Session Year 2005, Special Session 1

Bill Name: SF0100

Providing for the financing of prekindergarten through grade 12
education
programs and services

ARTICLE 1 - GENERAL EDUCATION

Defining
kindergarten for general education purposes; requiring school districts to
reserve a certain amount of basic revenue for crime, drug abuse and violence
prevention, gang resistance education and peace officer services including pay
for school counselors, social workers, nurses and psychologists; reducing the
formula for determination of the required area learning center reserved revenue
amount; correcting the name of a certain manual used to record revenues and
expenditures for extra curricular (extracurricular) activities; defining
adjusted net tax capacity for debt service equalization purposes; providing for
school district recognition of taconite revenue; expanding building
expenditures
reporting requirements, removing the exclusion of capital
expenditures and pupil transportation from separate accounts maintenance
requirements; changing the name of school district general fund accounts from
undesignated fund balance to net unreserved general fund balance for funds
transfer and operating debt calculation purposes, defining unreserved general
fund balance; requiring school districts to report the salaries and fringe
benefits of certain school district employees and pupil transportation
expenditures; modifying the formulas for general education and transportation
revenue for charter schools; modifying certain graduation incentive program
enrollment verification requirements,
excluding compensatory revenue from the
reduction requirement for part time students; clarifying the formula for aid for
alternative programs provided under contract; defining extended average daily
membership for school districts and charter schools and providing for
calculation; specifying certain requirements for eligibility of public schools
with project based programs for general education revenue; modifying the general
education revenue formula and increasing the basic revenue formula allowance;
eliminating operating capital levy and aid after fiscal year 2006; updating the
transportation sparsity revenue allowance; excluding referendum conversion
allowance authority from referendum equity revenue, excepting districts
reauthorizing the revenue at an election; eliminating equity levy and aid and
transition revenue, levy and aid
after fiscal year 2006, modifying the
determination of transition revenue for fiscal year 2006; requiring the
commissioner of education to annually establish the consolidated levy tax rate
for levies payable in the following year; requiring school district consolidated
levies for general education revenue eligibility purposes, imposing limits in
excess levy cases; modifying the general education aid and referendum revenue
allowance formulas; increasing the first tier referendum equalization allowance
formula; simplifying the language on referendum revenue ballots; authorizing and
providing for school districts receiving transition revenue in fiscal year 2004
to convert the transition revenue conversion allowance to additional referendum
allowance for fiscal year 2007 and later; clarifying the taconite deduction from
general education aid; accelerating the date for school district notice to the
commissioner of certified levies; requiring the reduction of certain levies upon
imposition of a tax on severed mineral values; providing for the payment of
telecommunications/internet access equity and shared time aids; modifying the
transportation sparsity aid formula for districts with charter schools; changing
the year for calculation of abatement aid; modifying the census requirement for
school districts, requiring use of the most recent federal census; clarifying
the requirement for county auditors to set property tax levy amounts; modifying
the distribution of excess taxes on captured net tax capacity of tax increment
financing (TIF) districts to school districts; adjusting certain appropriations
for general education, referendum tax base replacement and nonpublic pupil
education and transportation aids; providing for calculation of prekindergarten
programs and transition revenue 2004 conversion allowances; providing
revenue
for school district replacement of defective Carpenter school buses;
providing for the calculation of pupil units for independent school district
#38, Red Lake for declining pupil unit aid receipt purposes; authorizing the
reporting of certain four or five year olds as kindergarten pupils; authorizing
school districts receiving additional transition revenue for the four year old
prekindergarten program in fiscal year 2006 to levy for the revenue in fiscal
year 2007; appropriating money to the department of education for school bus
loan revenue; repealing certain provisions relating to statutory operating debt,
operating capital and equity levies and aids, transition revenue and aid and the
safe schools levy

