Legislative Session number- 82

Bill Name: SF2359

E Providing for the funding of early childhood through grade 12
educationprograms and servicesARTICLE 1 GENERAL EDUCATIONCreating the school and
university fund mineral lease suspense accounts and providing for temporary
distribution of state taconite lease payments to the accounts; requiring the
commissioner of natural resources (DNR) and the director of the Coleraine
laboratory to establish programs of grants to taconite mining companies for
product or production improvements, appropriating money to the commissioner and
to the university of Minnesota for the programs; authorizing secondary student
early graduation upon completion of required standards as well as courses;
modifying the authority of school districts to charge fees for the
transportation of students; changing the date for the department of children,
families and learning to compute nonpublic pupil aid rates and guidance and
counseling expenditures for the upcoming school year and modifying the inflation
adjustment determination formula; modifying certain levy and revenue recognition
requirements and the nonpublic pupil transportation aid formula; modifying the
pupil unit weighting factors, clarifying the factor for prekindergarten pupils
with a disability; modifying the general and compensatory education, basic
skills, secondary and elementary sparsity and total operating capital revenue
formulas and increasing the basic revenue formula and transportation sparsity
revenue allowances; phasing out training and experience revenue; clarifying the
authorized use of total operating capital revenue relating to telecommunication
access costs; creating separate equity revenue formulas for metropolitan and
greater Minnesota school districts and modifying qualification requirements;
providing a phased revenue allowance and adjustment for certain school
districts; modifying certain class size reduction revenue reservation
requirements, defining classroom teacher and class size and modifying
instruction contact time and class size reduction requirements for learning and
development revenue purposes, expanding authorized use of additional revenue and
specifying certain school district annual revenue receipt and use report public
availability requirements; specifying certain gifted and talented programs
revenue reservation requirements; authorizing school districts to reallocate
general education revenue attributable to early graduation for optional all day
kindergarten programs; increasing the general education tax rate; extending the
authority of school districts to allocate a certain percentage of compensatory
revenue to school sites according to a school board plan; requiring the
department to adjust district referendum allowances for the pupil weighting
adjustments and modifying the referendum revenue allowance formula and limit;
increasing the referendum equalization revenue and levy formulas; authorizing
certain school districts to convert supplemental and transition revenue
conversion allowances to an additional referendum allowance upon school board
approval and providing for a board approved referendum allowance for certain
other school districts; increasing the limit on levies for retired employee
health benefits; expanding the authority of the commissioner of children,
families and learning to transfer certain appropriation excesses to
appropriations for special education programs; modifying the adjusted general
revenue formula for commissioner statewide average revenue estimate purposes;
holding certain school districts with a referendum allowance harmless for
revenue received from taconite taxes; requiring the department to recalculate
training and experience replacement and sparsity correction revenues for each
school district using actual in lieu of estimated data and to adjust the general
education aid paid to districts for fiscal year 2002 by the amount of difference
between the estimated and actual revenues; specifying the supplemental and
transition revenue conversion allowance formulas; requiring certain commissioner
education formula adjustments to neutralize the effect of the changes in pupil
unit weights; requiring the department to allow independent school district 482,
Little Falls to extend the time period for repayment of state aid overpayments
due to miscalculation of pupil units for certain fiscal years; providing pupil
base transition revenue for certain school districts; adjusting the initial
referendum revenue allowance for independent school district 709, Duluth;
appropriating money to the department for general and supplemental education,
enrollment options transportation, Richfield airport impact, abatement,
nonpublic pupil education and transportation and consolidation transition aids,
for pupil base transition revenue and for a grant to independent school district
690, Warroad to operate the Angle Inlet school; repealing the supplemental
revenue, levy and aid formulas, the supplemental revenue reduction, the
transition allowance and transition revenue, levy and aid adjustment formulas,
the referendum offset adjustment and the training and experience index and
providing a contingency repeal of a certain proposed emergency energy assistance
provision for school districts ARTICLE 2 EDUCATION EXCELLENCEExpanding statewide
testing requirements to the seventh grade, requiring the commissioner of
children, families and learning to determine the order of administration of the
tests and modifying certain student academic achievement levels report content
requirements of the commissioner; requiring the commissioner to establish a
statewide continuous improvement system, specifying certain system component
requirements, eliminating the role of the legislature in determining state
expectations, expanding school site student achievement improvement plan content
requirements and requiring the commissioner to create a continuous improvement
support system to provide technical assistance to school sites and districts
