74th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2007 Regular Session
NOTE: Matter within { + braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within { - braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
{ + braces and plus signs + } .
LC 2491
Senate Bill 619
Sponsored by Senator WALKER, Representative C EDWARDS; Senator
KRUSE, Representatives BARNHART, BUCKLEY, DALLUM, FLORES,
HANNA, KOMP, KRUMMEL, ROBLAN
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
Allows school districts and education service districts to
establish public district-sponsored homeschool resource centers
as alternative education programs. Allows school districts to
contract with public and private centers.
Allows homeschooled students to enroll in programs at centers.
Specifies funding amount for centers.
Declares emergency, effective July 1, 2007.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to alternative education programs; creating new
provisions; amending ORS 327.006 and 336.635; and declaring an
emergency.
Whereas the State of Oregon has long recognized the value of
parents taking leading roles in the education of their children
through homeschooling; and
Whereas many school districts work in partnership with
homeschooling families to provide part-time, supplementary
resources to homeschooled students; and
Whereas many school districts find it advantageous to engage
with homeschool families and find that this engagement often
leads to homeschool students moving between homeschooling and
traditional public schools to best meet the needs of students and
families; and
Whereas Oregon's alternative education law has long provided
regulation and funding for these part-time, supplementary
programs serving homeschoolers; now, therefore,
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. { + Sections 2 to 4 of this 2007 Act are added to
and made a part of ORS 336.615 to 336.665. + }
SECTION 2. { + (1) Each school district and education service
district may establish a public district-sponsored homeschool
resource center. A school district may contract with a private
district-sponsored homeschool resource center or a public
district-sponsored homeschool resource center for the provision
of education services to children who reside in the district.
(2) The centers shall be established as alternative education
programs and, except as provided in this section and sections 3
and 4 of this 2007 Act, must comply with the provisions of ORS
336.615 to 335.665 and administrative rules adopted by the State
Board of Education that relate to alternative education programs.
(3) The programs offered by the centers must be part-time and
may not be comprehensive or offer diplomas.
(4) The programs offered by the centers must allow a student to
attend public school part-time and be registered as a student who
is taught by a parent, legal guardian or private teacher under
ORS 339.035.
(5)(a) A student who is taught by a parent, legal guardian or
private teacher and who is enrolled in a program offered by a
center must meet the examination requirements of ORS 339.035 and
may not be required to take the statewide assessment or other
standardized tests.
(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subsection, if a
student is enrolled in mathematics, science, English, history,
geography, economics or civics at a public school or at a center,
the student may be required to take the statewide assessment in
the subjects in which the student is enrolled.
(6) The school district or education service district that
established or contracted with the center shall be responsible
for evaluating and monitoring programs offered by the center. + }
SECTION 3. { + (1) Any student registered as a student who is
taught by a parent, legal guardian or private teacher under ORS
339.035 is eligible for enrollment in a district-sponsored
homeschool resource center that is located in the school district
or education service district within which the student resides.
The parent or guardian of the student may choose to enroll the
student in a center.
(2) A parent or guardian who enrolls a student in a center must
sign a form indicating that the student is not simultaneously
enrolled in a public or private school, or if that student is
enrolled in a public or private school, that those hours and the
hours that the student is enrolled at the center are not
duplicative.
(3) The resident school district of a student who is enrolled
in a center is not required to evaluate the student for placement
in the center. + }
SECTION 4. { + (1) A district-sponsored homeschool resource
center shall receive funding based on the requirements of ORS
336.635 and rules adopted by the State Board of Education.
(2) If a center provides classes that are small, as defined by
rule of the board, then the center shall receive funding based on
the board's rules relating to funding of small classes in
alternative education programs.
(3) The maximum funding that can be requested for any student
regardless of the student's part-time status in a public school
and a center is the funding allowed for one average daily
membership (ADM). If a student is simultaneously enrolled in a
public school part-time and a center part-time, the school
district where the public school is located shall notify the
center of the portion of the average daily membership (ADM)
available for the student's enrollment at the center. + }
SECTION 5. ORS 336.635 is amended to read:
336.635. (1) When necessary to meet a student's educational
needs and interests, the parent or guardian with the approval of
the resident district and the attending district may enroll the
student in one of the proposed appropriate and accessible public
alternative education programs or private alternative education
programs of instruction or instruction combined with counseling
registered with the Department of Education. If the child is
determined to be eligible for special education under ORS 343.221
to 343.236 and 343.261 to 343.295, the program must be approved
by the Department of Education prior to the placement of the
student in the program. A student enrolled pursuant to this
subsection or enrolled in an alternative education program on or
after July 1, 1995, because the student's educational needs and
interests are best met through participation in such a program
shall be considered enrolled in the schools of the district for
purposes of the distribution of the State School Fund.
(2) The alternative education program in which the student
enrolls with the districts' approval shall notify the school
district in which the student or the student's parents or legal
guardian, if any, resided at the time the student enrolled of the
child's enrollment and may bill the school district for tuition.
The billing may be made annually or at the end of each term or
semester of the alternative education program. For each full-time
equivalent student enrolled in the alternative education program,
the school district shall pay the actual cost of the program or
an amount at least equivalent to 80 percent of the district's
estimated current year's average per student net operating
expenditure, whichever is lesser, in accordance with rules
adopted by the State Board of Education. { + The board may adopt
rules that allow for a difference in payment based on whether
class sizes of the program are small, medium or large.