ARTICLE 2 - EDUCATION EXCELLENCE

Expanding required academic
standards to physical and health education;
providing for waiver of certain
academic standards for students participating in certain rigorous courses of
study; modifying high school level mathematics course requirements, specifying
the number of required course credits for physical and health education and
reducing the number of elective course credits required for graduation;
clarifying certain school board instruction and curriculum policy adoption
requirements and authorizing web site publication of annual student
achievement
reports; regulating and providing for student participation in
gifted and
talented programs; including self protection as one of the components of
violence prevention curriculum; providing for instruction on documents relating
to American heritage; modifying statewide testing requirements for students in
grade 8; providing for parental access to statewide tests and assessments;
requiring and providing for the commissioner of education to implement a value
added assessment program to assist school districts and schools in assessing and
reporting growth in student academic achievement and to award grants to public
school sites to increase student achievement and eliminate the achievement gap;
requiring school district electronic reporting of
dangerous weapons incidents
and student exclusions and expulsions; requiring school board policies
prohibiting intimidation and bullying; authorizing secondary students to possess
and use nonprescription pain
relievers under certain conditions; providing for
comprehensive family life and sexuality education programs; authorizing the
board of school administrators to reimburse local school districts for the cost
of teachers employed to substitute for regular teachers serving on the board;
modifying certain teacher preparation reading instruction requirements for
licensing purposes; providing for consecutive teaching experience for
probationary teachers with consecutive employment interrupted for active
military service and for probationary periods for assistant principals and an
alternative teacher layoff procedure under the
teacher tenure act, defining work
year for teacher probationary period
completion purposes; requiring substantial
teacher participation in the
development of school district educational
improvement plans; providing a
professional compensation initiative for teachers
in lieu of alternative teacher compensation aid, authorizing the reopening of
collective bargaining agreements for professional compensation system and
educational improvement plan purposes and providing for professional
compensation pilot site aid; specifying certain requirements of staff
development activities for effectiveness purposes, report requirements;
eliminating the authority of school districts to waive staff development
reserved revenue requirements and authorizing reservation of the
revenue by
districts participating in the professional compensation initiative; requiring
and providing for the commissioner to establish schools mentoring schools
regional sites; authorizing and providing for the commissioner to contract with
the board of regents of the university of Minnesota to establish a principals
leadership institute to provide professional development to school principals;
authorizing school board establishment and operation of employee recognition and
criminal apprehension and arrest reward programs; modifying certain provisions
regulating school site decision making agreements; authorizing school boards to
establish pupil transportation safety committees to review and recommend changes
to pupil transportation safety policies and to
develop comprehensive plans for
the safe transportation of students facing hazardous transportation conditions;
changing the first grade preparedness program to the all day kindergarten
program; requiring or encouraging post-secondary institutions to award credit
for successful completion of programs under the post-secondary enrollment
options (PSEO) program certified by the national alliance of concurrent
enrollment partnership; clarifying the prohibition on the receipt of aids,
grants or revenue based on certain levies for charter schools; modifying
eligibility for services under assurance of mastery programs relating to
students failing certain tests; authorizing American Indian education programs
in charter schools and eliminating the required involvement of the American
Indian education advisory committee in grant and scholarship awards; requiring
and providing for the commissioner to
continue implementation of the no child
left behind act without interruption,
specifying certain review and report
requirements; authorizing the board of the Perpich center for arts education to
conduct meetings by telephone or other electronic means; expanding the
definition of public employee under the public employment labor relations act
(PELRA) to early childhood family education (ECFE) teachers employed by school
districts; modifying court findings requirements for children adjudicated in
need of protection or services relating to drivers licenses or permits;
modifying certain prior appropriations for best practices seminars, for teacher
compensation, for youth works programs, for student organizations, for the
collaborative urban educator program and for all
day kindergarten; requiring the
higher education advisory council to convene a working group to develop college
preparation standards; specifying certain duties of the commissioner relating to
adopting rules to implement the Minnesota comprehensive assessments second
edition (MCA-IIs) in reading, mathematics and writing, including the cost of
developing an adaptive computer based assessment within the budget for statewide
testing, to transmitting to school districts health and physical education model
benchmarks and to amending rules for
supplemental services providers to include
outcome standards; requiring the commissioner to work with the Minnesota school
boards association to develop a model policy prohibiting intimidation and
bullying and to contract with an independent contractor to continue and complete
the work done by the education funding task force of the governor; requiring the
office of educational accountability to evaluate the educational impact of the
federal no child left behind act and other state and federal laws requiring
school districts to administer tests to kindergarten through grade twelve
students; requiring school districts and department of education development of
certain licensed student support services; requiring the board of teaching to
prepare and submit to the legislature by a certain date proposed licensure
requirements for teachers of
interdisciplinary curriculum to facilitate learning
in state approved innovative schools and programs; requiring the commissioner to
convene a task force on professional compensation models for teachers and report
to the legislature by a certain date; appropriating money to the department for
an improved school finance system contract, for a staff development state match
and for the professional compensation for teachers task force; repealing a
certain existing provision providing for programs to prevent and reduce the
risks of sexually transmitted infections and diseases and the alternative
teacher compensation
system and aid