identified as needing improvement and to establish and maintain a continuous
improvement web site for data availability purposes; requiring the board of
teaching to adopt rules requiring licensed teachers renewing continuing licenses
to include in renewal requirements further preparation in the application of and
advisory staff development committees to include in staff development plans the
goal of providing teachers with training for the effective use of technology in
the classroom; establishing a temporary teachers for the 21st century initiative
to attract and retain qualified teachers in areas of identified shortages and to
support new teachers in schools with high levels of poverty, providing for
targeted loan forgiveness or tuition reimbursement, alternative license teaching
academy, individual certificate account and mentoring and induction support
programs within and requiring annual commissioner reports to the legislature on
the initiative; changing charter school building lease aid to base aid and
establishing the state total and charter school building lease aid formulas;
modifying certain learning year program requirements, eliminating certain
student participation limits, specifying certain area learning center record
system content requirements, expanding continual learning plan and modifying
certain revenue computation and reporting requirements and establishing a
process to address audit findings; reinstating the current formula for career
and technical (secondary vocational) aid and authorizing use of a certain
percentage of the aid for school counselor salaries; increasing the district
contribution to private contracted alternative programs aid; modifying certain
provisions under the American Indian education act, consolidating the existing
programs into one program and changing the advisory task force to an advisory
committee; providing for integration aid equity; establishing a temporary
performance incentive pool program for school districts or sites to create new
compensation packages and career paths for teachers built around measurable
student outcomes and teaching improvement, specifying eligibility and
application requirements; modifying certain school district continual learning
plan development requirements for pupils in alternative programs; requiring the
department of children, families and learning to report to the legislature by a
certain date on the distribution of integration revenue, specifying certain
report content requirements; requiring the commissioner to adopt and publish a
policy to provide public and parental access for review of statewide tests and
assessments; appropriating money to the department for statewide testing and
graduation standards support, for advance placement (AP) and international
baccalaureate (IB) programs, for charter school building lease and integration
aids and startup grants, for best practices graduation rule seminars and other
professional development activities, for integration aid, for minority teacher
incentives and teachers of color and cultural exchange grants, for magnet school
grants and startup aid, for interdistrict desegregation or integration
transportation grants, for American Indian language and culture and education
programs, success for the future and teacher preparation grants and
scholarships, for tribal contract school aid and early childhood family
education (ECFE) programs at tribal schools, for first grade preparedness
grants, for career and technical education aid, for youthworks programs, for
education and employment transitions program grants, for the learn and earn
graduation achievement program, for department development of the advance
achievement and accountability system, for the performance incentive pool, for
the teachers for the 21st century program, for collaborative urban educator
recruitment and training programs grants, for the independent school district
283, St. Louis Park Meadowbrook collaborative housing project and for a limited
English proficiency (LEP) programs study; repealing certain school calendar
requirements, the authority of the commissioner to exempt certain districts from
certain financial accounting and reporting requirements for learning year
program participation purposes, the Indian post-secondary preparation grant
program and the repeal of career and technical education aid ARTICLE 3 SPECIAL
EDUCATIONExpanding the staff development revenue reservation requirement to
preservice and in-service education for special education professionals and
paraprofessionals and education programs in care and treatment facilities to
children with disabilities, providing for care and treatment facility education
programs for students with or without disabilities; expanding the definition of
essential personnel for special education revenue purposes to support services
staff and adding the cross subsidy reduction factor to the state total special
education aid formula, defining cross subsidy reduction factor; increasing the
program growth factor for special education excess cost aid determination
purposes and requiring school districts to document and bill third party revenue
sources for health related services for aid eligibility purposes; requiring the
department of children, families and learning to recalculate special education
cross subsidy revenue for each district using actual in lieu of estimated data
and to adjust the general education aid paid to districts by the difference
between the estimated and actual revenue; requiring the commissioner of
children, families and learning by a certain date to develop a plan to identify
possible revenue options from medical assistance (MA) funds and recommend a
procedure for use at the local level for individual interagency intervention
plan implementation purposes and to develop a central statewide billing process
for school districts to process third party bills including medical assistance;
requiring the board of teaching to review and report to the legislature on rules
