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From the ECS State Policy Database 2004 State Policies / Activities

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Education Commission of the States • 700 Broadway, Suite 810 • Denver, CO 80203-3442 • 303.299.3600 • fax 303.296.8332 • www.ecs.org

The following summary includes policies enacted in 2004. This database is made possible by your state's fiscal support of the Education Commission of the States (ECS). Most entries are legislative, although rules/regulations and executive orders that make substantive changes are included. Every effort is made to collect the latest available version of policies; in some instances, recent changes might not be reflected. For expediency purposes minimal attention has been paid to style (capitalization, punctuation) and format. To view the documents, click on the blue triangle next to the topic of interest. To view all, press the button located at the top labeled "Expand All." Please cite use of the database as: Education Commission of the States (ECS) State Policy Database, retrieved [date]. State Status/Date Level Summary Accountability Accountability--Accreditation Accountability--Measures/Indicators Accountability--Reporting Results Accountability--Rewards Accountability--Sanctions/Interventions Accountability--Sanctions/Interventions--No Pass No Drive Accountability--School Improvement Adult Basic Education Assessment Assessment--Accommodations Assessment--Computer Based Assessment--End-of-Course Assessment--Formative/Interim Assessment--High Stakes/Competency Assessment--NAEP (NAEP Results and NAEP Organization) Assessment--Performance Based/Portfolio Assessment--Value Added At-Risk (incl. Dropout Prevention) At-Risk (incl. Dropout Prevention)--Alternative Education At-Risk (incl. Dropout Prevention)--Drugs/Alcohol Attendance Attendance--Compulsory Attendance--Statutory Ages (Upper and Lower) Attendance--Truancy Background Checks Bilingual/ESL Business Involvement Career/Technical Education Career/Technical Education--Career Academies/Apprenticeship Choice of Schools--Charter Schools Choice of Schools--Charter Schools--Charter Districts Choice of Schools--Charter Schools--Cyber Charters Choice of Schools--Charter Schools--Finance Choice of Schools--Charter Schools--Research Choice of Schools--Choice/Open Enrollment Choice of Schools--Magnet or Specialized Schools Choice of Schools--Vouchers Civic Education Civic Education--Character Education Civic Education--Pledge of Allegiance Class Size Counseling/Guidance Curriculum Curriculum--Alignment Curriculum--Arts Education Curriculum--Drivers Education Curriculum--Environmental Education Curriculum--Excusal Curriculum--Family Living Education Curriculum--Financial Literacy/Economics Ed. Curriculum--Foreign Language/Sign Language Curriculum--Health/Nutrition Education Curriculum--International Education Curriculum--Language Arts Curriculum--Language Arts--Writing/Spelling Curriculum--Mathematics Curriculum--Multicultural Curriculum--Physical Education Curriculum--Science Curriculum--Sex Education Curriculum--Social Studies/History Data-Driven Improvement Demographics--Enrollments Desegregation Economic/Workforce Development Education Research Equity Finance Finance--Adequacy/Core Cost Finance--Aid to Private Schools Finance--Bonds Finance--District MT Rule Adoption 12/2004 P-12 Postsec. Out Of State Attendance Agreements ARM 10.10.301C Relates to out-of-state attendance agreements. The superintendent of public instruction shall provide payment of the amount calculated in (4)(a), but not more than the amount of tuition paid by the district for resident students who attended school out-of-stat... More... CA Vetoed 09/2004 P-12 Education Finance: Average Daily Attendance S.B. 76 Authorizes the governing board of a school district to request approval from the State Board of Education in order to claim apportionments for the attendance of pupils attending a suspension classroom staffed by a noncertified school employee provided that a p... More... CA Vetoed 09/2004 P-12 Controller: Financial Reports S.B. 1791 Requires the Controller to collect data regarding the total assessed valuation of all taxable property in each school district and compile the information on a county basis. Requires data to be made available on the Controller's web site. http://www.leginfo.ca... More... CA Signed into law 09/2004 P-12 Teachers A.B. 3001 (multiple provisions) SEC. 1: Existing law requires the county superintendent of schools to report to the Superintendent of Public Instruction on the financial condition of a school district if the county superintendent determines a school district may be unable to meet its financi... More... CA Signed into law 09/2004 P-12 Review of Audit Exceptions S.B. 550 (multiple provisions) SEC. 13: Requires the county superintendent of schools to include in the review of audit exceptions those audit exceptions related to use of instructional materials program funds, teacher misassignments, and information reported on the school accountability re... More... CA Signed into law 09/2004 P-12 Surplus School Property: Use of Proceeds: Santa Clara S.B. 1906 Authorizes the Santa Clara Unified School District to use the proceeds from the sale of surplus real and personal property to deposit the proceeds into the general fund of the school district or county office of education, and to use the proceeds from that tra... More... CA Signed into law 08/2004 P-12 School Finance: Emergency Apportionments and Leases A.B. 1554 Relates to emergency