1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to education; directing the commissioner of
1.3 	education to seek a waiver from ineffective provisions
1.4 	of the federal No Child Left Behind Act; directing the
1.5 	commissioner of education to report on policies and
1.6 	programs to supplement the positive effects of the act
1.7 	related to improving student achievement, closing the
1.8 	student achievement gap, and establishing school
1.9 	accountability; appropriating money for supplemental
1.10 	educational services.
1.11 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.12 	Section 1. WAIVER FROM INEFFECTIVE FEDERAL NO CHILD LEFT
1.13 	BEHIND ACT PROVISIONS; SUPPLEMENTAL STATE PROVISIONS.
 1.14 		Subdivision 1.Waiver from ineffective federal
1.15 	provisions. (a) The commissioner of education must seek to
1.16 	obtain from the federal Department of Education, by April 1,
1.17 	2006, a waiver from the ineffective provisions of the federal No
1.18 	Child Left Behind Act, Public Law 107-110 (act).  The waiver
1.19 	request must be consistent with paragraphs (b) through (l) of
1.20 	this subdivision.
1.21 	(b) Schools offering any grade 4 through 8 must use the
1.22 	standards-based, grade-to-grade gains of individual students as
1.23 	a primary indicator of achievement beginning in the 2006-2007
1.24 	school year and later or when statewide reading or mathematics
1.25 	tests are vertically equated, whichever comes first.
1.26 	(c) The adequate yearly progress proficiency target for the
1.27 	eighth grade reading and mathematics assessments must be set so
1.28 	that students who meet the target are able to comprehend a high
2.1 	school textbook and study high school mathematics standards.
2.2 	(d) When computing a school's eighth grade proficiency
2.3 	index, declare a student who achieves a reading or mathematics
2.4 	score in level III as proficient and declare a student who
2.5 	achieves a reading or mathematics score in level II as partially
2.6 	proficient.
2.7 	(e) Declare as proficient a student in any grade 4 through
2.8 	7 who achieves a reading or mathematics score in level III or
2.9 	whose achievement gain in reading or mathematics from the prior
2.10 	school year places the student on track to be proficient by the
2.11 	eighth grade.  Declare as partially proficient a student in any
2.12 	grade 4 through 7 who achieves a reading or mathematics score in
2.13 	level II or whose achievement gain in reading or mathematics
2.14 	from the prior school year places the student on track to be
2.15 	partially proficient by the eighth grade.  Education officials
2.16 	must compute the gains scores of all students enrolled in a
2.17 	school as of October 1 of the current school year and for whom a
2.18 	test score is available for the current and immediately past
2.19 	school years.
2.20 	(f) Declare any third grade student who achieves a reading
2.21 	or mathematics score in level III as proficient and any third
2.22 	grade student who achieves a reading or mathematics score in
2.23 	level II as partially proficient.
2.24 	(g) A school does not fail to make adequate yearly progress
2.25 	based on the participation rate of a student subgroup if the
2.26 	student subgroup makes adequate yearly progress when
2.27 	nonparticipating students are not counted as proficient or
2.28 	partially proficient.
2.29 	(h) A school fails to make adequate yearly progress for two
2.30 	consecutive school years only if the same student subgroup fails
2.31 	to make adequate yearly progress for two or more consecutive
2.32 	school years in the same subject.
2.33 	(i) A school's categorization as making or not making
2.34 	adequate yearly progress is based on the performance of all
2.35 	students and on the performance of student subgroups composed of
2.36 	African American, Asian, American Indian, Hispanic, and White
3.1 	students.  Schools must continue to define, count, test, and
3.2 	report limited English proficiency and special education
3.3 	students as separate student subgroups but the test results of
3.4 	these subgroups must not be used to determine a school's
3.5 	adequate yearly progress.
3.6 	(j) The commissioner must establish a more realistic
3.7 	student proficiency goal for the 2013-2014 school year.
3.8 	(k) Districts must review the curriculum, instructional
3.9 	methods, assessment instruments, professional development
3.10 	opportunities, parent and community involvement efforts, quality
3.11 	of leadership, governance structure, and resource use of those
3.12 	schools that fail to make adequate yearly progress for at least
3.13 	four consecutive school years.  For schools offering any grade 4
3.14 	through 8, the review also must analyze the standards-based,
3.15 	grade-to-grade gains of individual students beginning in the
3.16 	2007-2008 school year and later or when statewide reading or
3.17 	mathematics tests are vertically equated, whichever comes
3.18 	first.  The analysis must include the gains scores of all
3.19 	students enrolled in the school as of October 1 of the current
3.20 	school year and for whom a test score is available for the
3.21 	current and immediately past school years.  A school is not
3.22 	subject to restructuring after failing to make adequate yearly
3.23 	progress for four or more consecutive school years if:
3.24 	(1) the school review shows major improvements in school
3.25 	instruction and curriculum; and 
3.26 	(2) at least 70 percent of the students enrolled in the
3.27 	school on October 1 are making gains sufficient to meet
3.28 	proficiency standards by the end of eighth grade.
3.29 	The school must continue to provide school choice and
3.30 	supplemental services.
3.31 	(l) A school that fails to make adequate yearly progress
3.32 	for two consecutive school years must provide supplemental
3.33 	services that are consistent with the supplemental services
3.34 	described under the act, but the school need not provide school
3.35 	choice required under the act.  If the school fails to make
3.36 	adequate yearly progress for three consecutive school years, the
4.1 	school must provide the supplemental services and school choice
4.2 	described under the act.