requiring board approved teacher preparation programs to include teacher
preparation program information on special education laws, teaching strategies
and positive behavior interventions; appropriating money to the department for
special education and special education excess cost aids, for aids for children
with a disability, for teacher travel for home based services and for transition
programs for pupils with disabilities, for the payment of certain litigation
costs, for court placed special education revenue, for special education out of
state tuition, for development, administration and interagency training costs
associated with a statewide web based individual interagency intervention plan
and for HIV STI education regional training sites ARTICLE 4 FACILITIES AND
TECHNOLOGY; FUND TRANFERSProhibiting the department of children, families and
learning from excluding private contractors from the opportunity to provide
health and safety services to school districts; expanding school district
eligibility for participation in the alternative facilities bonding and levy
program relating to average age of building space; expanding the membership and
modifying the responsibilities of the Minnesota education telecommunications
council; changing references to data lines and video links to data and video
connections under certain telecommunications access revenue provisions and
extending the expiration date of the program; prohibiting the use of lease levy
revenue for arenas after a certain date; requiring the department to recalculate
one time deferred maintenance aid for each district using actual in lieu of
estimated data and to adjust the general education aid paid to districts by the
difference between the estimated and the actual aid; requiring the commissioner
of children, families and learning to allow independent school district 492,
Austin to incur a certain deficit in the reserve for the capital operating
account for the Westcott field improvement project, requiring elimination of the
deficit by a certain date and deposit of donations or contributions received by
the district for the project in the reserve account; authorizing and providing
for independent school district 625, St. Paul to issue general obligation bonds
for acquisition and betterment of school facilities, limit, requiring a property
tax levy for debt service payment purposes; requiring the commissioner to report
to the legislature by a certain date with recommendations relating to online
learning, specifying certain report content requirements; providing for the
payment of general education revenue for pupils in approved interactive web
based programs; requiring the commissioner to award grants to school districts
for the electronic delivery of courses; providing declining pupil unit aid for
independent school district 2190, Yellow Medicine East for certain fiscal years;
authorizing permanent funds transfers in independent school districts 2853, Lac
qui Parle Valley, 391, Cleveland, 306, LaPorte, 418, Russell, 473, Isle and 173,
Mountain Lake; authorizing independent school district 696, Ely to levy for
additional transportation capital costs associated with the annexation of Fall
Lake township, requiring approval for the detachment and annexation by the Ely
school board and by the school board of independent school district 381, Lake
Superior, specifying certain boundaries; authorizing independent school district
361, International Falls to levy for swimming pool net operations costs;
authorizing the Brainerd school district to reimburse the commissioner of human
services for certain Brainerd regional human services center remodeling costs;
appropriating money to the department for health and safety, debt service,
interactive television (ITV) and alternative facilities bonding aids, for
telecommunication access cost revenue, for declining pupil unit aid for
independent school districts 508, St. Peter and 2190, Yellow Medicine East, for
grants to independent school districts 2752, Fairmont and 199, Inver Grove for
the electronic delivery of academic courses, for education program planning
grants to independent school districts 13, Columbia Heights and 281,
Robbinsdale, for the electronic library for Minnesota and for a technology
integration grant to independent school district 392, Le Center ARTICLE 5
NUTRITION PROGRAMSEstablishing the fast break to learning breakfast program,
requiring the commissioner of children, families and learning to provide funding
to certain targeted breakfast program grant recipients and to certain public or
nonpublic elementary schools participating in the federal school breakfast and
lunch programs; establishing a revolving fund for the deposit of cash received
for commodity donated foods; clarifying the payment of state aid for school food
and nutrition programs; establishing a pilot project for the identification of
children eligible for free and reduced price school meals; appropriating money
to the department of children, families and learning for school lunch and
breakfast and summer food service replacement aids and for fast break to
learning grants; repealing the existing fast break to learning grant program
ARTICLE 6 EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMSAuthorizing community early childhood councils
to integrate funding available through head start, child care services grants,
early childhood family education and school readiness under integrated funding
and service plans, requiring the commissioner of children, families and learning
to provide technical assistance to communities or planning groups for the
development of early childhood care and education plans describing strategies to
be used to target resources to children at risk, specifying certain local
integration funding eligibility requirements and geographic area requirements;
authorizing head start grantees to use state funds for services to certain
younger low income children and families and specifying certain work plan
requirements for state head start funds eligibility purposes; modifying the
