1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to education; establishing a working group to 
  1.3             recommend alternative school year calendars; 
  1.4             appropriating money. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  [RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL YEAR 
  1.7   CALENDARS.] 
  1.8      Subdivision 1.  [WORKING GROUP RECOMMENDATIONS.] The 
  1.9   commissioner of children, families, and learning shall convene a 
  1.10  working group to consider alternative school year calendars, 
  1.11  including at least 45-15 plans, four-quarter plans, quinmester 
  1.12  plans, extended learning year plans, flexible all-year plans, 
  1.13  and four-day week plans, and recommend to the legislature those 
  1.14  alternative school year calendars that best allow school 
  1.15  districts to meet the educational needs of their students.  The 
  1.16  working group must include one representative from each of the 
  1.17  following organizations:  the Minnesota school boards 
  1.18  association; the Minnesota education association; the Minnesota 
  1.19  federation of teachers; the Minnesota association of school 
  1.20  administrators; the Minnesota association of secondary school 
  1.21  principals; the Minnesota elementary school principals' 
  1.22  association; the Minnesota association for pupil transportation; 
  1.23  the Minnesota association for supervision and curriculum; the 
  1.24  Minnesota congress of parents, teachers, and students; the 
  1.25  Minnesota state high school league; the Minnesota business 
  2.1   partnership; and the Minnesota restaurant, hotel, and resort 
  2.2   associations.  By February 1, 1998, the commissioner shall 
  2.3   submit the group's recommendations concerning the alternative 
  2.4   school year calendars that best allow school districts to meet 
  2.5   the educational needs of their students to the chairs of the 
  2.6   education committees of the legislature. 
  2.7      Subd. 2.  [ISSUE TO RESOLVE.] In recommending to the 
  2.8   legislature the alternative school year calendars that best 
  2.9   allow school districts to meet the educational needs of their 
  2.10  students, the working group must at least consider: 
  2.11     (1) how buildings and other facilities can be optimally 
  2.12  used during an entire year; 
  2.13     (2) what the optimal learning year schedule is of 
  2.14  elementary and secondary disabled students and staff in schools 
  2.15  and residential facilities; 
  2.16     (3) how a district divides its students among its 
  2.17  facilities to accommodate an alternative school year calendar; 
  2.18     (4) how a district accommodates an alternative school year 
  2.19  calendar in the context of the public employment labor relations 
  2.20  act; 
  2.21     (5) what parent involvement is required in establishing an 
  2.22  alternative school year calendar; 
  2.23     (6) how school staff is assigned in a district with fewer 
  2.24  than all facilities adopting an alternative school year 
  2.25  calendar; 
  2.26     (7) how teachers' contracting rights are affected by an 
  2.27  alternative school year calendar; 
  2.28     (8) what educational standards and requirements apply to a 
  2.29  district operating an alternative school year calendar; 
  2.30     (9) what adjustments of attendance and apportionments of 
  2.31  state aid are required; and 
  2.32     (10) how concerns of the Minnesota restaurant, hotel, and 
  2.33  resort associations can be addressed in an alternative school 
  2.34  year calendar. 
  2.35     Sec. 2.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  2.36     $....... is appropriated from the general fund to the 
  3.1   commissioner of children, families, and learning in fiscal year 
  3.2   1998 for working group expenditures under section 1. 
  3.3      Sec. 3.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  3.4      Section 1 is effective the day following final enactment.