apportionments to school districts experiencing financial problems or that become insolvent. Makes those payments available by the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank through lease financing. Requires a qualifying distr... More... IL Signed into law 08/2004 P-12 State Aid Formula Local Resources Exclusion S.B. 2362 Amends the School Code. In the State aid formula provisions, provides that calculation of Available Local Resources shall exclude tax amnesty funds received as a result of Public Act 93-26. http://www.legis.state.il.us/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=... More... CA Vetoed 07/2004 P-12 Public Contracts: School Districts A.B. 2614 Relates to school district contracts. Provides for a standardized questionnaire and financial statement in a form specified by the school district. Prohibits proposal forms from being accepted, if the completed questionnaire and financial statement for prequal... More... CA Vetoed 07/2004 P-12 School Districts: Four-Day School Week S.B. 1142 Deletes the reduction in base revenue limit funding that results to certain school districts for offering less than 180 days of instruction. Conditions the entitlement to the same support from the State School Fund due to the average daily attendance on the di... More... IL Signed into law 07/2004 P-12 Military Dependents Tuition S.B. 2444 Provides that if, at the time of enrollment, dependents of United States military personnel are housed in temporary housing located outside of a school district, but will be living within that school district within 60 days after the time of initial enrollment... More... NJ Signed into law 07/2004 P-12 School District Budget Caps S.B. 1701 Revises calculation of budget caps and reduces allowable surplus for public school districts.... More... PA Signed into law 07/2004 P-12 Finance H.B. 564 Amends the Public School Code of 1949. Makes provisions regarding school budgets, limitations on balances, auxiliary services, cost of tuition for exceptional children in private schools, charter school tuition for the deaf and blind, Head Start supplemental a... More... RI Signed into law 07/2004 P-12 School Committees S.B. 2423 Allows Rhode Island school committees (school boards) to enter into agreement with any school committee or group of school committees (e.g., Rhode Island Association of School Committees) to purchase goods and services on a cooperative basis. ... More... AZ Signed into law 06/2004 P-12 School District Budgets H.B. 2074 Allows a school district to include in the budget balance carry-forward up to 50% of any unspent K-3 override monies. http://www.azleg.state.az.us/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/legtext/46leg/2r/laws/0315.htm... More... AZ Signed into law 06/2004 P-12 Unified School District Budgets H.B. 2396 Amends provisions relating to unified school districts; provides for school board membership; provides for use of student counts from common school districts prior to unification for unified school district budget calculations; relates to bonded indebtedness a... More... AZ Signed into law 06/2004 P-12 Excess Utility Funding Plan for Schools H.B. 2104 Requires school district governing boards that budget for excess utilities to annually review the costs associated with the direct operational costs of utilities, establish financial goals to include excess utilities costs within the school district's Revenue ... More... CA Signed into law 06/2004 P-12 School District Administration: Budget and Finance A.B. 2756 Relates to the revisions of standards and criteria for the development and management of local educational agency annual budgets and emergency appropriations to insolvent school districts, county superintendent of school approval of a district's budget, the re... More... CO Signed into law 06/2004 P-12 School District Pilot Efficiency Reviews S.B. 144 Concerns reviews of school districts, and, in connection therewith, requiring pilot efficiency reviews of a limited number of school districts to identify administrative savings that can be gained through best practices. http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics2004a/c... More... NH Signed into law 06/2004 P-12 Cooperative School District Taxes H.B. 1281 Relates to the determination of the amount of taxes to be raised to support a cooperative school district; permits an alternative cost apportionment method in a cooperative school district; establishes a legislative oversight committee for the school administr... More... VT Signed into law 05/2004 P-12 Rutland H.B. 774 Authorizes the Rutland school commissioners to adopt annual general fund budgets without voter approval provided that the actual homestead tax rate in a year does not exceed the adjusted equalized homestead rate established by the state; authorizes the board o... More... AZ Signed into law 04/2004 P-12 School District or Charter School Procurement H.B. 2105 Concerns school district and charter school procurement; concerns contracts for materials and services the governing board may authorize for purchase which do not comply with requirements of procurement rules adopted by the State Board of Education; specifies ... More... GA Adopted 04/2004 P-12 Regular Advance and Low-Wealth Funding GAC 160-5-4-.05 Adds rules regarding the provisions under which school systems can receive low-wealth funding. http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/_documents/doe/legalservices/160-5-4-.05.pdf... More... MD Signed into law 04/2004 P-12 Education Fiscal Accountability and