ARTICLE 3 - SPECIAL PROGRAMS

Expanding
aversive and deprivation procedures to positive behavioral
interventions and
supports and time outs and modifying and expanding certain rule requirements of
the commissioner of education; establishing a student support services advisory
committee, specifying certain membership requirements and duties; expanding the
definition of transportation services for pupils with disabilities for
transportation aid entitlement purposes, including the costs of transporting
homeless students; modifying the authority of charter schools to charge tuition
to districts of residence for special education aid eligibility purposes;
restoring school district career and technical levy authority; increasing aid
for limited English proficiency (LEP) programs by modifying the average daily
membership requirement; modifying the nonresident tuition rate and
certain other
costs for children with disabilities; modifying certain membership requirements
for special education parent advisory councils and the date for annual
submission by the state interagency coordinating council of recommendations to
the governor and certain commissioners on policies for a comprehensive and
coordinated special instruction system; providing transportation for homeless
students; increasing the program growth factor for special education revenue and
excess cost aid determination purposes and the state total special education and
special education excess cost aids; creating the charter school special
education reimbursement account in the general fund and transferring the
amount
necessary for payment of the state share from the appropriation for
special education excess cost aid to the account; requiring the commissioner to
examine the tuition bills from charter schools, authorizing adjustment;
authorizing school district members of the Wright technical center to levy for a
certain percentage of the costs associated with leases of administrative and
classroom space at the center, limit; requiring the commissioner to designate a
full time state coordinator for world languages education within the department
of education by a certain date, specifying duties of the coordinator; requiring
adjustment of special education aid for pupils attending nonresident districts
and adjusting the tuition to the resident district for certain facilities
and
instructional costs provided to students with disabilities; reinstating
the
advisory committee to the staff of the library for the blind and
physically
handicapped on long range plans and library services; modifying
certain
appropriations for special education and special education excess cost
aids; establishing the native language eminence credentialing task force to
support the teaching and revitalization of the Dakota and Anishinaabe languages,
specifying certain membership requirements and duties; providing for the
establishment of a temporary task force on the delivery of special education
services to nonpublic school students by public school districts with the
congressional reauthorization of the federal individuals with disabilities
education act to compare and evaluate individual needs for services, requiring a
report to the legislature by a certain date; appropriating money to the
department of education for the nonpublic student special education task force
and the native language eminence credentialing task force; repealing a certain
special litigation and hearing costs payment requirement

