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From the ECS State Policy Database 2006 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 2006. 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--Sanctions/Interventions--Takeovers Accountability--School Improvement Adult Basic Education Assessment Assessment--Accommodations Assessment--Computer Based Assessment--End-of-Course Assessment--Formative/Interim Assessment--High Stakes/Competency 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 Cheating Choice of Schools--Charter Schools Choice of Schools--Charter Schools--Closings 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--Tax Credits 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--Core Curriculum Curriculum--Drivers Education Curriculum--Environmental Education Curriculum--Family Living Education Curriculum--Financial Literacy/Economics Ed. Curriculum--Foreign Language/Sign Language Curriculum--Geography Education Curriculum--Health/Nutrition Education Curriculum--International Education Curriculum--Language Arts Curriculum--Language Arts--Writing/Spelling Curriculum--Mathematics Curriculum--Physical Education Curriculum--Science Curriculum--Sex Education Curriculum--Social Studies/History Data-Driven Improvement Demographics--Enrollments Economic/Workforce Development Education Research Equity Federal Finance Finance--Adequacy/Core Cost Finance--Bonds Finance--District Finance--Equity Finance--Facilities Finance--Federal Finance--Funding Formulas Finance--Lotteries Finance--Performance Funding 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--Site-Based Management Governance--State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies Health Health--Child Abuse Health--Mental Health Health--Nutrition Health--School Based Clinics or School Nurses Health--Suicide Prevention Health--Teen Pregnancy High School High School--Advanced Placement High School--College Readiness High School--Dropout Rates/Graduation Rates High School--Dual/Concurrent Enrollment High School--Early Colleges/Middle Colleges High School--Exit Exams High School--GED (General Education Development) High School--Graduation Requirements Instructional Approaches Instructional Approaches--Constructivism Instructional Approaches--Homeschooling Instructional Approaches--Problem Based Learning Instructional Approaches--Single-Sex Education Integrated Services/Full-Service Schools International Baccalaureate Leadership Leadership--District Superintendent Leadership--Principal/School Leadership 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--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--Reauthorization Issues/Waivers No Child Left Behind--Report Cards No Child Left Behind--School Support No Child Left Behind--Special Populations 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 Child Care P-3 Early Intervention (0-3) P-3 Ensuring Quality P-3 Evaluation/Economic Benefits P-3 Finance P-3 Governance P-3 Grades 1-3 P-3 Kindergarten--Full-Day Kindergarten P-3 Preschool P-3 Teaching Quality/Professional Development Parent/Family Parent/Family--Parent Rights Parent/Family--Research 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 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 Participation--Outreach Postsecondary Students--Disabled Postsecondary Students--Foster Youth Postsecondary Students--Military Postsecondary Students--Minority Postsecondary Success--Completion Postsecondary Success--Developmental/Remediation Postsecondary Success--Transfer/Articulation Private Schools Promising Practices Promotion/Retention Reading/Literacy Religion Religion--Scientific Creationism (Evolution) Remediation (K-12) Rural Scheduling/School Calendar Scheduling/School Calendar--Day/Class Length Scheduling/School Calendar--Extended Day Programs Scheduling/School Calendar--Summer School Scheduling/School Calendar--Year School Safety School Safety--Bullying Prevention/Conflict Resolution School Safety--Code of Conduct School Safety--Disaster/Emergency Preparedness School Safety--Expulsion/Suspension School Safety--No Child Left Behind--Safe Schools School Safety--Sexual Harassment and Assault School Safety--Special Education School Safety--Uniforms/Dress Codes School/District Structure/Operations NJ Signed into law 12/2006 P-12 Gang Violence Instruction A.B. 1650; S.B. 1749 Requires boards of education to offer elementary school students instruction in gang violence prevention. http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bills/BillView.asp... More... NE Legislation Repealed by Voters 11/2006 P-12 District Consolidation L.B. 126 Gives voters the option of retaining or repealing legislation pertaining to certain dissolved school districts. http://www.unicam.state.ne.us/pdf/FINAL_LB126_1.pdf... More... LA Approved by voters 09/2006 P-12 Central Community School System Amendment 8 Proposes a Constitutional amendment to grant to the Central Community School System in East Baton Rouge Parish the same authority granted parishes, including funds for the minimum foundation fund, school books, instructional materials and the raising of local ... More... WY Rule Adoption 08/2006 P-12 Criteria for School Building & Facilities Improvement Priority Chapter 6 Establishes a process to identify and prioritize the relative importance of each school building and facility improvement need on a statewide basis. http://soswy.state.wy.us/RULES/6327.pdf... More... IL Signed into law 07/2006 P-12 School District Conversion and Formation S.B. 2795 Amends the School Code. Creates a new Article concerning the conversion and formation of school districts. Contains provisions concerning school district conversions, combined school district formation, unit school district formation, partial elementary unit s... More... IL Signed into law 06/2006 P-12 Additional State Aid for Cooperative High Schools H.B. 4365 Allows cooperative high schools to receive some of the same supplementary state aid that new districts receive; relates to multiple agreements. http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/94/HB/PDF/09400HB4365lv.pdf... More... LA Signed into law 06/2006 P-12 Central Community School System H.B. 815 Relates to deconsolidation. Creates Central Community School System and separate governing board as separate from East Baton Rouge Parish School System. http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/streamdocument.asp?did=398044... More... LA Signed into law 06/2006 P-12 Civil Immunity H.B. 892 Provides for government immunity of the state and other political subdivisions during and in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Adds that no student, employee, volunteer, parent, or person attending or visiting a school within an area affected by H... More... LA Signed into law 06/2006 P-12 School Facilities Sales S.B. 308 Authorizes the Recovery School District to sell, exchange, or lease school property or buildings over which it has the rights of ownership to the governing authority of a state board-approved school which has need for property as the result of a hurricane. htt... More... LA Signed into law 06/2006 P-12 Business Managers/Chief Financial Officers S.B. 539 Requires school systems to employ or share by agreement school board business managers or chief financial officers who meet qualifications established by the state board. Gives any business manager or chief financial officer who does not meet the requirements ... More... CO Vetoed 05/2006 P-12 School Performance Ratings S.B. 69 Concerns school accountability; establishes that, if a school covers more than one school level, it shall be assigned one academic performance rating and one academic growth of students rating and receive one school accountability report. http://www.leg.state.... More... FL Signed into law 05/2006 P-12 Paperwork Reduction and Data Collection and Reporting Requirements H.B. 7087 (Section 11) Beginning with the 2006-2007 school year: (a) Each district school board must designate a classroom teacher to serve as the teacher representative to speak on behalf of the district's teachers regarding paperwork and data collection reduction. (b) Each distric... More... KS Signed into law 05/2006 P-12 Consolidation Incentives S.B. 481 Concerns school districts; relates to consolidation, state aid and the assessed valuation of districts and the levying of school taxes; provides for revenue transfers. Increases from two to three years the amount of time that school districts that consolidate ... More... KS Signed into law 05/2006 P-12 Board Member District Boundaries H.B. 2585 Relates to school districts; relates to changing board member district boundaries; relates to assessed valuation of school districts. http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2006/2585.pdf... More... KS Signed into law 05/2006 P-12 District Expenditure Reporting S.B. 549 - Section 2 Requires districts to report expenditures in the manner required by the state board in order to achieve uniform reporting of expenditures in school district budgets. http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2006/549.pdf... More... KS Signed into law 05/2006 P-12 District Needs Assessment S.B. 549 - Section 26 Directs every district to conduct an assessment of each attendance center's educational needs. Directs the board to use information obtained from such needs assessment when preparing the district budget. Also directs the board to prepare a summary of the budge... More... VT Signed into law 05/2006 P-12 School District Authority H.B. 867 - Section 25 Authorizes local boards to make available school facilities and equipment for specified public purposes if such purposes appear, in the judgment of the board, to be in the best interests of the district and are an efficient, economical, and appropriate use of ... More... AR Rule Adoption 04/2006 P-12 Consolidation or Annexation of Public School Districts AAC 005.23.06 Sets rules governing consolidation or annexation of public school districts and boards of directors of local school districts. http://www.sos.arkansas.gov/ar_rules/rule_proposed/005.23.06-001P.pdf... More... AZ Signed into law 04/2006 P-12 School District Boundary Changes S.B. 1094 Concerns school district