Providing for the financing of kindergarten through grade 12 and early
childhood and family education programs and services

ARTICLE 1 - GENERAL EDUCATION

Defining kindergarten for general education purposes; clarifying the amount of money required to be reserved by resident school districts for students attending area learning center programs; providing for school district full recognition of taconite revenue; removing the exclusion of capital expenditures and pupil transportation from school district identification of general fund expenditures by building and authorizing the reporting of certain additional expenditures by building; changing the name of a certain school district general fund account entitled undesignated fund balance since statutory operating debt to net unreserved general fund balance for funds transfer and operating debt calculation purposes; expanding the definition of transportation services for pupils with disabilities for transportation aid entitlement purposes; specifying certain school district salary and fringe benefit reporting content requirements and prohibitions relating to employees with transportation duties for transportation expenditures calculation purposes and providing for allocation of the expenditures; clarifying the general education revenue reduction requirement for part time students attending eligible graduation incentives or alternative programs, excluding compensatory revenue; providing transportation for homeless pupils; providing for the counting of pupils enrolled in project based programs; expanding the components of general education revenue to gifted and talented and alternative teacher compensation revenues; increasing the general education basic revenue formula allowance; reducing the equalizing factor for operating capital; expanding equity revenue, increase to be payable entirely in state aid for fiscal year 2006; making transition revenue permanent; providing alternative teacher compensation aid and levy formulas; updating the general education aid formula; increasing the referendum allowance limit and the related revenue and aid formulas; simplifying certain referendum ballot requirements; modifying the referendum conversion allowance to reflect the permanency of transition revenue; modifying and clarifying certain general education aid taconite revenue deduction and levy reduction requirements; increasing the building lease levy; authorizing school districts to levy for the full amount of unemployment insurance and judgment costs; accelerating the date for annual notice to the commissioner of education of final certified levies; expanding the payment percentage for reimbursement aids to telecommunications/internet access equity and shared time aids; modifying the abatement adjustment formula and certain census requirements; modifying the distribution of excess taxes on captured net tax capacity of tax increment financing (TIF) districts to school districts; providing for the reporting of certain students as kindergarten pupils; providing an alternative teacher compensation revenue guarantee; authorizing the commissioner of education to temporarily accept and approve applications to participate in the alternative teacher compensation system based on the proportionate distribution of the student population; authorizing school districts to levy for the replacement of defective Carpenter school buses; creating a pilot program to allow independent school districts #11, Anoka Hennepin, #279, Osseo, #281, Robbinsdale, #535, Rochester and #833, South Washington to allocate compensatory revenue among school sites according to student performance measures; providing for the calculation of pupil units for independent school district #38, Red Lake for declining pupil unit aid receipt purposes; appropriating money to the commissioner for general education and referendum tax base replacement aids, for enrollment options transportation, for abatement revenue, for consolidating districts, for nonpublic pupil education and transportation aids, for a grant. to independent school district #690, Warroad to operate the Angle Inlet school, for declining pupil unit aid to independent school districts #241, Albert Lea, #2711, Mesabi East and #682, Roseau for declining pupil aid and for the compensatory revenue pilot project; repealing the minimum number of teachers required to agree for district or site participation in the alternative teacher compensation program and certain obsolete statutory operating debt reduction and levy requirements

