HF 3038

as introduced - 83rd Legislature (2003 - 2004) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to education; selecting pilot sites to 
  1.3             provide education access grants to low-income children 
  1.4             residing in school districts with documented academic 
  1.5             achievement gaps. 
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  [EDUCATION ACCESS GRANTS; PILOT SITES.] 
  1.8      Subdivision 1.  [SCHOOL CHOICE ELIGIBILITY.] A six-year 
  1.9   pilot program providing education access grants to low-income 
  1.10  children residing in school districts with documented academic 
  1.11  achievement gaps is established beginning in the 2005-2006 
  1.12  school year.  Students who intend to enroll in kindergarten in 
  1.13  the 2005-2006 school year or will be in grades 1 and 2 in the 
  1.14  2005-2006 school year who were enrolled in a public school 
  1.15  throughout the 2004-2005 school year, who are eligible to 
  1.16  receive a free or reduced price meal in the current or previous 
  1.17  school year and who reside in a school district selected as a 
  1.18  pilot site under subdivision 2 may transfer to a public or 
  1.19  accredited nonpublic school of their choice using an education 
  1.20  access grant under subdivision 3.  Students and their families 
  1.21  eligible to participate in this pilot program must apply by May 
  1.22  30, 2005, to transfer to a participating school district or 
  1.23  accredited nonpublic school and must agree to comply with all 
  1.24  policies, procedures, and requirements of the school to which 
  1.25  the student transfers.  A school receiving an application must 
  2.1   notify the student and the student's family in writing whether 
  2.2   or not the school will accept the student within 60 days of 
  2.3   receiving an application.  A participating school must accept 
  2.4   eligible students on a random basis except that eligible 
  2.5   students with eligible siblings must be accepted jointly where 
  2.6   possible.  
  2.7      Subd. 2.  [PILOT SITES.] (a) A school district with at 
  2.8   least 28 percent of the student population eligible to receive a 
  2.9   free and reduced price meal, a statistically significant 
  2.10  achievement gap in academic proficiency between majority and 
  2.11  minority students under Minnesota Statutes, sections 120B.31, 
  2.12  subdivision 4, and 120B.35, and at least two accredited 
  2.13  nonpublic schools located in the district may apply to the 
  2.14  education commissioner to serve as a pilot site under this 
  2.15  section. 
  2.16     (b) An accredited nonpublic school under Minnesota 
  2.17  Statutes, section 120A.22, subdivision 10, clause (4), enrolling 
  2.18  students under this section must: 
  2.19     (1) agree to participate for the six-year term of the pilot 
  2.20  program; 
  2.21     (2) indicate how many spaces the school will reserve each 
  2.22  school year for students receiving education access grants who 
  2.23  enroll in the school; 
  2.24     (3) give priority to enrolling the siblings of students who 
  2.25  receive education access grants and enroll in the school; 
  2.26     (4) comply with Minnesota Statutes, chapter 363, and 
  2.27  section 121A.04 and related federal human rights laws; and 
  2.28     (5) not charge more than the school's published tuition and 
  2.29  instructional fees or the statewide average general education 
  2.30  revenue, whichever is less, to an eligible student. 
  2.31     The nonpublic school may require participating students and 
  2.32  their families to comply with all written school policies, 
  2.33  procedures, and requirements fairly and uniformly applied to all 
  2.34  other students enrolled in the school and their families. 
  2.35     Subd. 3.  [FUNDING.] (a) Notwithstanding other law to the 
  2.36  contrary, an education access grant for an accredited nonpublic 
  3.1   school equals the statewide average general education revenue 
  3.2   excluding referendum revenue, per pupil unit for the preceding 
  3.3   year, or the actual cost for tuition and instructional fees for 
  3.4   a participating student to attend a school of the student's 
  3.5   choice, whichever is less.  A school district may continue to 
  3.6   count a participating student as one-half of a pupil unit for 
  3.7   all remaining school funding formulas unless the school elects 
  3.8   to forego the aid.  The commissioner shall make quarterly 
  3.9   payments on each participating student's behalf in the form of a 
  3.10  check endorsed by the student's parent or guardian to the 
  3.11  accredited nonpublic school in which the student is enrolled 
  3.12  provided that the school documents, in the form and manner 
  3.13  prescribed by the commissioner, the student's enrollment and 
  3.14  attendance, the school's education program, and the actual costs 
  3.15  for tuition and instructional fees related to educating the 
  3.16  student.  The state aid for a participating student enrolling in 
  3.17  a public school shall be determined according to Minnesota 
  3.18  Statutes, section 124D.11 or 127A.47.  If the commissioner 
  3.19  determines in any school year that a participating school is not 
  3.20  adequately serving eligible students enrolled under this pilot 
  3.21  program, then that school must not participate in the program in 
  3.22  any subsequent school year.  The commissioner may conduct one or 
  3.23  more financial or performance evaluation audits of a 
  3.24  participating school's education program.  
  3.25     (b) The resident school district must provide 
  3.26  transportation to a participating student when the school in 
  3.27  which the student enrolls is located within the district; the 
  3.28  resident school district must provide transportation to the 
  3.29  district's boundaries when the school is located outside the 
  3.30  district.  For a student enrolled in an accredited nonpublic 
  3.31  school, the resident school district also must continue to make 
  3.32  available special education and language proficiency programs 
  3.33  and services to participating students eligible to receive such 
  3.34  programs and services. 
  3.35     Subd. 4.  [PILOT PROGRAM INFORMATION.] The commissioner 
  3.36  must make information and related forms available to the 
  4.1   interested families of eligible students residing in a school 
  4.2   district serving as a pilot site under subdivision 2.  The 
  4.3   parent or guardian primarily responsible for paying an eligible 
  4.4   student's tuition must complete the form and certify the 
  4.5   student's age, residency, and household income.  
  4.6      Subd. 5.  [EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENTS.] (a) The 
  4.7   commissioner of education may contract with a qualified third 
  4.8   party to evaluate the efficacy of this pilot program using 
  4.9   qualitative and quantitative analysis, which must include at 
  4.10  least longitudinal student performance data for participating 
  4.11  students and their cohorts in the resident school district.  The 
  4.12  data may be obtained from the results of the Minnesota 
  4.13  comprehensive assessments or other comparable standardized 
  4.14  testing instruments.  The resident school district must select 
  4.15  any tests used under this paragraph and is responsible for all 
  4.16  costs of administering such tests.  
  4.17     (b) The commissioner must submit an interim report by 
  4.18  February 1, 2009, and a final report by February 1, 2012, 
  4.19  evaluating the efficacy of this pilot program to the Education 
  4.20  Policy and Finance Committees of the legislature. 
  4.21     [EFFECTIVE DATE.] This section is effective the day 
  4.22  following final enactment and applies to the 2005-2006 through 
  4.23  2010-2011 school years.