1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to education; requiring academic standards 
  1.3             and instruction in physical education and health 
  1.4             education; amending Minnesota Statutes 2003 
  1.5             Supplement, sections 120B.021; 120B.022, subdivision 
  1.6             1; 120B.024; 120B.30, subdivision 1a. 
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2003 Supplement, section 
  1.9   120B.021, is amended to read: 
  1.10     120B.021 [REQUIRED ACADEMIC STANDARDS.] 
  1.11     Subdivision 1.  [REQUIRED ACADEMIC STANDARDS.] The 
  1.12  following subject areas are required for statewide 
  1.13  accountability: 
  1.14     (1) language arts; 
  1.15     (2) mathematics; 
  1.16     (3) science; 
  1.17     (4) social studies, including history, geography, 
  1.18  economics, and government and citizenship; and 
  1.19     (5) the arts, for which statewide or locally developed 
  1.20  academic standards apply, as determined by the school district.  
  1.21  Public elementary and middle schools must offer at least three 
  1.22  and require at least two of the following four arts areas:  
  1.23  dance; music; theater; and visual arts.  Public high schools 
  1.24  must offer at least three and require at least one of the 
  1.25  following five arts areas:  media arts; dance; music; theater; 
  1.26  and visual arts.; and 
  2.1      (6) health and physical education, for which statewide or 
  2.2   locally developed standards apply, as determined by the school 
  2.3   district.  Public elementary students must participate in 
  2.4   physical education for at least 150 minutes during the school 
  2.5   week.  Public middle and high school students must participate 
  2.6   in physical education for at least 225 minutes per week.  
  2.7   Students in public elementary, middle, and high schools must 
  2.8   have at least 50 hours of health education instruction time 
  2.9   annually.  
  2.10     The commissioner must submit proposed standards in science 
  2.11  and social studies to the legislature by February 1, 2004.  
  2.12  For purposes of applicable federal law, the academic standards 
  2.13  for language arts, mathematics, and science apply to all public 
  2.14  school students, except the very few students with extreme 
  2.15  cognitive or physical impairments for whom an individualized 
  2.16  education plan team has determined that the required academic 
  2.17  standards are inappropriate.  An individualized education plan 
  2.18  team that makes this determination must establish alternative 
  2.19  standards. 
  2.20     A school district, no later than the 2007-2008 school year, 
  2.21  must adopt graduation requirements that meet or exceed state 
  2.22  graduation requirements established in law or rule.  A school 
  2.23  district that incorporates these state graduation requirements 
  2.24  before the 2007-2008 school year must provide students who enter 
  2.25  the 9th grade in or before the 2003-2004 school year the 
  2.26  opportunity to earn a diploma based on existing locally 
  2.27  established graduation requirements in effect when the students 
  2.28  entered the 9th grade.  District efforts to develop, implement, 
  2.29  or improve instruction or curriculum as a result of the 
  2.30  provisions of this section must be consistent with sections 
  2.31  120B.10, 120B.11, and 120B.20.  
  2.32     Subd. 2.  [STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT.] (a) The commissioner 
  2.33  must consider advice from at least the following stakeholders in 
  2.34  developing statewide rigorous core academic standards in 
  2.35  language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, including 
  2.36  history, geography, economics, government and citizenship, and 
  3.1   the arts, and health and physical education: 
  3.2      (1) parents of school-age children and members of the 
  3.3   public throughout the state; 
  3.4      (2) teachers throughout the state currently licensed and 
  3.5   providing instruction in language arts, mathematics, science, 
  3.6   social studies, or the arts and licensed elementary and 
  3.7   secondary school principals throughout the state currently 
  3.8   administering a school site; 
  3.9      (3) currently serving members of local school boards and 
  3.10  charter school boards throughout the state; 
  3.11     (4) faculty teaching core subjects at postsecondary 
  3.12  institutions in Minnesota; and 
  3.13     (5) representatives of the Minnesota business community. 
  3.14     (b) Academic standards must: 
  3.15     (1) be clear, concise, objective, measurable, and 
  3.16  grade-level appropriate; 
  3.17     (2) not require a specific teaching methodology or 
  3.18  curriculum; and 
  3.19     (3) be consistent with the Constitutions of the United 
  3.20  States and the state of Minnesota. 
  3.21     Subd. 3.  [RULEMAKING.] (a) The commissioner, consistent 
  3.22  with the requirements of this section and section 120B.022, must 
  3.23  adopt statewide rules under section 14.389 for implementing 
  3.24  statewide rigorous core academic standards in language arts, 
  3.25  mathematics, and the arts, and health and physical education.  