ARTICLE 2 - EDUCATION EXCELLENCE

Clarifying the requirement for school officials to disclose school attendance data to the juvenile justice system upon request; authorizing school districts to include in school attendance policies a requirement for parents or legal guardians to verify reasons for child absences and specifying certain authorized reasons; providing for waiver of certain academic standards for students participating in certain rigorous courses of study; expanding and clarifying certain school board instruction and curriculum policy adoption and reporting requirements, authorizing web site publication of annual student achievement reports; authorizing school districts and charter schools to elect to participate in the educational planning and assessment system program offered by ACT, Inc. to provide a longitudinal systematic approach to student educational and career planning, assessment, instructional support and evaluation, requiring the commissioner of education to provide certain ACT tests for students in certain grades; modifying certain provisions relating to advanced placement and international baccalaureate programs, authorizing the commissioner to pay for out of state travel costs for teachers participating in training programs and requiring payment for examination fees for public and nonpublic students from low income families and for a portion or all of the examination fees for other public and nonpublic students; authorizing reimbursement of college level examination program (CLEP) fees for students successfully completing college level courses in high school, specifying certain duties of the commissioner; providing for student participation in gifted and talented programs; expanding violence prevention curriculum requirements to self protection; encouraging school districts to offer instruction on character development education and providing for American heritage education; modifying statewide testing requirements for students enrolled in grade 8; prohibiting the commissioner from developing statewide assessments for academic standards in health and physical education; requiring the commissioner to adopt and publish a policy providing parental access to statewide tests and assessments and to implement a value added assessment program to assist school districts and schools in assessing growth in student academic achievement; expanding the authorized content of the model sexual, religious and racial harassment and violence policy to violence prevention and character development; modifying certain dangerous weapons incidents and exclusion and expulsion reporting requirements of school districts; requiring school boards to adopt policies prohibiting intimidation and bullying of students; excepting nonresident students enrolling in online learning courses or programs from immunization requirements; authorizing the inclusion of character education programs in school administrator plans for admission or readmission of students after exclusion or expulsion, excluding certain student dismissals from the definition of suspension and authorizing suspension actions to include readmission plans, prohibiting school officials from using the refusal of parents or guardians to consent to the administration of psychotropic drugs or to psychiatric evaluations to prohibit students from attending class; providing alternatives to pupil suspension; providing for effective comprehensive scientifically based reading instruction; authorizing the board of teaching to reimburse school districts for the cost of teachers employed to substitute for regular teachers serving on the board; modifying certain teacher preparation program reading strategies content requirements; requiring school boards declining to renew head varsity coaching contracts to notify the coach involved; authorizing negotiation of an additional probationary period upon promotion from within to assistant principal or principal in schools in first class cities; modifying teacher tenure in first class cities, authorizing first class city school boards to negotiate plans for teacher layoffs in lieu of layoffs in inverse order to employment; requiring substantial teacher participation in the development of school district educational improvement plans; replacing the alternative teacher compensation system with a restructured alternative teacher professional pay system; providing for effective staff development activities and modifying certain reporting requirements; requiring and providing for the commissioner to establish schools mentoring schools regional sites; authorizing and providing for the commissioner to contract with the board of regents of the university of Minnesota to establish a principals leadership institute to provide professional development to school principals; authorizing school districts to enter into agreements to increase efficiency in the delivery of administrative services and to reduce costs for purchase of services by districts participating in the agreements; authorizing school boards to establish employee recognition program, to offer rewards for information leading to the conviction of persons committing crimes against students or school employees, volunteers or board members or against school district property and to authorize the use of credit cards by school officers or employees; modifying certain school site decision making agreement procedures and establishing a site decision making grant program; modifying a certain extracurricular reporting manual requirement; authorizing and providing for school boards to establish pupil transportation safety committees to review and recommend changes to pupil transportation safety policies and to develop comprehensive plans for the safe transportation of students facing hazardous transportation conditions; requiring or encouraging post-secondary institutions to award credit for successful completion of courses in programs certified by the national alliance of concurrent enrollment partnerships under the post-secondary enrollment options (PSEO) program; modifying certain online learning average daily membership requirements for general education aid qualification purposes; eliminating the commissioner as an eligible charter school sponsor, expanding certain affidavit content requirements, extending the commissioner approval or disapproval time limit and modifying certain contract requirements and funding provisions; creating a new career and technical levy formula; expanding eligibility for assurance of mastery programs to certain 8th grade students; authorizing American Indian education programs in charter schools and eliminating the required involvement of the American Indian education advisory committee in grant and scholarship awards; requiring and providing for the commissioner to continue implementation of the no child left behind act without interruption; providing for participation of nonresident students in tournaments in another district, authorizing administrative regions of the state high school league to contract with the state auditor or with private certified public accountants (CPA) to perform annual audits and requiring the governing board in lieu of the state auditor to file copies of audit reports with the commissioner and the legislative reference library (LRL); authorizing the board of the Perpich center for arts education to conduct meetings by telephone or other electronic means; establishing the Minnesota humanities commission to advance the study of the humanities and enhance the work of schools, colleges and cultural organizations in the state, authorizing the establishment of a humanities center and the Minnesota institute for the advancement of teaching to conduct seminars to recognize the teaching profession and advance teaching in the state; prohibiting the commissioner of public safety from linking or conditioning the issuance, suspension or revocation of drivers licenses to secondary school attendance; clarifying the authority of the juvenile court to cancel the drivers licenses or permits of children in need of protection or services or neglected and in foster care; authorizing the board of school administrators to adopt expedited rules to make technical revisions and clarifications; requiring the higher education advisory council to convene a working group to develop college preparation standards; requiring the commissioner to adopt rules before a certain date to implement the Minnesota comprehensive assessments second edition (MCA-IIs) in reading, mathematics and writing; appropriating money to the commissioner for charter school building lease and start up and integration aids, for magnet school and program and interdistrict desegregation or integration transportation grants, for American Indian success for the future and teacher preparation grants and scholarships, for tribal contract schools, for statewide testing support, for AP and IB examination fees and teacher training programs, for first grade preparedness grants, for certain collaborative urban educator programs at Concordia university, the university of St. Thomas and Hamline university, for youth works programs, for student organizations, for the educational planning and assessment (EPAS) and college level examination programs, for a certain number of school site decision making program grants and for best practices grants to the Minnesota humanities commission, to the Minnesota historical society, to the Minnesota learning resource center, to the principals leadership institute and for the schools mentoring schools and quantum opportunities programs; repealing certain online learning option payment priority and state high school league audit report content requirements

