1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to education; expanding opportunities for innovation in education;
1.3 	amending Laws 2012, chapter 263, section 1, as amended.
1.4 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.5 	Section 1. Laws 2012, chapter 263, section 1, as amended by Laws 2014, chapter 312, 
1.6 	article 15, section 24, is amended to read:
1.7 	Section 1. INNOVATIVE DELIVERY OF EDUCATION SERVICES AND 
1.8 	SHARING OF SCHOOL OR DISTRICT RESOURCES; PILOT PROJECT.
 1.9 		Subdivision 1.Establishment; requirements for participation. (a) A pilot project 
1.10 	is established to improve student ~~and~~, career and college readiness, and  school outcomes 
1.11 	by allowing ~~groups of~~one or more school districts or charter schools to work together or 
1.12 	with postsecondary institutions or employers to:
1.13 	(1) provide innovative education programs and activities that are consistent with 
1.14 	Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.52, subdivision 9, governing the standard adult high 
1.15 	school diploma, or with Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.085, governing experiential and 
1.16 	applied learning opportunities;
1.17 	(2) conduct research with rigorous methodology on these innovative education 
1.18 	programs and activities that may include career and college readiness assessments and 
1.19 	interim assessments that comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act; and
1.20 	(3) share district or school and other resources, with the goal of improving students' 
1.21 	career and college readiness as defined under Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.30, 
1.22 	subdivision 1, paragraph (p), and consistent with the requirements of the world's best 
1.23 	workforce under Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.11. 
2.1 	The pilot project may last until June 30, ~~2018~~ 2021, or for up to five years, whichever is ~~less~~ 
2.2 	earlier, except that innovation partnerships formed during the period of the pilot project 
2.3 	may continue past June 30, ~~2018~~ 2021, with the agreement of the partnership members.
2.4 	(b) To participate in this pilot project to improve student ~~and~~, school, and career and 
2.5 	college readiness outcomes, a group of two or more school districts or charter schools, one 
2.6 	or more school districts and charter schools, one or more school districts or charter schools 
2.7 	and postsecondary institutions, or one or more school districts or charter schools and 
2.8 	employers must collaborate with school staff ~~and~~, postsecondary faculty, or employees, 
2.9 	as appropriate, to form a partnership, prepare a plan, and complete an application to 
2.10 	participate in a pilot project. A school district partner must receive formal school board 
2.11 	approval to form a partnership and a charter school partner must receive formal approval 
2.12 	from its board of directors to form a partnership. The partnership must ~~develop a~~ plan to 
2.13 	provide challenging programmatic options for students, create professional development 
2.14 	opportunities for educators, increase student engagement and connection and challenging 
2.15 	learning opportunities for students, or demonstrate efficiencies in delivering financial and 
2.16 	other services. The plan evaluations must provide for a rigorous evaluation such as return 
2.17 	on investment, program effectiveness, or beat-the-odds analysis and may offer career and 
2.18 	college readiness assessments or other interim assessments.
2.19 	(c) An interested partnership may structure its application and plan to: 
2.20 	(1) reduce duplicative assessments that educators and psychometricians identify as 
2.21 	less useful for informing instruction or identifying and diagnosing areas where students 
2.22 	require targeted interventions under Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.30, subdivision 1, 
2.23 	paragraphs (c), clause (2), and (d);
2.24 	(2) establish expectations for career and college readiness under Minnesota Statutes, 
2.25 	section 120B.30, subdivision 1, paragraphs (d) and (g);
2.26 	(3) use fully adaptive, on and off-grade assessments under Minnesota Statutes, 
2.27 	section 120B.30, subdivision 1;
2.28 	(4) provide students with predictive information to enable them to successfully 
2.29 	explore and realize their educational, career, and college interests, aptitudes, and 
2.30 	aspirations under Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.125;
2.31 	(5) use career and college assessments or other interim assessments that are highly 
2.32 	correlated with the Minnesota comprehensive assessments in reading and math;
2.33 	(6) notwithstanding Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.024, allow a student to use a 
2.34 	course in applied mathematics or STEM as an equivalent to algebra II; and
3.1 	(7) include student assessment data under this section in the district's annual world's 
3.2 	best workforce report, consistent with Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.11, subdivisions 5 
3.3 	and 9, paragraph (a).
3.4 	Notwithstanding Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.30, or any other law to 
3.5 	the contrary, a participating school district or charter school may use alternative 
3.6 	assessments under this paragraph in place of the Minnesota comprehensive assessments. 
3.7 	Notwithstanding other law to the contrary, a participating school district or charter school 
3.8 	may take attendance only once per school day so long as the district or charter school 
3.9 	ensures that students in attendance are not otherwise identified as truant. The plan must 
3.10 	~~establish~~ include:
3.11 	(1) collaborative educational goals and objectives;
3.12 	(2) strategies and processes to implement those goals and objectives, including a 
3.13 	budget process with periodic expenditure reviews;
3.14 	(3) valid and reliable measures to evaluate progress in realizing the goals and 
3.15 	objectives;
3.16 	(4) an implementation timeline; and
3.17 	(5) other applicable conditions, regulations, responsibilities, duties, provisions, fee 
3.18 	schedules, and legal considerations needed to fully implement the plan.
