Chapter 578
AN ACT
SB 318
Relating to student achievement; amending ORS 327.290, 327.294, 327.297
and 334.177; and declaring an emergency.
Be It Enacted by the People of
the State of
SECTION 1.
ORS 327.297 is amended to read:
327.297. (1) In addition
to those moneys distributed through the State School Fund, the Department of
Education shall award grants to school districts, education service
districts, the Youth Corrections Education Program and the Juvenile
Detention Education Program for activities that relate to increases in student
achievement, including:
(a) Early childhood
support including establishing, maintaining or expanding quality
prekindergarten programs and full-day kindergarten programs;
[(a)] (b) Class size reduction with an emphasis on the
reduction of kindergarten through grade three class sizes;
[(b)] (c) Increases in instructional time including summer
programs and before- and after-school programs;
[(c)] (d) Mentoring, teacher retention and professional
development;
[(d)] (e) Remediation, [and] alternative learning and student retention;
[(e) Early childhood support;]
(f) Services to at-risk
youth;
[(g) Additional instructional materials;]
[(h) Curriculum and instructional support;]
[(i) Services for English as a second language students; and]
(g) Programs to
improve a student achievement gap between student groups identified by culture,
poverty, language and race and other student groups;
(h) Vocational education
programs;
(i) Literacy programs;
and
(j) Other [activities] research-based student
improvement strategies approved by the State Board of Education [that are shown to have a relationship to
increasing student achievement].
(2)(a) Each
school district, each education service district, the Youth Corrections
Education Program and the Juvenile Detention Education Program may apply to the
Department of Education for a grant.
(b) The
department shall review and approve applications based on criteria established
by the State Board of Education. In establishing the criteria, the State Board
of Education shall consider the recommendations of the Quality Education
Commission established under Executive Order 99-16 and the recommendations of
the Quality Education Commission established under ORS 327.500.
(c) The
applications shall include the activities to be funded and the goals of the [school] district or program for
increases in student performance. The applications shall become part of the
local district improvement plan described in ORS 329.095.
(3) The Department of
Education shall evaluate the annual progress of each recipient of grant funds
under this section toward the performance targets established by the Quality
Education Commissions [that have been
funded by the Legislative Assembly]. The evaluation shall become part of
the requirements of the department for assessing the effectiveness of the
district under ORS 329.085, 329.095 and 329.105. The department shall ensure [school] district and program
accountability by providing appropriate assistance, intervening and
establishing consequences in order to support progress toward the performance
targets.
(4) Each biennium the
Department of Education shall issue a report to the Legislative Assembly
on the grant program and the results of the grant program.
(5)(a) Notwithstanding
ORS 338.155 (9), the Department of Education may not award a grant under this
section directly to a public charter school.
(b) A school district
that receives a grant under this section may transfer a portion of the grant to
a public charter school based on the charter of the school or any other
agreement between the school district and the public charter school.
(c) A public charter
school that receives grant funds under this subsection shall use those funds
for the activities specified in subsection (1) of this section.
(6)(a) The amount of
each grant for a program or school district = the program’s or school
district’s ADMw ´ (the total amount available for [the]
distribution to programs and school districts as grants in each [distribution] fiscal year ¸ the total [statewide] ADMw of all programs and school districts that
receive a grant).
(b) The amount of
each grant for an education service district = the education service district’s
ADMw ´ (the total amount available for distribution
to education service districts as grants in each fiscal year ¸ the total ADMw of all education service
districts that receive a grant).
[(b)] (c) As used in this subsection[:],
[(A)] “ADMw” means:
[(i)] (A) For a school district, the extended weighted
average daily membership as calculated under ORS 327.013, 338.155 (1) and
338.165 (2);
[(ii)] (B) For the Youth Corrections Education Program, the
average daily membership as defined in ORS 327.006 multiplied by 2.0; [and]
[(iii)] (C) For the Juvenile Detention Education Program, the
average daily membership as defined in ORS 327.006 multiplied by 1.5; and
(D) For an education
service district, the sum of the ADMw of the component school districts of the
education service district.
[(B) “Total statewide ADMw” means the total extended ADMw of all school
districts plus the ADMw of the Youth Corrections Education Program plus the
ADMw of the Juvenile Detention Education Program.]
(7) Each [school] district or program shall
deposit the grant amounts it receives under this section in a separate account,
and shall apply amounts in that account to pay for activities described in the
district’s or program’s application.
(8) The State Board of
Education may adopt any rules necessary for the administration of the grant
program.
SECTION 2.
ORS 327.294 is amended to read:
327.294. (1) There is
established the School Improvement Fund, separate and distinct from the General
Fund. Interest earned by the School Improvement Fund shall be credited to the
fund. [Any moneys in the fund that are
not distributed by the Department of Education in any fiscal year shall be
retained in the fund and may be distributed in the next fiscal year.]
(2) The moneys in the
fund are continuously appropriated to the Department of Education for purposes
of the grant program created by ORS 327.297.
(3) Each fiscal year,
the department shall distribute:
(a) 95.25 percent of the
moneys in the fund as grants to school districts, the Youth Corrections
Education Program and the Juvenile Detention Education Program; and
(b) 4.75 percent of the
moneys in the fund as grants to education service districts.
SECTION 3.
ORS 327.290 is amended to read:
327.290. The Legislative
Assembly finds that:
(1) The state has an
interest in ensuring that public resources for primary and secondary schools
are used to achieve the outcomes established under the Oregon Educational Act
for the 21st Century in ORS chapter 329.
(2) To achieve that
purpose, the School Improvement Fund is established so the state may support
activities directly related to increases in student achievement while still
allowing school districts and education service districts flexibility in
determining the specific activities necessary to support students.
(3) It is the intent of
the state in establishing the School Improvement Fund to link these activities
to the recommendations of the Quality Education Commission established under
Executive Order 99-16 and the recommendations of the Quality Education
Commission established under ORS 327.500.
SECTION 4.
ORS 334.177 is amended to read:
334.177. (1) An
education service district board shall expend at least 90 percent of all
amounts received from the State School Fund and at least 90 percent of all
amounts considered to be local revenues of an education service district, as
defined in ORS 327.019, on services or programs that have been approved by the
component school districts of the education service district through the
resolution process described in ORS 334.175.
(2) An education
service district board shall expend 100 percent of all amounts received from
the School Improvement Fund on services or programs that have been approved by
the component school districts of the education service district through the resolution
process described in ORS 334.175.
SECTION 5. This
2007 Act being necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace,
health and safety, an emergency is declared to exist, and this 2007 Act takes
effect July 1, 2007.
Approved by the Governor June 25, 2007
Filed in the office of Secretary of State June 27, 2007
Effective date July 1, 2007
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