boundary changes; relates to financial impact; provides that during the period that a county school superintendent is considering new school district boundaries, the superintendent shall conduct at least two public meetings at which pu... More... MD Signed into law 04/2006 P-12 Postsec. Open Meetings Laws H.B. 698; S.B. 623 Requires a public body that adjourns an open session to carry out an executive function in a meeting that is not open to the public to include specified information in the minutes of its next open session. http://mlis.state.md.us/2006rs/bills/hb/hb0698t.pdf... More... ME Signed into law 04/2006 P-12 District Cost Sharing Agreements H.B. 1344 (also HP 1344 and LD 1903) Relates to locally approved school administrative district cost-sharing agreements which were preempted by Public Law 2003, chapter 712, which first became effective for the 2005-06 school fiscal years and caused significant changes in the local financial obli... More... VA Signed into law 04/2006 P-12 Shared Vehicles H.B. 1582 Provides that any local government or combination of governments within planning district 16 may enter into cooperative agreements with a local school division for the use of school vehicles for public transportation purposes during non-school hours.  Such agr... More... VT Signed into law 04/2006 P-12 Supervisory Districts H.B. 710 Permits a school district with schools in grades K–8 and that was designated as a supervisory district prior to January 1, 2006 to remain a supervisory district. http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/legdoc.cfm?URL=/docs/2006/acts/ACT115.HTM... More... WV Signed into law 04/2006 P-12 Regional Education Service Agencies S.B. 127 Rewrites §18-2-15a. Directs the state superintendent to conduct a comprehensive study of the programs, governance and administration of regional education service agencies. Requires the study to include (1) The general structure and specific processes for g... More... ID Signed into law 03/2006 P-12 Levies for Cooperative Service Agency Facilities H.B. 705 Amends existing law relating to cooperative service agencies to provide that a cooperative service agency may request its member school districts to authorize a levy not to exceed .1% for the purpose of constructing and maintaining cooperative service agency f... More... KY Signed into law 03/2006 P-12 Advancing Kindergarten-Age Students to First Grade S.B. 35 Clarifies that a school district may advance a child through the primary program if he or she is at least five but less than six years old; allows the child to be classified as other than a kindergarten student for purposes of funding if the student is determi... More... UT Signed into law 03/2006 P-12 Creation of a New School District H.B. 77 Modifies the procedures relating to the creation of a new school district; allows the governing body of certain cities to establish a school district with boundaries contiguous with city boundaries; imposes requirements for the filing and processing of a petit... More... VA Signed into law 03/2006 P-12 Digital Storage of Employee Records H.B. 434 Permits personnel files of all school board employees to be produced and maintained in digital or paper format. http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?061+ful+CHAP0191... More... IL Adopted 02/2006 P-12 CODE OF REGULATIONS 74 IAC 420.130, 140, 310, 320, 410, 420, 430, 630, 640, 710, 720 Provides standards for the conduct of financial audits of regional offices of education and certain educational service centers. http://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/index/register/register_volume30_issue7.pdf (starts page 329 of 520, see esp. 338 of 520)... More... OK Died 02/2006 P-12 Constitutional Amendment -- to Ballot S.J.R. 35 Directs the Secretary of State to refer to the people for their approval or rejection a proposed amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution; requires a majority vote of all affected school district electors prior to annexation or consolidation; prohibits subsequen... More... SD Signed into law 02/2006 P-12 Incentives for Consolidation H.B. 1243 Makes an $552,209 appropriation to the Department of Education to reimburse school districts for consolidation incentives. http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2006/bills/HB1243enr.pdf... More... 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--Foster Care Special Populations--Gifted and Talented Special Populations--Homeless Education Standards State Longitudinal Data Systems State Policymaking State Policymaking--Ballot Questions State Policymaking--Politics State Policymaking--Task Forces/Commissions STEM Student Achievement Student Achievement--Closing the Achievement Gap Students Students--Athletics/Extracurricular Activities 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 Teaching Quality--Unions/Collective Bargaining Technology Technology--Computer Skills Technology--Devices/Software/Hardware Technology--Equitable Access Technology--Funding Issues Technology--Internet Safety Technology--Teacher/Faculty Training Textbooks and Open Source