definitions of child care services and provider and defining state median income
and student for child care programs consolidation purposes and requiring the
commissioner of children, families and learning to prepare a plan to control
program expenditures; providing a formula for the allocation of certain excess
child care funds; providing for continued participation in the child care
assistance program after a family move; authorizing state issuance of federal
child care assistance payments; increasing the maximum rate of assistance under
the at home infant child care program, requiring calculation of the assistance
to reflect the family income level during participation in the program;
eliminating the authority of the commissioner to certify advance or to terminate
payments to counties and certain county child care fund plan content
requirements and extending the time limit for commissioner approval of the
plans; authorizing counties to continue to serve families with incomes above the
eligibility parameters with county funds and requiring counties not serving
families with county funds to start a waiting list under certain eligibility
restriction conditions, specifying certain county reporting requirements;
modifying certain general child care assistance eligibility requirements,
providing eligibility for persons participating in employment plans or during
education or training; authorizing the commissioner to accept county
contributions for centralized state payments purposes; modifying the subsidy
restriction; authorizing state vendor or direct parent payments; requiring and
providing for the commissioner to establish a teacher education and compensation
helps grant program (TEACH) to provide tuition scholarships and education
incentive and retention bonuses to child care and education providers and staff;
providing for the recognition of accredited school age child care programs;
modifying certain early childhood health and developmental screening
requirements; requiring the commissioners of children, families and learning and
human services to identify a plan to maximize the use of early and periodic
screening, diagnosis and treatment program funding and to report to the
legislature by a certain date with recommendations for better coordination among
current public funding streams; modifying the age requirements for developmental
screening; expanding screening program component requirements to health and
developmental history and requiring consistency of the components with standards
of the commissioner of children, families and learning; requiring the provision
of application materials for the MinnesotaCare program to children without
health coverage; requiring school districts to report results of referrals and
subsequent interventions to the commissioner; expanding school board information
and notice requirements; increasing developmental screening aid for school
districts and providing funding for follow up on referrals and subsequent
interventions; requiring a certain amount of money to be annually available for
statewide training, technical assistance and outreach; specifying certain school
district ECFE program plan review and approval requirements and requiring
coordination of the programs with existing community based programs and service
providers, requiring assistance from district advisory councils; specifying
certain district annual report requirements; increasing ECFE revenue, reducing
the levy and imposing a reserve account limit, requiring adjustment for unused
funds; authorizing school readiness programs to provide a continuum of flexible
services, modifying eligibility requirements and requiring coordination with
other community programs and the inclusion of family involvement and education;
modifying the goals of the programs and providing certain strategies for
achieving the goals; authorizing school district contracts with private
organizations to provide developmentally appropriate services and the provision
of quality enhancement grants; requiring information sharing and facilitation of
the transition to kindergarten; expanding advisory council membership
requirements, service priorities upon funding availability and recordkeeping and
reporting requirements; modifying certain school readiness aid program plan
requirements, requiring the commissioner to develop an evaluation framework for
qualifying school districts to use in documenting results of the programs,
modifying the school readiness aid formula, providing an aid guarantee and
specifying a target requirement for aid used for instruction and certain reserve
account requirements; requiring the commissioner to establish an interagency
committee to coordinate state services for children with autism; providing for
the establishment of early childhood care and education services demonstration
projects to provide a full continuum of services for young children; requiring
the commissioner to develop a plan to implement an early childhood care and
education services system, requiring establishment of a temporary task force to
study issues relating to the plan and to report recommendations to the
legislature by a certain date; providing additional ECFE aid for certain school
districts; appropriating money to the department of children, families and
learning for school readiness programs revenue, for ECFE and health and
developmental screening aids, for early childhood care and education services
demonstration projects, for head start programs, for school age child care, for
consolidated child care assistance, for child care program integrity and fraud
prevention, for child care services and improvement grants, for child care
market rate surveys, for TEACH grants and for the at home infant child care
program; transferring certain sums from the federal TANF fund to the child care
and development fund for child care consolidated assistance; specifying certain
renumbering and cross reference change instructions to the revisor of statutes;