Oversight Act S.B. 894 Requires the Superintendent and the Department of Education to monitor the financial status of each county board of education and report to the Governor and General Assembly on a biannual basis; requires local superintendents or chief executive officers of loc... More... MI Vetoed 04/2004 P-12 School District Purchasing H.B. 4722 Provides a school district, intermediate school district or public school academy is not required to obtain competitive bids for items purchased through the cooperative bulk purchasing program operated by the Department of Management and Budget. http://www.mi... More... CA Emergency Rule Adoption 03/2004 P-12 Audits of K-12 Local Education Agencies Title 5 CCR 19810 thru 19831 Establishes rules to provide guidance to auditors in the conduct of required annual audits of local education agencies (LEAs). Provides definitions of terms and prescribes procedures to be followed by accountants in the conduct of audits of California LEAs for... More... NM Signed into law 03/2004 P-12 Cash Balance of Charter Schools and Districts H.B. 158 Concerns public school finance; changes the basis for calculating the amount of excess cash balance of school districts and charter schools.... More... AR Signed into law 02/2004 P-12 Reorganized School Districts H.B. 1157 Allows all consolidated, annexed, or otherwise reorganized school districts to enjoy the benefit of fund balances accrued by the affected school district prior to consolidation, annexation, or reorganization. http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/ftproot/bills/2003s2/... More... AR Signed into law 02/2004 P-12 Fiscal Officer Criminal Background Check H.B. 1140 Requires criminal background checks for fraudulent acts by fiscal officers of public school districts. http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/ftproot/bills/2003s2/public/HB1140.pdf... More... AR Signed into law 02/2004 P-12 School District Administrative Consolidation H.B. 1161 Provides administrative consolidation assistance to school districts that administratively consolidate. http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/ftproot/bills/2003s2/public/HB1161.pdf... More... AR Signed into law 01/2004 P-12 Funding Interschool Athletics and Scholastic Activities H.B. 1008 Track the amount of state funds that may be used to support interschool athletic programs in public schools. http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/ftproot/bills/2003s2/public/HB1008.pdf ... More... AR Signed into law 01/2004 P-12 School Districts in Fiscal Distress H.B. 1087 Requires school districts in fiscal distress to complete and file an annual audit with the Department of Education within 6 months following the end of the fiscal year. http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/ftproot/bills/2003s2/public/HB1087.pdf... More... AR Signed into law 01/2004 P-12 Educational Financial Accounting and Reporting Act H.B. 1094 Creates the Educational Accounting and Reporting Act of 2004; provides that the board of directors of each school district shall annually prepare a budget of expenditure and receipts to be filed by a specified date; amends provisions regarding distribution of ... More... AR Signed into law 01/2004 P-12 Public School Funding Act of 2003 S.B. 42 Relates to the Public School Funding Act of 2003; provides equitable funding to public schools; provides a system for monitoring public school expenditures; increases minimum teacher salaries; establishes a knowledge and skills-based pay system for teachers; p... More... AR Signed into law 01/2004 P-12 Audit Reports of School Districts H.B. 1114 Requires audit reports of school districts not conducted by legislative audit to be filed with the Department of Education by December 31 following the end of each fiscal year.http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/ftproot/bills/2003s2/public/HB1114.pdf... More... AR Signed into law 01/2004 P-12 Student Assessment and Educational Accountability Act of 2004 - Finance S.B. 33 § 9 Adds Ark. Code 6-15-2001. The state department of education and the Division of Legislative Audit of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee of the General Assembly are directed to develop a system for reviewing the financial management practices of school di... More... Finance--Equity Finance--Facilities Finance--Funding Formulas Finance--Local Foundations/Funds Finance--Lotteries Finance--Private Giving Finance--Resource Efficiency Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures Finance--Student Fees Finance--Taxes/Revenues Finance--Taxes/Revenues--Alternative Revenues Governance Governance--Deregulation/Waivers/Home Rule Governance--Ethics/Conflict of Interest Governance--School Boards Governance--School Boards--Training Governance--Site-Based Management Governance--State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies Health Health--Child Abuse Health--Nutrition Health--School Based Clinics or School Nurses Health--Suicide Prevention Health--Teen Pregnancy High School High School--Advanced Placement High School--Dual/Concurrent Enrollment High School--Exit Exams High School--GED (General Education Development) High School--Graduation Requirements Instructional Approaches--Grading Practices Instructional Approaches--Homeschooling Instructional Approaches--Problem Based Learning Instructional Approaches--Tracking/Ability Grouping Integrated Services/Full-Service Schools International Baccalaureate Leadership Leadership--District Superintendent Leadership--District