ARTICLE 3 - SPECIAL PROGRAMS

Expanding aversive and deprivation procedures to positive behavioral
interventions and supports and time outs and modifying and expanding certain rule requirements of the commissioner of education; modifying the authority of charter schools to charge tuition to districts of residence for special education aid eligibility purposes; adjusting the school special education transition revenue for fiscal years 2008 and later; modifying the nonresident tuition rate and certain other costs for children with disabilities; modifying certain membership requirements for special education parent advisory councils in districts with nonpublic schools and specifying a council meeting frequency requirement; modifying the deadline for recommendations by the state interagency coordinating council for policies for a comprehensive and coordinated system and extending the council expiration date; adjusting the definition of general revenue and defining total qualifying referendum revenue for special education excess cost aid determination purposes, increasing the state total special education and special education excess cost aids formulas and resetting the current year aid payment percentage for excess costs aid; modifying certain requirements for payment to resident and nonresident districts for students under alternative attendance programs; reinstating and making permanent the advisory committee to the staff of the library for the blind and physically handicapped on long range plans and library services; increasing certain prior appropriations to the commissioner for special education excess cost aids, requiring payment of a certain amount to independent school district #2580, East Central for certain unfunded special education costs; requiring and providing for the establishment of a temporary task force on the delivery of special education services to nonpublic school students by public school districts to compare and evaluate individual needs for services; appropriating money to the commissioner for special education and excess costs aids, for aids for children with disabilities and for teacher travel for home based services, for court placed special education revenue and for special education out of state tuition; repealing a certain special litigation and hearing costs payment requirement

ARTICLE 4 - FACILITIES AND TECHNOLOGY

Requiring school districts providing curriculum to resident students with both physical and electronic components to make the electronic component accessible to resident home schooled students upon request under certain conditions; clarifying the requirement for schools or districts to notify parents and competition participants of pools used for competitive diving or training practice and not meeting certain requirements; modifying the definition of eligible debt service revenue under the debt service equalization program, requiring a certain net tax capacity adjustment; reducing the statutory appropriation for debt service equalization aid; modifying certain notice publication requirements under the alternative facilities bonding and levy program and providing deferred maintenance revenue to school districts not qualifying for the program; clarifying the authorized uses of the capital project referendum account; subjecting alternative facilities building projects to review and comment by the commissioner of education; expanding facility construction proposal content requirements; modifying and clarifying the online learning option and establishing a temporary online learning advisory council; providing telecommunications/internet access equity aid to school districts or charter schools, requiring school districts to provide the services for nonpublic schools upon request; reducing the maximum effort net debt service levy floor and the debt service tax rate; excluding bonds issued to pay pension fund liabilities from the net debt of special school district #1, Minneapolis; authorizing school districts to appropriate unused (surplus) debt service revenue for general purposes; expanding a certain provision authorizing the payment of school district refunding bonds from taconite production tax revenues; extending the garage lease levy authority of independent school district #748, Sartell; authorizing independent school district #2859, Glencoe-Silver Lake to levy for recovery of the cost of replacing a gymnasium floor at Lakeside elementary school and independent school district #110, Waconia to levy to rent or lease administrative space; authorizing independent school district #518, Worthington to use facilities owned by the state to provide adult or child foster care services; appropriating money to the commissioner for health and safety, debt service equalization, alternative facilities bonding and telecommunications/Internet access equity aids and for independent school district #38, Red Lake for onetime emergency aid for high school infrastructure repair