3.19 	A partnership may invite additional ~~districts~~ eligible partners to join the partnership 
3.20 	during the pilot project term ~~after notifying~~ and must notify the commissioner when 
3.21 	additional partners join the partnership.
3.22 	~~(c)~~ (d) A school district member or a charter school member of an interested 
3.23 	partnership ~~of interested districts~~ must ~~apply by February 1 of any year~~ submit an 
3.24 	application to the education commissioner in the form and manner the commissioner 
3.25 	determines, consistent with the requirements of this section. The application must contain 
3.26 	the formal approval adopted by the school board in each district or by the charter school 
3.27 	board of directors to participate in the plan.
3.28 	~~(d)~~ (e) Notwithstanding other law to the contrary, a participating school district 
3.29 	under this section continues to: receive revenue and maintain its taxation authority; be 
3.30 	organized and governed by an elected school board with general powers under Minnesota 
3.31 	Statutes, section 123B.02; and be subject to employment agreements under Minnesota 
3.32 	Statutes, chapter 122A, and Minnesota Statutes, section 179A.20; and district employees 
3.33 	continue to remain employees of the employing school district.
3.34 	(f) Participating school district and charter schools must submit a biennial evaluation 
3.35 	by February 1 in each odd-numbered year to the education committees of the legislature 
3.36 	and the education commissioner that includes longitudinal data under Minnesota Statutes, 
4.1 	section 127A.70, subdivision 2, paragraph (b), governing SLEDS, and is premised on 
4.2 	return on investment, program effectiveness, or beat-the-odds analysis in the context 
4.3 	of students' career and college readiness.
4.4 		Subd. 2.Commissioner's role. Interested ~~groups of school districts~~ partnerships 
4.5 	must submit a completed application to the commissioner by March 1 of any year in the 
4.6 	form and manner determined by the commissioner, consistent with the requirements of 
4.7 	this section. For 2016 only, the school district member or charter school member must 
4.8 	submit an application by July 1. The education commissioner must convene an advisory 
4.9 	panel composed of a teacher appointed by Education Minnesota, a school principal 
4.10 	appointed by the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals, a school 
4.11 	board member appointed by the Minnesota School Boards Association, a researcher 
4.12 	appointed by the Office of Higher Education, a researcher appointed by the University of 
4.13 	Minnesota Educational Psychology Department, and a school superintendent appointed 
4.14 	by the Minnesota Association of School Administrators to advise the commissioner on 
4.15 	applicants' qualifications to participate in this pilot project. The commissioner ~~may~~ 
4.16 	~~select~~, for the period encompassing the 2016-2017 through 2020-2021 school years, 
4.17 	must authorize up to ~~six~~eight qualified applicants ~~under subdivision 1 by April 1 of~~ 
4.18 	~~any year~~ to participate in this pilot project, ~~ensuring~~ seeking an equitable geographical 
4.19 	distribution of project participants to the extent practicable. The commissioner must ~~select~~ 
4.20 	authorize only those applicants that fully comply with the requirements in subdivision 1. 
4.21 	The commissioner must terminate a project participant that fails to effectively implement 
4.22 	the goals and objectives contained in its application and according to its stated timeline.
4.23 		Subd. 3.Pilot project evaluation. Participating school districts and charter 
4.24 	schools must submit pilot project data to the education commissioner ~~in the form and~~ 
4.25 	~~manner determined by the commissioner~~ and the legislature, consistent with this section. 
4.26 	Consistent with Minnesota Statutes, section 13.05, on the duties of state agencies regarding 
4.27 	the use and dissemination of data on individuals, the education commissioner must analyze 
4.28 	the data on participating districts' progress and on participating charter schools' progress 
4.29 	in realizing their educational goals and objectives to ~~work together in providing~~ provide 
4.30 	innovative education programs and activities and ~~sharing~~ share resources to improve 
4.31 	students' career and college readiness. The commissioner must include the analysis of 
4.32 	best practices in a report to the legislative committees with jurisdiction over kindergarten 
4.33 	through grade 12 education finance and policy on the efficacy of this pilot project. The 
4.34 	commissioner shall submit an interim project report by ~~February 1, 2016~~ March 30, 2019, 
4.35 	and must submit a final report to the legislature by February 1, ~~2019, recommending~~ 
4.36 	~~whether or not to continue or expand the pilot project~~  2022.

5.1 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment 
5.2 	and applies to those applications submitted to the commissioner after that date. Districts 
5.3 	already approved for an innovation zone pilot project may continue to operate under Laws 
5.4 	2012, chapter 263, section 1, as amended by Laws 2014, chapter 312, article 15, section 24.