1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to education; providing for a school site
1.3 	governance program; appropriating money; proposing
1.4 	coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 123B.
1.5 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6 	Section 1. [123B.042] SCHOOL SITE GOVERNANCE PROGRAM.
1.7 		Subdivision 1.Establishment. A school site governance
1.8 	program is established to provide schools with more authority
1.9 	and flexibility to teach and provide services to students at the
1.10 	school site.
1.11 		Subd. 2.Site decision-making team. (a) To participate
1.12 	in the program, a school must form a site decision-making team
1.13 	that includes a school principal or other persons having general
1.14 	control and supervision of the school, at least one teacher in
1.15 	the school, one noninstructional staff person in the school, and
1.16 	at least one parent of a student enrolled in the school or other
1.17 	community member.  By October 1 of the school year before
1.18 	participating in the program, the school site decision-making
1.19 	team must:
1.20 	(1) be approved by a 60 percent vote of employees in the
1.21 	school;
1.22 	(2) adopt a policy describing how it will delegate
1.23 	authority and responsibilities among its members; and 
1.24 	(3) notify the school board of its intent to participate in
1.25 	the program.
2.1 	(b) After notifying the school board under paragraph (a),
2.2 	clause (3), the school site decision-making team shall publish a
2.3 	notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the district of
2.4 	its intent to participate in the program and the date it will
2.5 	hold a public hearing about its intended participation.  In
2.6 	addition to holding the public hearing, the decision-making
2.7 	team, for a period of 30 days, must also solicit parent and
2.8 	community input regarding its intended participation.
2.9 	(c) By January 15, the decision-making team shall
2.10 	demonstrate to the school board how the team's plan responds to
2.11 	public comment.
2.12 		Subd. 3.Responsibilities; revenue. (a) A school site
2.13 	decision-making team participating in this program:
2.14 	(1) has the control and responsibilities of the school
2.15 	board, including such responsibilities as instructional
2.16 	practices, personnel selection from within the district, and
2.17 	staffing assignments for the school; and 
2.18 	(2) retains control of the revenue and determines its use
2.19 	as necessary to operate the school for the school years it
2.20 	participates in the program under this section.
2.21 	(b) By January 15 of the school year before participating
2.22 	in the program, the school site decision-making team must enter
2.23 	into a written agreement with the local school board describing
2.24 	the control and responsibilities of the decision-making team and
2.25 	of the school board.  Revenue for a fiscal year received or
2.26 	receivable by the district and that the district would expend
2.27 	for the particular school site participating in the program is
2.28 	allocated to that school site.  All other district revenue not
2.29 	reserved for other purposes must be proportionately allocated to
2.30 	the site based on the site's pupil count.  The agreement must
2.31 	include provisions describing how the decision-making team and
2.32 	school board will resolve disputes over assigned authority and
2.33 	responsibilities.  The school board members must vote whether to
2.34 	authorize the agreement under this paragraph according to
2.35 	section 123B.09, subdivision 6.  The decision of the school
2.36 	board is final.  If the school board does not authorize the
3.1 	agreement, the school board must publish its decision and
3.2 	reasons in a newspaper of general circulation in the district.
3.3 	(c) The district must maintain an account for each school
3.4 	site participating in the program.
3.5 	(d) The school site decision-making team must comply with
3.6 	section 13D.04, subdivision 1.
3.7 		Subd. 4.Employees. The employees of the school site
3.8 	remain employees of the school district for salary, benefits,
3.9 	seniority, retirement, and other personnel issues, consistent
3.10 	with current law and the collective bargaining agreement in
3.11 	effect, the school site decision-making team selects employees
3.12 	from within the district into licensed and nonlicensed positions
3.13 	at the school site, including the position of principal or other
3.14 	person having general control and supervision of the school.
3.15 	When negotiating a new contract under chapter 179A, an exclusive
3.16 	representative and school board must provide for the employees
3.17 	of a school site participating in the program under this section.
3.18 		Subd. 5.Performance agreements. By March 15 of the
3.19 	school year before participating in the program, the school site
3.20 	decision-making team shall enter into a performance agreement
3.21 	with the school board.  The agreement shall include:
3.22 	(1) the previous year's baseline information at the site
3.23 	regarding student achievement based on:
3.24 	(i) aggregated and disaggregated statewide testing data;
3.25 	(ii) other nationally normed standardized tests;
3.26 	(iii) student attendance; and 
3.27 	(iv) dropout rates and graduation rates, where applicable;
3.28 	(2) the expected levels of improvement in selected areas of
3.29 	student performance during the next year;
3.30 	(3) how student performance will be measured, including
3.31 	assessment procedures required by law and rule;
3.32 	(4) status of the school's revenues and expenditures;
3.33 	(5) other performance expectations and measures agreed upon
3.34 	by the school site and school board;
3.35 	(6) the frequency of reporting by the school site to the
3.36 	school board; and 
4.1 	(7) how the performance results will be made available to
4.2 	parents and the public.
4.3 	The term of an agreement shall be for no more than two
4.4 	years.
4.5 	The performance agreement must include provisions
4.6 	describing how the school board and school site decision-making
4.7 	team will resolve disputes over the school's compliance with
4.8 	provisions of the agreement.
4.9 	If the school site decision-making team and school board
4.10 	cannot agree on the provisions of a performance agreement as
4.11 	required under this subdivision, either party may request
4.12 	assistance from the commissioner of education.  The commissioner
4.13 	shall provide assistance to the parties to ensure they reach an
4.14 	agreement.
4.15 		Subd. 6.Termination of site-based program authority. If
4.16 	a school site fails to meet the agreed upon expectations as
4.17 	specified in the performance agreement with the school board for
4.18 	two consecutive school years, its authority to participate in
4.19 	the program is terminated.
4.20 	School sites that have had their authority to participate
4.21 	in this program terminated under this subdivision may not
4.22 	participate in this program for three years after termination.
4.23 		Subd. 7.Reports. A school site decision-making team
4.24 	shall, and its respective school board may, make an annual
4.25 	report to the commissioner of education by September 1.  The
4.26 	reports shall be consistent with the requirements of section
4.27 	120B.11, subdivision 5, paragraph (a).
4.28 	Subd. 8.[COMMISSIONER'S DUTY.] The commissioner of
4.29 	education shall evaluate the effectiveness of the program by
4.30 	January 1, 2010.

4.31 	Sec. 2. SCHOOL SITE GOVERNANCE PROGRAM GRANTS;
4.32 	APPROPRIATION.
 4.33 	The sums indicated in this section are appropriated from
4.34 	the general fund for the fiscal years designated to the
4.35 	commissioner of education for grants to schools that have
4.36 	entered into an agreement with their school boards for
5.1 	participation in the school site governance program under
5.2 	Minnesota Statutes, section 123B.042:
5.3 	$.,...,........2006 
5.4 	$.,...,........2007 
5.5 	These appropriations must be used for the planning and
5.6 	implementation of school site governance.  The commissioner
5.7 	shall establish the form and manner of school site application
5.8 	for a grant.