Reinventing Public Education Act
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This Act shall be called the “Reinventing Public Education Act.”
SECTION 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE
(A) FINDINGS—The legislature finds that:
1. Schools are under increasing pressure to improve student achievement. The federal No Child Left Behind Act holds schools responsible for making Adequate Yearly Progress toward specific educational goals.
2. We cannot ask school principals to take responsibility for improving student achievement without giving them the decision-making authority to run their schools.
3. Schools are more effective when parents, students, teachers and other school staff have a voice in the decision-making process.
4. The state should reevaluate the effectiveness and fairness of its funding formula.
(B) PURPOSE—This law is enacted to reform and improve the quality of public elementary and secondary education in [state].
SECTION 3. REINVENTING PUBLIC EDUCATION
After section XXX, the following new section XXX shall be inserted:
(A) AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITY OF SCHOOL PRINCIPALS
1. Any powers not delegated to the Secretary of Education or the Boards of Education by law, nor prohibited by law to a school or the principal of a school, are reserved to the school principal.
2. The principal shall oversee the day-to-day management of the school, the primary function of which is to develop and deliver instructional services to students in accordance with state and local educational policy and standards.
3. The principal shall have the primary authority for making spending decisions affecting the school. The principal shall have budgetary control of at least 70 percent of the per-pupil funds assigned to any school.
4. The Department of Education shall study the feasibility of increasing the principal’s budget authority to 80 or 90 percent of per-pupil funds in future years, and report to the Governor and legislature by January 15, 2006.
5. The principal shall collaborate with the school community council to receive input on all major school decisions.
6. The Secretary of Education shall develop procedures and reports to ensure sound planning, control and accountability in the use of moneys by school principals. The procedures and reports, however, shall recognize the need for providing principals latitude and discretion to determine their own schools’ needs and priorities, and shall avoid imposing undue amounts of paperwork and administrative burdens on the schools.
7. When collective bargaining agreements, memoranda of understanding, or other agreements are renegotiated, the boards of education shall ensure that those agreements do not prohibit actions that a principal may be required to take to implement this section.
(B) PRINCIPALS ACADEMY
The Department of Education shall establish a principals academy to fully support and develop principals to become better school leaders, assuring that each principal is trained to fully assume the principal’s role as the educational leader accountable for his or her school’s performance. The academy may also provide training to school community councils to facilitate their effective collaboration with principals.
(C) SCHOOL COMMUNITY COUNCILS
1. Each public school shall establish a school community council that:
a. Diffuses educational decision-making by involving and securing the input of those persons directly affected at the school level; and
b. Encourages school-initiated methods for achieving state and local educational goals established by the Boards of Education.
2. The Boards of Education shall establish policies governing the composition, election and operation of school community councils, provided that such school community councils shall be composed of a representative group of stakeholders, including but not limited to:
a. A parent representative elected by an organized parent group, or, if none exists at a particular school, elected by ballots distributed among and collected from the parents of the school’s students;
b. A student representative elected by ballots distributed among and collected from the school’s students;
c. A teacher representative elected by ballots distributed among and collected from the school’s teachers;
e. A representative of school staff excluding teachers and the principal elected by ballots distributed among and collected from such school staff, provided that no one voting in this category has voted or will vote in any other category during a given school year; and
d. The school’s principal.
3. A principal may appoint members to fill any vacancy on the school community council.
4. Any state agency that may be required to act under state law on a matter affecting an individual school shall waive otherwise applicable policies, rules or procedures when requested to do so by a school community council unless the agency, within 30 days, can justify a denial to the appropriate authority. The Department of Education shall adopt procedures necessary to process such waivers.
(D) STUDENT WEIGHTED FORMULA
1. The Department of [Education] shall convene a working group to study the implementation of a student weighted formula for distributing state funds to public schools.
2. Under a student weighted formula, the department would:
a. Create a list of applicable criteria that affect the cost of educating students;
b. Determine the cost of educating a baseline student; and
c. Create a system of weights based upon the criteria that may be applied to the cost of a baseline student to determine the relative cost of educating a student.
3. The study shall:
a. Address the advantages and disadvantages of implementing a student weighted formula;
b. Determine which statutes, rules, policies or procedures need to be amended or removed to enable the effective implementation of a student weighted formula; and
c. Determine, for the purposes of efficiency and to the degree practicable, what percentage of any allocations made under the student weighted formula would most appropriately remain at the district level to facilitate certain components of the public educational system, including but not limited to:
(1) Special education;
(2) School-based behavioral health programs;
(3) School repair and maintenance;
(4) The alignment of curricula; and
(5) Positions above the school level, such as area superintendents, fiscal officers, and business staff.
4. The working group shall include a representative group of stakeholders including, at a minimum:
a. The Secretary or the Secretary’s designate;
b. Representatives of Boards of Education;
c. Public school teachers;
d. Public school principals; and
e. Parents of public school students who are members of the state parent teacher student association.
5. A report shall be submitted to the Governor and legislature by January 15, 2006, and the report shall include:
a. A detailed plan for implementing a student weighted formula; and
b. A list of statutes, rules, policies or procedures that need to be amended or removed to enable the effective implementation of a student weighted formula.
SECTION 4. EFFECTIVE DATE
This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2005.