SF 1743

Conference Committee Report - 91st Legislature (2019 - 2020) Posted on 03/27/2019 12:29pm

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REPORT ON S.F. No. 1743

A bill for an act
relating to education; modifying the calculation of days and hours of instruction
for students affected by snow days during the 2018-2019 school year; requiring
affected school districts to report to the commissioner.

March 27, 2019
The Honorable Jeremy R. Miller
President of the Senate

The Honorable Melissa Hortman
Speaker of the House of Representatives

We, the undersigned conferees for S.F. No. 1743 report that we have agreed upon the
items in dispute and recommend as follows:

That the House recede from its amendments and that S.F. No. 1743 be further amended
as follows:

Delete everything after the enacting clause and insert:

"Section 1. new text begin SCHOOL CALENDAR ADJUSTMENT; 2018-2019 SCHOOL YEAR.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Required school days and hours. new text end

new text begin (a) Notwithstanding Minnesota
Statutes, sections 120A.32, 120A.41, and 126C.05, the board of a school district or charter
school that canceled school on one or more days during the 2018-2019 school year due to
health and safety concerns may count those days as instructional days for purposes of
calculating the number of hours and days in the school year under Minnesota Statutes,
section 120A.41, and the calculation of average daily membership under Minnesota Statutes,
section 126C.05, for students enrolled both before and after those school closure dates.
new text end

new text begin (b) If a school district or charter school would not have met the required minimum
number of days and hours of instruction for students without the authority in paragraph (a),
the district or charter school must report to the commissioner of education in the form and
manner determined by the commissioner on the number of days and hours that the district
counted under paragraph (a) to meet the required days and hours of instruction. A school
district that counts a day that school was canceled as an instructional day in accordance
with paragraph (a) is encouraged to adopt an e-learning day plan under Minnesota Statutes,
section 120A.414.
new text end

new text begin (c) If a school board resolves to count a day that school was canceled as an instructional
day in accordance with paragraph (a), the school district must compensate employees and
contract employers in accordance with subdivisions 2 and 3.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Instructional day; employees. new text end

new text begin (a) This subdivision applies to the employee
of a school district that resolves to count a day that school was canceled as an instructional
day in accordance with subdivision 1 who:
new text end

new text begin (1) was scheduled to work on a day that school was canceled and counted as an
instructional day;
new text end

new text begin (2) did not work on any or all of those days; and
new text end

new text begin (3) did not receive compensation for those days.
new text end

new text begin (b) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, for each day identified in paragraph (a), a
school district must either:
new text end

new text begin (1) allow any school district employee under paragraph (a) the opportunity to work on
another day that the school district designates and must compensate the employee working
on the designated day at the employee's normal rate of pay; or
new text end

new text begin (2) compensate any school district employee under paragraph (a) for each of the days
not worked at the employee's normal rate of pay.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Contract employer to pay eligible employees. new text end

new text begin (a) For purposes of this
subdivision, "contract employer" means an employer who provides student-related services
throughout the school year to a school district, and "eligible employee" means a person:
new text end

new text begin (1) whose primary task is to provide services to students attending a school district;
new text end

new text begin (2) who was scheduled to work for the contract employer on any of the days that school
was canceled and the school board counts as an instructional day in accordance with
subdivision 1;
new text end

new text begin (3) who did not work on any or all of those days; and
new text end

new text begin (4) who did not receive compensation for any or all of the employee's regularly scheduled
shifts on those school days.
new text end

new text begin (b) A school district must notify a contract employer which days it counted as
instructional days under subdivision 1, if any.
new text end

new text begin (c) A contract employer who agrees to compensate its eligible employees at their normal
rate of pay for the hours of pay lost due to a school cancellation, later counted as an
instructional day under subdivision 1, must notify the district of its intended action and,
once notified, the school district must fully compensate the contract employer for the days
identified under paragraph (b).
new text end

new text begin (d) Notwithstanding paragraph (b), a school district and contract employer may adjust
the full, regularly scheduled daily contract rate if special circumstances within the district
warrant an adjustment.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin Probationary teachers. new text end

new text begin For the 2018-2019 school year only, for purposes of
Minnesota Statutes, sections 122A.40, subdivision 5, paragraph (e), and 122A.41, subdivision
2, paragraph (d), the minimum number of days of teacher service that a probationary teacher
must complete equals the difference between 120 days and the number of scheduled
instructional days that were canceled due to health and safety concerns and that the school
board resolved to count as days of instruction under Minnesota Statutes, section 120A.41.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 5. new text end

new text begin Accounting. new text end

new text begin Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, services paid under
subdivision 2 or 3, including expenses recorded in the food service fund, may be charged
to the same Uniform Financial Accounting and Reporting Standards object code to which
the service is charged for an instructional day.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective the day following final enactment. new text end "

Delete the title and insert:

"A bill for an act
relating to education; modifying the calculation of days and hours of instruction
and compensation for school days canceled during the 2018-2019 school year;
requiring affected school districts to report to the commissioner."

We request the adoption of this report and repassage of the bill.
Senate Conferees: .
.		.
Carla J. Nelson		Charles W. Wiger
.
John Jasinski
House Conferees: .
.		.
Michelle (Shelly) Christensen		Cheryl Youakim
.
Dean Urdahl