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1996 SESSION

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HB 1408 Contract schools for enhanced site-based management.

Introduced by: Mitchell Van Yahres | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY:

Contract schools for enhanced site-based management. Establishes definitions, mechanisms, limitations, etc., for the granting of contracts for enhanced site-based management to public schools. The contracts will be between the supervising school board and the public school. Before a contract petition is filed with the local school board, agreement at the school level must be obtained from two-thirds of the licensed school personnel of the school and at least 30 percent of the parents of the students in average daily membership at the relevant school. Parents will only get one ballot per student and parents with more than one student in the school will only receive one ballot. The petition will include a school-community commitment plan to ensure that school personnel and students' parents, and, in the case of high schools, the students, will be involved in the development of the school improvement plan; will be involved in monitoring the progress and evolution of the school improvement plan; and will be provided opportunities to express ideas, opinions, and concerns. The community at large must also be involved in the implementation of any contract for enhanced site-based management. A school improvement plan must also be developed, including measurable and academically challenging educational achievement goals. Clear performance-based and student-achievement-based objectives and performance criteria for measuring these objectives and determining student progress must be provided in the school improvement plan. If the contract petition is not approved by the school board, the board must inform the school in writing within 30 days and provide the reasons for disapproval and corrective actions that may be taken to obtain approval. Schools may resubmit the contract petitions; however, all agreements and plans must be completed as required for the initial submission unless the school board has agreed to accept various components. The student body of a contract school must live in the attendance zone established before the granting of the contract application. However, any school board approving a contract petition will have to establish procedures for students living in the school's attendance zone to transfer and, if the school can accommodate additional students, the school board will have to establish procedures for transfers into the contract school. These procedures will have to be on a first-come-first-served basis. School personnel must also be accorded transfer privileges, upon request, for vacant comparable positions or as an exchange with other consenting personnel for comparable positions.

This bill requires the Board of Education to develop instructions and forms designed to assist schools with high concentrations of at-risk students in establishing contracts. The Board of Education is authorized to determine compliance exemptions from state and local law, regulations, ordinances, and rules, except for the state and federal constitutions, the Standards of Quality, and certain superseding federal laws. The Board does not have, in this provision, any authority over the granting or denying of a contract petition.

Standard 3 of the Standards of Quality is amended to provide the Board with the authority to include in these regulations flexible alternatives for contract schools. The Board will report on the status of contract schools to the Governor and the General Assembly annually beginning in January 1997. No more than six contracts can be granted in one division superintendent's region, with no more than two contracts per educational level (elementary, middle, and high school). Review ranking numbers must be assigned according to the time of contract application receipt by the local school board. Private schools are not allowed to convert to contract schools. This provision will not require additional local appropriations; however, local governments may provide additional funding, and private funding or in-kind contributions are encouraged.


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