  3.26  After the rules authorized under this paragraph are initially 
  3.27  adopted, the commissioner may not amend or repeal these rules 
  3.28  nor adopt new rules on the same topic without specific 
  3.29  legislative authorization.  These academic standards must be 
  3.30  implemented for all students beginning in the 2003-2004 school 
  3.31  year.  Academic standards in health and physical education must 
  3.32  be implemented for all students beginning in the 2004-2005 
  3.33  school year.  
  3.34     (b) The rules authorized under this section are not subject 
  3.35  to section 14.127.  
  3.36     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2003 Supplement, section 
  4.1   120B.022, subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  4.2      Subdivision 1.  [ELECTIVE STANDARDS.] A district must 
  4.3   establish its own standards in the following subject areas: 
  4.4      (1) health and physical education; 
  4.5      (2) vocational and technical education; and 
  4.6      (3) (2) world languages. 
  4.7      A school district must offer courses in all elective 
  4.8   subject areas. 
  4.9      Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 2003 Supplement, section 
  4.10  120B.024, is amended to read: 
  4.11     120B.024 [GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS; COURSE CREDITS.] 
  4.12     Students beginning 9th grade in the 2004-2005 school year 
  4.13  and later must successfully complete the following high school 
  4.14  level course credits for graduation: 
  4.15     (1) four credits of language arts; 
  4.16     (2) three credits of mathematics, encompassing at least 
  4.17  algebra, geometry, statistics, and probability sufficient to 
  4.18  satisfy the academic standard; 
  4.19     (3) three credits of science, including at least one credit 
  4.20  in biology; 
  4.21     (4) three and one-half credits of social studies, including 
  4.22  at least one credit of United States history, one credit of 
  4.23  geography, 0.5 credits of government and citizenship, 0.5 
  4.24  credits of world history, and 0.5 credits of economics; and 
  4.25     (5) a minimum of eight elective course credits, including 
  4.26  at least one credit in the arts, one credit in physical 
  4.27  education, and one credit in health education. 
  4.28     A course credit is equivalent to a student's successful 
  4.29  completion of an academic year of study or a student's mastery 
  4.30  of the applicable subject matter, as determined by the local 
  4.31  school district. 
  4.32     Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 2003 Supplement, section 
  4.33  120B.30, subdivision 1a, is amended to read: 
  4.34     Subd. 1a.  [STATEWIDE AND LOCAL ASSESSMENTS; RESULTS.] (a) 
  4.35  The commissioner must develop language arts, mathematics, and 
  4.36  science assessments aligned with state academic standards that 
  5.1   districts and sites must use to monitor student growth toward 
  5.2   achieving those standards.  The commissioner must not develop 
  5.3   statewide assessments for academic standards in social 
  5.4   studies and, the arts, and health and physical education.  The 
  5.5   commissioner must require: 
  5.6      (1) annual language arts and mathematics assessments in 
  5.7   grades 3 through 8 and at the high school level for the 
  5.8   2005-2006 school year and later; and 
  5.9      (2) annual science assessments in one grade in the grades 3 
  5.10  through 5 span, the grades 6 through 9 span, and the grades 10 
  5.11  through 12 span for the 2007-2008 school year and later. 
  5.12     (b) The commissioner must ensure that all statewide tests 
  5.13  administered to elementary and secondary students measure 
  5.14  students' academic knowledge and skills and not students' 
  5.15  values, attitudes, and beliefs. 
  5.16     (c) Reporting of assessment results must: 
  5.17     (1) provide timely, useful, and understandable information 
  5.18  on the performance of individual students, schools, school 
  5.19  districts, and the state; 
  5.20     (2) include, by the 2006-2007 school year, a value-added 
  5.21  component to measure student achievement growth over time; and 
  5.22     (3) determine whether students have met the state's basic 
  5.23  skills requirements. 
  5.24     (d) Consistent with applicable federal law and subdivision 
  5.25  1, paragraph (d), clause (1), the commissioner must include 
  5.26  alternative assessments for the very few students with 
  5.27  disabilities for whom statewide assessments are inappropriate 
  5.28  and for students with limited English proficiency. 
  5.29     (e) A school, school district, and charter school must 
  5.30  administer statewide assessments under this section, as the 
  5.31  assessments become available, to evaluate student progress in 
  5.32  achieving the academic standards.  If a state assessment is not 
  5.33  available, a school, school district, and charter school must 
  5.34  determine locally if a student has met the required academic 
  5.35  standards.  A school, school district, or charter school may use 
  5.36  a student's performance on a statewide assessment as one of 
  6.1   multiple criteria to determine grade promotion or retention.  A 
  6.2   school, school district, or charter school may use a high school 
  6.3   student's performance on a statewide assessment as a percentage 
  6.4   of the student's final grade in a course, or place a student's 
  6.5   assessment score on the student's transcript.