ARTICLE 5 - NUTRITION AND ACCOUNTING

Increasing the percentage of referendum levy certified in the prior calendar year; increasing school lunch aid to participants in the national school lunch program and the amount of reimbursement to public or nonpublic schools for milk served to kindergarten students; modifying the definition of cumulative amount guaranteed for certain aids payment purposes; authorizing certain fund transfers in independent school districts #2071, Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial, #883, Rockford, #418, Russell, #584, Ruthton, #177, Windom, #771, Chokio-Alberta, #836, Butterfield, #2888, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley, #200, Hastings, #2180, M.A.C.C.R.A.Y., #2887, McLeod West and #2609, Win-E-Mac; authorizing independent school district #595, East Grand Forks to levy for a remaining disabled access levy over a certain number of years; requiring the commissioner of education to reduce the net tax capacity levies of independent school district #599, Fertile-Bertrami before adjusting the referendum market value levy; regulating state payments for nonprofit organization services provided in 2006, providing for the retroactivity of certain contracts or grants awarded by the commissioners of health, human services or education; providing for state agency reimbursements to local government units for certain advances; providing for carryforward of unexpended and unencumbered balances of certain appropriations to state agencies or constitutional officers; appropriating money to the commissioner of natural resources (DNR) for a grant to Let's Go Fishing of Minnesota to promote fishing opportunities and to the commissioner of education for school lunch, traditional school breakfast and summer school food service replacement aids

ARTICLE 6 - LIBRARIES

Appropriating money to the commissioner of education for regional library basic system support grants, for multicounty multitype library systems, for the electronic library for Minnesota and for regional library telecommunications aid

ARTICLE 7 - EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Expanding and modifying certain early childhood developmental screening requirements and increasing developmental screening aid; increasing early childhood family education revenue; expanding eligibility for and modifying the purpose and certain requirements of school readiness programs; requiring and providing for the commissioner of education to implement an early childhood development grant program for low income and other challenged families proposed by the Minnesota early learning foundation (MELF); expanding the definition of public employee under the public employment labor relations act (PELRA) to early childhood family education teachers employed by school districts; requiring the commissioner to award a planning grant to develop a project in northwest Hennepin county to promote the school readiness of children, specifying certain program component, grant award and match and advisory committee establishment requirements; providing for coordination of early care and education programs to increase school readiness; appropriating money to the commissioner for school readiness programs revenue, for ECFE and health and developmental screening aids, for head start programs, for the Minnesota early learning foundation and for grants to promote kindergarten readiness and family support; repealing certain existing provisions governing school readiness programs and aid

ARTICLE 8 - PREVENTION

Transferring responsibility under the lead abatement program from the
commissioner of education to the commissioner of health; increasing general community education revenue and reducing the total community education levy; specifying certain renumbering and cross reference correction instructions to the revisor of statutes; appropriating money to the commissioner of education for community education and adults with disabilities program aids, for programs for hearing impaired adults and for school age care revenue (extended day aid)

ARTICLE 9 - SELF SUFFICIENCY AND LIFELONG LEARNING

Expanding valid expenditures under adult basic education programs and authorizing carryover of a certain percentage of adult basic education aid revenue; increasing the state total ABE aid formula and modifying the aid limit; appropriating money to the commissioner of education for ABE aid, for GED tests, and for lead hazard reduction for transfer to the commissioner of health

ARTICLE 10 - STATE AGENCIES

Defining the work year for teacher probationary period completion purposes; requiring the board of teaching to prepare and submit to the
legislature by a certain date proposed licensure requirements for teachers of interdisciplinary curriculum to facilitate learning in state approved innovative schools and programs; requiring school districts and the department of education to provide access to licensed student support services; appropriating money to the commissioner of education for department expenses including the children's museum, the academy of science, the boards of teaching and of school administrators and the value added index assessment model, to the state academies for the deaf and blind and to the Perpich center for arts education; approving and appropriating certain federal grants and aids

ARTICLE 11 - TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS

Making certain technical amendments to certain statutory provisions relating to system accountability and statistical adjustments, to student
suspensions, to youth work grants, to appropriation transfers and to the payment percentage for certain aids to school districts
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