Chapter 840 Oregon Laws 2009

AN ACT

HB 2586

Relating to school libraries; creating new provisions; and amending ORS 327.297 and 329.095.

Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:

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;

          (b) Class size reduction with an emphasis on the reduction of kindergarten through grade three class sizes;

          (c) Increases in instructional time including summer programs and before- and after-school programs;

          (d) Mentoring, teacher retention and professional development;

          (e) Remediation, alternative learning and student retention;

          (f) Services to at-risk youth;

          (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) School library programs; and

          [(j)] (k) Other research-based student improvement strategies approved by the State Board of Education.

          (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 district or program for increases in student performance. The applications shall become part of the local district continuous 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] Commission. 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 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 distribution to programs and school districts as grants in each fiscal year ¸ the total 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).

          (c) As used in this subsection, “ADMw” means:

          (A) For a school district, the extended weighted average daily membership as calculated under ORS 327.013, 338.155 (1) and 338.165 [(2)] (3);

          (B) For the Youth Corrections Education Program, the average daily membership as defined in ORS 327.006 multiplied by 2.0;

          (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.

          (7) Each 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 329.095 is amended to read:

          329.095. (1) The Department of Education shall require school districts and schools to conduct self-evaluations and update their local district continuous improvement plans on a biennial basis. The self-evaluation process shall involve the public in the setting of local goals. The school districts shall ensure that representatives from the demographic groups of their school population are invited to participate in the development of local district continuous improvement plans to achieve the goals.

          (2) As part of setting local goals, school districts shall undertake a communications process that involves parents, students, teachers, school employees and community representatives to explain and discuss the local goals and their relationship to programs under this chapter.

          (3) At the request of the school district, department staff shall provide ongoing technical assistance in the development and implementation of the local district continuous improvement plan.

          (4) The local district continuous improvement plan shall include:

(a) Goals to implement the following:

          [(a)] (A) A rigorous curriculum aligned with state standards;

          [(b)] (B) High-quality instructional programs;

          [(c)] (C) Short-term and long-term professional development plans;

          [(d)] (D) Programs and policies [to] that achieve a safe educational environment;

          [(e)] (E) A plan for family and community engagement;

          [(f)] (F) Staff leadership development;

          [(g)] (G) High-quality data systems;

          [(h)] (H) Improvement planning that is data-driven;

          [(i)] (I) Education service plans for students who have or have not exceeded all of the academic content standards; and

          (J) A strong school library program;

          [(j)] (b) A review of demographics, student performance, staff characteristics and student access to, and use of, educational opportunities; and

          [(k)] (c) A description of district efforts to achieve local efficiencies and efforts to make better use of resources.

SECTION 3. (1) The amendments to ORS 327.297 by section 1 of this 2009 Act first apply to the 2010-2011 school year.

          (2) The amendments to ORS 329.095 by section 2 of this 2009 Act first apply to local district continuous improvement plans updated on or after the effective date of this 2009 Act.

Approved by the Governor July 28, 2009

Filed in the office of Secretary of State July 28, 2009

Effective date January 1, 2010

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