Superintendent--Compensation and Diversified Pay Leadership--Principal/School Leadership--Certification and Licensure Leadership--Principal/School Leadership--Compensation and Diversified Pay Leadership--Principal/School Leadership--Evaluation and Effectiveness Leadership--Principal/School Leadership--Preparation Leadership--Principal/School Leadership--Recruitment and Retention Mentoring/Tutoring Middle School Minority/Diversity Issues Minority/Diversity Issues--African American Minority/Diversity Issues--American Indian / Alaska Native / Native Hawaiian Minority/Diversity Issues--Hispanic No Child Left Behind No Child Left Behind--Adequate Yearly Progress No Child Left Behind--Assessment No Child Left Behind--Choice/Transfer No Child Left Behind--Consequences for Schools No Child Left Behind--Finance No Child Left Behind--Parent Involvement No Child Left Behind--Reauthorization Issues/Waivers No Child Left Behind--Report Cards No Child Left Behind--School Support No Child Left Behind--Supplemental Services Online Learning--Digital/Blended Learning Online Learning--Virtual Schools/Courses P-16 or P-20 P-3 P-3 Brain Development P-3 Child Care P-3 Content Standards and Assessment P-3 Early Intervention (0-3) P-3 Ensuring Quality P-3 Family Involvement P-3 Finance P-3 Governance P-3 Grades 1-3 P-3 Kindergarten P-3 Kindergarten--Full-Day Kindergarten P-3 Preschool P-3 Teaching Quality/Professional Development Parent/Family Parent/Family--Parent Rights Postsecondary Postsecondary Accountability Postsecondary Accountability--Accreditation Postsecondary Accountability--Diploma Mills Postsecondary Affordability--Financial Aid Postsecondary Affordability--Tuition/Fees Postsecondary Affordability--Tuition/Fees--Prepd/College Savings Plans Postsecondary Affordability--Tuition/Fees--Undocumented Immigrants Postsecondary Faculty Postsecondary Faculty--Compensation Postsecondary Faculty--Intellectual Property Postsecondary Faculty--Teaching Assistants Postsecondary Faculty--Tenure Postsecondary Finance Postsecondary Governance and Structures Postsecondary Institutions--Community/Technical Colleges Postsecondary Institutions--For-Profit/Proprietary Postsecondary Institutions--Private/Independent Postsecondary Online Instruction Postsecondary Participation--Access Postsecondary Participation--Admissions Requirements Postsecondary Participation--Affirmative Action Postsecondary Students--Disabled Postsecondary Students--Graduate/Professional Postsecondary Success--Developmental/Remediation Postsecondary Success--Transfer/Articulation Private Schools Promotion/Retention Public Involvement Reading/Literacy Religion Remediation (K-12) Rural Scheduling/School Calendar Scheduling/School Calendar--Extended Day Programs Scheduling/School Calendar--Summer School Scheduling/School Calendar--Year Scheduling/School Calendar--Year Round School Safety School Safety--Bullying Prevention/Conflict Resolution School Safety--Code of Conduct School Safety--Expulsion/Suspension School Safety--No Child Left Behind--Safe Schools School Safety--Sexual Harassment and Assault School/District Structure/Operations School/District Structure/Operations--District Consolidation/Deconsolidation School/District Structure/Operations--Facilities School/District Structure/Operations--Food Service School/District Structure/Operations--Libraries School/District Structure/Operations--Personnel (Non-Teaching) School/District Structure/Operations--School Size School/District Structure/Operations--Shared Services School/District Structure/Operations--Transportation Service-Learning Special Education Special Education--Federal Law/Regulations Special Education--Finance Special Education--Inclusion (Mainstreaming) Special Education--Placement Special Education--Transition Special Populations--Corrections Education Special Populations--Homeless Education Special Populations--Military Standards Standards--Implementation State Comparisons/Statistics State Longitudinal Data Systems State Policymaking State Policymaking--Ballot Questions State Policymaking--Constitutional Clauses State Policymaking--Task Forces/Commissions Student Achievement Student Achievement--Closing the Achievement Gap Students Students--Athletics/Extracurricular Activities Students--Employment Students--Mobility Students--Records/Rights Teaching Quality Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure--Alternative Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure--Assignment Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure--Highly Qualified Teachers Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure--Natl. Bd. for Prof. Teach. Stds. Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure--Special Education Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure--State Prof. Standards Bds. Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure--Substitute Teachers Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay--Pay-for-Performance Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay--Retirement/Benefits Teaching Quality--Evaluation and Effectiveness Teaching Quality--Induction Programs and Mentoring Teaching Quality--Paraprofessionals Teaching Quality--Preparation Teaching Quality--Professional Development Teaching Quality--Recruitment and Retention Teaching Quality--Recruitment and Retention--At-Risk Schools Teaching Quality--Teacher Rights Teaching Quality--Tenure or Continuing Contract Technology Technology--Devices/Software/Hardware Technology--Equitable Access Technology--Funding Issues Technology--Teacher/Faculty Training Textbooks and Open Source Urban