These students will also no longer be
administered CLEP tests free of charge.
When the Bright Futures Testing Program was created during the 2001 Legislative Session, the
Legislature also directed the Department of Education to “identify the minimum scores,
maximum credit, and course or courses for which credit is to be awarded...” for each CLEP, AP,
and IB examination.
The Articulation Coordinating Committee (ACC) Standing Committee on
Alternative Ways of Earning Credit identified minimum scores for each of the above-listed
examinations.
The Legislature further stipulated that “each community college and state
university must award credit for specific courses for which competency has been demonstrated
by successful passage of one of the examinations…unless the award of credit duplicates credit
already awarded.”
J. DAVID ARMSTRONG, JR.
Chancellor, Community Colleges
325 W. GAINES STREET • SUITE 1314 • TALLAHASSEE, FL 32399-0400 • (850) 245-0407 • www.fldoe.org/cc
Registrars and Admissions Officers
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Page Two
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June 9, 2003
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The statutory language requiring the identification of credit-by-exam equivalencies was included
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in Section 1009.539, Florida Statutes, which was repealed this year.
HOWEVER, similar
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language also exists in Section 1007.27, Florida Statutes, relating to articulated acceleration
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mechanisms.
Therefore, the repeal of the section on the Bright Futures Scholarship Testing
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Program does NOT result in the negation of the ACC credit-by-exam equivalencies.
Colleges
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and universities must continue to award at least the minimum number of credits for AP, IB, and
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CLEP examinations as identified by the ACC.
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JDA/DA/hsc
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