repealing the definition of transition year families, certain basic sliding fee
program provisions, certain eligibility provisions under the MFIP (Minnesota
family investment program) child care assistance program, a certain provision
providing for the use of certain money to reduce child care costs for students,
certain funding allocation priorities and the county maintenance of funding
effort requirementARTICLE 7 PREVENTIONAuthorizing the commissioner of children,
families and learning to disburse children's trust fund for the prevention of
child abuse money for child abuse prevention programs and authorizing the
transfer of state funds appropriated for child maltreatment prevention grants to
the trust fund special revenue account; requiring the commissioner to develop a
plan to disburse money from the trust fund and appropriating money from the fund
for operational costs; requiring the commissioner to develop teen pregnancy
prevention programs; expanding abused children programs grants to programs
providing neglect intervention services; establishing the child abuse and
neglect prevention and intervention council to advise the commissioner on the
implementation and continued operations of child abuse programs, specifying
membership requirements and responsibilities; restricting after school
enrichment program grants to certain charitable organizations and requiring the
commissioner to give a grant priority to certain applicants; appropriating money
to the department of children, families and learning for family services
collaboratives, for community education and adults with disabilities program
aids, for hearing impaired adults and abused children programs, for the
children's trust fund, for family visitation centers and for violence prevention
education, after school enrichment and chemical abuse prevention grants;
specifying certain renumbering and cross reference change instructions to the
revisor of statutes; repealing certain provisions providing for the disbursement
of funds for child abuse prevention and the advisory council, the male
responsibility and fathering grant program and the educational program for
pregnant minors and minor parentsARTICLE 8 SELF SUFFICIENCY AND LIFELONG
LEARNINGAuthorizing the department of corrections to receive adult basic
education aid; providing for ABE supplemental services grants as a state total
adult basic education aid set aside and reducing the proportion requirement,
requiring a certain percentage of the state total adult basic education aid to
be set aside for the grants; modifying the adult basic education program revenue
formula; appropriating money to the department of children, families and
learning for Minnesota economic opportunity grants, for adult basic education
and graduation aids, for payment of certain GED test costs, for foodshelf
programs, for family assets for independence, for lead abatement and for ABE
administration; appropriating federal temporary assistance for needy families
(TANF) block grant funds to the commissioner of children, families and learning
for intensive English as a second language (ESL) for eligible Minnesota family
investment program (MFIP) participants ARTICLE 9 LIBRARIESProviding for regional
library telecommunications aid, specifying eligibility and application
requirements and providing for the awarding of funds by the commissioner of
children, families and learning, sunset provision; requiring the commissioner to
include in recommendations for a permanent method of funding telecommunications
access for schools a permanent method to fund telecommunications access as part
of the basic support grants for public libraries; appropriating money to the
department of children, families and learning for regional library basic system
support grants, for multicounty multitype library systems, for regional library
telecommunications aid, for state agency libraries and for the library for the
blind; repealing the regional library telecommunications access grant
programARTICLE 10 STATE AGENCIESEstablishing the board of education leadership
to license school supervisory personnel other than athletic coaches, specifying
membership requirements, requiring appointment of members by the governor with
the advice and consent of the senate, providing for organization of the board
and specifying duties; requiring the commissioner of children, families and
learning to establish a division of gifted and talented services and a contracts
and grants unit to manage the contracting process within the department and an
internal audits office and to return certain unspent funds received from the Pew
charitable trusts; creating the legislative task force on equitable education
funding of public schools, specifying membership requirements and duties,
requiring recommendations on education funding system equity and quality
improvement to the legislature by a certain date; appropriating money to the
department of children, families and learning for the teaching and learning,
management and community services and policy development programs, for certain
affiliated organizations, for the legislative task force, for the board of
education leadership, for the Perpich center for arts education and for the
state academies for the deaf and the blind ARTICLE 11 TECHNICAL AMENDMENTSMaking
technical amendments to certain statutory provisions relating to licensure
requirements for teachers of English as a second language (ESL), to the payment
of special education aid to charter schools, to the allocation of revenue from
cooperative centers and intermediate districts for transition programs for
children with a disability, to the legal residence of a child with a disability
placed in a foster facility, to the referendum equalization levy and to certain
appropriation transfers; correcting a certain provision providing for a
cooperative secondary facilities grant to certain school districts; repealing
certain amendments made to certain previously repealed statutory provisions
relating to adult basic education aid (je, ja)