4.3 	(m) The commissioner must notify the education policy and
4.4 	finance committees of the legislature by May 1, 2006, of the
4.5 	extent to which the commissioner succeeded in obtaining the
4.6 	waiver under this subdivision.  The commissioner must modify
4.7 	Minnesota's consolidated state plan and also simultaneously
4.8 	modify all other agreements for implementing the act that are
4.9 	affected by the waiver, consistent with the terms for modifying
4.10 	such other agreements.
4.11 		Subd. 2.Provisions to supplement the federal act. (a)
4.12 	The commissioner of education by April 1, 2006, must submit a
4.13 	written report to the education policy and education finance
4.14 	committees of the legislature on developing the following
4.15 	measures to more effectively implement the act:
4.16 	(1) an accountability plan to monitor and evaluate the
4.17 	quality and effectiveness of all supplemental education service
4.18 	providers and to withdraw approval from providers that fail to
4.19 	increase student proficiency for two consecutive school years;
4.20 	(2) a process to ensure that a school or district is not
4.21 	subject to a present or future sanction due to an error in a
4.22 	school's adequate yearly progress determination and to correct
4.23 	the error in the reports in which the error appears;
4.24 	(3) a plan to make grade-to-grade gains of individual
4.25 	students a primary indicator of achievement in schools enrolling
4.26 	students in any grade 4 through 8;
4.27 	(4) estimates of the costs that school districts, charter
4.28 	schools, and the state annually incur to implement the act that
4.29 	exceed the costs that school districts, charter schools, and the
4.30 	state annually incurred to implement the Improving America's
4.31 	Schools Act of 1994, Public Law 103-382, and a list of the
4.32 	available sources and amounts of new federal funds sufficient to
4.33 	cover these added costs; and 
4.34 	(5) other recommendations, developed in consultation with
4.35 	the Office of Educational Accountability, about still unresolved
4.36 	issues affecting the validity and reliability of the state's
5.1 	educational accountability system.
5.2 		Subd. 3.State initiatives to advance state and federal
5.3 	education goals. (a) To further pursue state and federal
5.4 	education goals for improving student achievement, closing the
5.5 	student achievement gap between white students and students of
5.6 	color, and establishing school accountability, the commissioner
5.7 	also must submit to the legislature by April 1, 2007, proposals
5.8 	for:
5.9 	(1) school districts and charter schools to report the
5.10 	costs of implementing the act, including the costs of sanctions;
5.11 	(2) a parent and student evaluation of teachers'
5.12 	performance, the results of which can be used as a measure of
5.13 	school performance;
5.14 	(3) a value-added assessment system to measure teacher
5.15 	performance and staff development opportunities that correspond
5.16 	to the value-added assessment system;
5.17 	(4) developing, assisting with, and funding school
5.18 	improvement plans in schools that continuously fail to make
5.19 	adequate yearly progress;
5.20 	(5) a seamless pre-K through 16 statewide education system;
5.21 	(6) programs that improve students' opportunities for
5.22 	educational success, such as early childhood programs that meet
5.23 	children's individual needs including the needs of children with
5.24 	limited English proficiency; all-day kindergarten; limited
5.25 	English proficiency programs for school-age children;
5.26 	after-school, tutoring, and community service activities;
5.27 	precollege and career awareness and counseling; and teachers of
5.28 	color initiatives; and 
5.29 	(7) a comprehensive statewide 11th grade test to evaluate
5.30 	both students' academic proficiency and their eligibility for
5.31 	postsecondary education.
5.32 	(b) The commissioner also must recommend to the legislature
5.33 	by April 1, 2007, how to integrate early childhood initiatives
5.34 	into the proposals under this subdivision so as to:
5.35 	(1) support and expand universal and targeted access to
5.36 	successful programs, enabling all young children to participate
6.1 	in programs targeted to their needs and family circumstances;
6.2 	(2) offer more specialized and intensive programs to
6.3 	children at greatest risk of falling behind their age peers in
6.4 	learning and development;
6.5 	(3) accommodate the changing demographics and corresponding
6.6 	needs of families with young children;
6.7 	(4) expand family literacy programs that recognize the
6.8 	impact of parent education on children's school success;
6.9 	(5) appropriately assess and document the progress of young
6.10 	children's learning and development;
6.11 	(6) screen the health and social and emotional development
6.12 	of all children by age three in order to identify those children
6.13 	in need of intervention services; and 
6.14 	(7) train and retain highly skilled early childhood care
6.15 	and education staff.
6.16 		Subd. 4.Commissioner of finance report. The
6.17 	commissioner of finance must report to the legislature by April
6.18 	1, 2006, the amount and purpose of the revenue and services the
6.19 	federal government may withhold from the state, the state
6.20 	Department of Education, each school district, each charter
6.21 	school, and each nonpublic school if Minnesota nullifies and
6.22 	revokes the consolidated state plan that Minnesota submitted to
6.23 	the federal Department of Education to implement the No Child
6.24 	Left Behind Act.
6.25 	
EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day
6.26 	following final enactment.

6.27 	Sec. 2. APPROPRIATION; SUPPLEMENTAL STUDENT SERVICES.
 6.28 	$....... is appropriated from the general fund in fiscal
6.29 	year 2006 to the commissioner of education for supplemental
6.30 	student services to improve student achievement, close the
6.31 	student achievement gap between white students and students of
6.32 	color, and provide students with meaningful opportunities for
6.33 	educational success, consistent with section 1, subdivision 3,
6.34 	paragraph (a), clause (6).

6.35 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective July 1, 2005.