The concept of the School Advisory Council (SAC) was first written into Florida state law in 1991, as part of the Blueprint 2000 plan for educational reform and accountability. At the time, School Advisory Councils were entrusted with assisting in the development of the School Improvement Plan.  Today, the role of this council has increased to encompass the involvement of all stakeholders in many educational decisions at the schools. 

As a public body, all SACs are subject to the requirements of Florida’s Government in the Sunshine Law. This law requires public access to the SAC and to its public records. The requirements regarding public notice of meetings, opportunity for public input at meetings, and the maintenance of minutes as public records are part of this process. 

 As a member of a School Advisory Council (SAC), you are a very important person. You and your fellow council members are entrusted with the improvement of your public school.  The council must look at what is known about their school and decide which areas need improvement. An analysis of student achievement and school performance data should occur. Then the SAC must decide which needs are most pressing and most important. 

Next, the group will develop strategies – the “how-to” for improving the area’s most important to their school. Finally, they will decide how to measure the results of what they plan to do.  The end product of this work will be a master plan for improving the school that addresses issues relative to student achievement.