1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to education; establishing an open enrollment 
  1.3             technology project; appropriating money. 
  1.4   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.5      Section 1.  [OPEN ENROLLMENT TECHNOLOGY PROJECT.] 
  1.6      The commissioner of children, families, and learning shall 
  1.7   establish an open enrollment year-round project which 
  1.8   demonstrates the use of technology as the primary instructional 
  1.9   delivery system for elementary and secondary students.  The 
  1.10  purposes of this program include: 
  1.11     (1) to allow for open enrollment of students via 
  1.12  technology; 
  1.13     (2) to utilize on-line education resources as an 
  1.14  alternative to the traditional classroom setting; 
  1.15     (3) to provide alternative instructional tools for home 
  1.16  school families; 
  1.17     (4) to implement a variety of electronic curriculum 
  1.18  packages which support distance learning; 
  1.19     (5) to support a performance-based system of achievement; 
  1.20     (6) to use individual education learning plans to prescribe 
  1.21  learning activities and track student performance in an open 
  1.22  enrollment setting; 
  1.23     (7) to evaluate technology as a distance education tool, 
  1.24  disseminate information on the project, and report on the 
  2.1   effectiveness of technology as a means of open enrollment; and 
  2.2      (8) to advance opportunities for year-round learning. 
  2.3      Sec. 2.  [APPROPRIATIONS.] 
  2.4      The sums indicated are appropriated from the general fund 
  2.5   to the commissioner of children, families, and learning for the 
  2.6   fiscal year designated: 
  2.7        $150,000     .....     1998 
  2.8        $150,000     .....     1999 
  2.9      Any balance in the first year does not cancel but is 
  2.10  available for the second year.  This appropriation is for a 
  2.11  grant to a learning site.  The site shall be chosen by the 
  2.12  commissioner of children, families, and learning and must be one 
  2.13  of the rural sites funded by the year-round school/extended week 
  2.14  or day pilot program created under Laws 1995, First Special 
  2.15  Session chapter 3, article 7, section 4, as amended by Laws 
  2.16  1996, chapter 412, article 7, section 13.