ARTICLE 4 -
TECHNOLOGY, FACILITIES AND ACCOUNTING

Requiring school districts providing
electronic components of curriculum to
resident students to provide access to
the components to home schooled students upon request under certain incidental
cost conditions; expanding certain school or school district parental notice
requirements relating to the use of certain older pools for supervised
competitive high school diving training and competitions; adjusting a certain
debt service appropriation; encouraging school districts to include certain
acoustical performance criteria in facility construction proposals; modifying
the online learning program, establishing a temporary online learning advisory
council; providing telecommunications/internet access equity aid to school
districts or charter schools, requiring school districts to provide
telecommunications/internet access services for nonpublic schools upon request;
authorizing school districts to hold referenda on the same day as the district
election for facility operating costs; reducing the maximum effort capital loan
tax rate; authorizing and providing for administrative regions of the state high
school league to contract with the state auditor or with private certified
public accountants (CPA) to perform annual audits; excluding bonds issued to pay
pension fund liabilities from the net debt of special school district #1,
Minneapolis; authorizing school districts to appropriate unused (surplus) debt
service revenue for general purposes; expanding a certain provision authorizing
the payment of school district refunding bonds from taconite production tax
revenues; extending the garage lease levy authority of independent school
district #748, Sartell; modifying a certain appropriation for debt service
equalization; authorizing independent school districts #318, Grand Rapids and
#88, New Ulm to use capital expenditure health and safety revenue to construct
appurtenances used exclusively to house and maintain mechanical air handling
systems; extending the disabled access levy authority of independent school
district #595, East Grand Forks; authorizing an administrative space lease levy
in independent school district #110, Waconia; specifying a certain commissioner
of education priority in offsetting levy adjustments between levy categories
for
independent school district #599, Fertile-Beltrami; authorizing
independent
school district #518, Worthington to lease facilities provided for a
certain residential program to a private business or organization to provide
adult foster care or child foster care services or for other special education
purposes; authorizing certain fund transfers in independent school districts
#836, Butterfield, #771, Chokio-Alberta, #2888, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley,
#200, Hastings, #2071, Lake Crystal-Wellcome
Memorial, #2180, M.A.C.C.R.A.Y.,
#2887, McLeod west, #418, Russell, #584, Ruthon, #177, Windom and #2609,
Win-E-Mac; requiring the commissioner to submit a report to the legislature by a
certain date on average school construction costs; appropriating money to the
department of education for equity in telecommunication access and for emergency
infrastructure damage repair aid for independent school district #38, Red Lake


ARTICLE 5 - NUTRITION

Increasing school lunch aid to school districts
participating in the national
school lunch program and the amount of
reimbursement to public or nonpublic schools for milk served to kindergarten
students; modifying certain prior appropriations for school lunch aid and for
traditional school breakfast aid for milk for kindergarteners; authorizing and
providing for independent school districts #11, Anoka-Hennepin and #709 Duluth
to establish pilot programs to enhance milk consumption in schools, specifying
certain plan and reporting requirements and appropriating money to the
department of education for program grants

ARTICLE 6 - STATE
AGENCIES

Modifying certain prior appropriations to the department of education,
to the state academies for the deaf and blind and to the Perpich center for the
arts; approving and appropriating certain federal grants and aids expenditures
exceptions

ARTICLE 7 - SCHOOL EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE

Providing for a school
employee health insurance plan; creating the Minnesota school employee insurance
board to create and administer the Minnesota school employee insurance pool,
specifying membership representation requirements and duties; providing for the
design and nature of the plan, requiring a board final design report to the
legislature by a certain date and subsequent periodic evaluations and reports;
board to be a contributing member of the Minnesota comprehensive health
association (MCHA), providing for assessments and for
imposition of the gross
premium tax; appropriating money to the commissioner of commerce as a start up
costs loan to the board

ARTICLE 8 - TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS

Making
technical and conforming amendments to certain statutory provisions relating to
statistical accountability, to student suspensions, to charter school boards
open meeting requirements, to youth work grants, to appropriation transfers and
to the payment percentage for Indian post-secondary preparation grants

ARTICLE
9 - EFFECTIVE DATE

Providing a retroactive effective date for certain
provisions
(ra)