(3) + } The alternative education program shall be accountable
for the expenditures of all State School Fund and other local
school support moneys, providing the school district with an
annual statement of such expenditures.
{ - (3) - } { + (4) + } A private alternative education
program that is registered with the Department of Education is
not required to employ only licensed teachers or administrators.
Teachers and administrators in such private programs shall not be
considered employees of any district for purposes of ORS 342.173.
{ - (4) - } { + (5) + } A school district is not required
to provide a public alternative education program if there are
public or approved private alternative education programs that
are appropriate and accessible to the student to which a student
can be referred.
{ - (5) - } { + (6) + } Any Oregon teaching license is
valid for teaching all subjects and grade levels in an
alternative education program operated by a school district or
education service district.
SECTION 6. ORS 327.006 is amended to read:
327.006. As used in ORS 327.006 to 327.133, 327.348, 327.355,
327.357, 327.360 and 327.731:
(1) 'Aggregate days membership' means the sum of days present
and absent, according to the rules of the State Board of
Education, of all resident pupils when school is actually in
session during a certain period. The aggregate days membership of
kindergarten pupils shall be calculated on the basis of a
half-day program.
(2)(a) 'Approved transportation costs' means those costs as
defined by rule of the State Board of Education and is limited to
those costs attributable to transporting or room and board
provided in lieu of transporting:
(A) Elementary school students who live at least one mile from
school;
(B) Secondary school students who live at least 1.5 miles from
school;
(C) Any student required to be transported for health or safety
reasons, according to supplemental plans from districts that have
been approved by the state board identifying students who are
required to be transported for health or safety reasons,
including special education;
(D) Preschool children with disabilities requiring
transportation for early intervention services provided pursuant
to ORS 343.224 and 343.533;
(E) Students who require payment of room and board in lieu of
transportation;
(F) A student transported from one school or facility to
another school or facility when the student attends both schools
or facilities during the day or week; and
(G) Students participating in school-sponsored field trips that
are extensions of classroom learning experiences.
(b) 'Approved transportation costs' does not include the cost
of constructing boarding school facilities.
(3) 'Average daily membership' or 'ADM' means the aggregate
days membership of a school during a certain period divided by
the number of days the school was actually in session during the
same period. However, if a district school board adopts a class
schedule that operates throughout the year for all or any schools
in the district, average daily membership shall be computed by
the Department of Education so that the resulting average daily
membership will not be higher or lower than if the board had not
adopted such schedule.
(4) 'Consumer Price Index' means the Consumer Price Index for
All Urban Consumers of the Portland, Oregon, Standard
Metropolitan Statistical Area, as compiled by the United States
Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
(5) 'Kindergarten' means a kindergarten program that conforms
to the standards and rules adopted by the State Board of
Education.
(6) 'Net operating expenditures' means the sum of expenditures
of a school district in kindergarten through grade 12 for
administration, instruction, attendance and health services,
operation of plant, maintenance of plant, fixed charges and
tuition for resident students attending in another district, as
determined in accordance with the rules of the State Board of
Education, but net operating expenditures does not include
transportation, food service, student body activities, community
services, capital outlay, debt service or expenses incurred for
nonresident students.
(7)(a) 'Resident pupil' means any pupil:
(A) Whose legal school residence is within the boundaries of a
school district reporting the pupil, if the district is legally
responsible for the education of the pupil, except that 'resident
pupil' does not include a pupil who pays tuition or for whom the
parent pays tuition or for whom the district does not pay tuition
for placement outside the district; { - or - }
(B) Whose legal residence is not within the boundaries of the
district reporting the pupil but attends school in the district
with the written consent of the affected school district
boards { + ; or
(C) Who is enrolled in a district-sponsored homeschool resource
center that the district established or with which the district
has a contract under section 2 of this 2007 Act + }.
(b) A pupil shall not be considered to be a resident pupil
under paragraph (a)(A) of this subsection if the pupil is
attending school in another school district pursuant to a
contract under ORS 339.125 and in the prior year was considered
to be a resident pupil in another school district under paragraph
(a)(B) of this subsection. The pupil shall continue to be
considered a resident of another school district under paragraph
(a)(B) of this subsection.
(c) A pupil shall not be considered to be a resident pupil
under paragraph (a)(B) of this subsection if the pupil is
attending school in a school district pursuant to an agreement
with another school district under ORS 339.133 and in the prior
year was considered to be a resident pupil under paragraph (a)(A)
of this subsection because the pupil was attending school in
another school district pursuant to a contract under ORS 339.125.
The pupil shall continue to be considered a resident pupil under
paragraph (a)(A) of this subsection.
(d) 'Resident pupil' includes a pupil admitted to a school
district under ORS 339.115 (7).
(8) 'Standard school' means a school meeting the standards set
by the rules of the State Board of Education.
(9) 'Tax' and 'taxes' includes all taxes on property, excluding
exempt bonded indebtedness, as those terms are defined in ORS
310.140.
SECTION 7. { + The amendments to ORS 327.006 by section 6 of
this 2007 Act + } { + apply to State School Fund distributions
commencing with the 2007-2008 distribution. + }
SECTION 8. { + 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. + }
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