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Senate Study Bill 3108

Bill Text

PAG LIN
  1  1    Section 1.  Section 256.7, subsection 19, Code Supplement
  1  2 2003, is amended to read as follows:
  1  3    19.  Define the minimum school day as a day consisting of
  1  4 five and one-half hours of instructional time for grades one
  1  5 through twelve.  The minimum hours shall be exclusive of the
  1  6 lunch period, but may include passing time between classes.
  1  7 Time spent on parent-teacher conferences shall be considered
  1  8 instructional time.  A school or school district may record a
  1  9 day of school with less than the minimum instructional hours
  1 10 as a minimum school day if any of the following apply:
  1 11    a.  If emergency health or safety factors require the late
  1 12 arrival or early dismissal of students on a specific day.
  1 13    b.  If the total hours of instructional school time for
  1 14 grades one through twelve for any five consecutive school days
  1 15 equal a minimum of twenty-seven and one-half hours, even
  1 16 though any one day of school is less than the minimum
  1 17 instructional hours because of a staff development opportunity
  1 18 provided for the professional instructional staff or because
  1 19 parent-teacher conferences have been scheduled beyond the
  1 20 regular school day.  Furthermore, if the total hours of
  1 21 instructional time for the first four consecutive days equal
  1 22 at least twenty-seven and one-half hours because parent-
  1 23 teacher conferences have been scheduled beyond the regular
  1 24 school day, a school or school district may record zero hours
  1 25 of instructional time on the fifth consecutive school day as a
  1 26 minimum school day.  If a health emergency or safety factors
  1 27 require the late arrival or early dismissal of students on a
  1 28 specific day, the time before arrival or after dismissal shall
  1 29 not be considered instructional time.
  1 30    Sec. 2.  Section 256F.4, subsection 5, Code Supplement
  1 31 2003, is amended to read as follows:
  1 32    5.  A charter school shall provide instruction for at least
  1 33 the number of days hours required by section 279.10,
  1 34 subsection 1, or shall provide at least the equivalent number
  1 35 of total hours.
  2  1    Sec. 3.  Section 279.10, subsection 1, Code 2003, is
  2  2 amended to read as follows:
  2  3    1.  The school year shall begin on the first day of July
  2  4 and each regularly established elementary and secondary school
  2  5 shall begin no sooner than a day during the calendar week in
  2  6 which the first day of September falls but no later than the
  2  7 first Monday in December.  However, if the first day of
  2  8 September falls on a Sunday, school may begin on a day during
  2  9 the calendar week which immediately precedes the first day of
  2 10 September.  School shall continue for at least one hundred
  2 11 eighty days, except as provided in subsection 3, and  The
  2 12 school year shall include, at a minimum, nine hundred ninety
  2 13 hours of instructional school time.  Instructional school time
  2 14 may be maintained scheduled during the entire calendar year.
  2 15 However, if the board of directors of a district extends the
  2 16 school calendar because inclement weather caused the district
  2 17 to temporarily close school during the regular school
  2 18 calendar, the district may excuse a graduating senior who has
  2 19 met district or school requirements for graduation from
  2 20 attendance during the extended school calendar.  A school
  2 21 corporation may begin employment of personnel for in-service
  2 22 training and development purposes before the date to begin
  2 23 elementary and secondary school.
  2 24    Sec. 4.  Section 279.10, subsection 3, unnumbered paragraph
  2 25 1, Code 2003, is amended to read as follows:
  2 26    The board of directors of a school district may request
  2 27 approval from the department of education for a pilot program
  2 28 for an innovative school year or for innovative school weeks.
  2 29 The number of days per year that school is in session may be
  2 30 more or less than those specified in subsection 1, but the
  2 31 innovative school year shall provide for an equivalent number
  2 32 of total hours that school is in session.  Notwithstanding
  2 33 section 256.7, subsection 19, under a pilot program authorized
  2 34 by the department pursuant to this subsection, the total hours
  2 35 of instructional time for grades one through twelve for any
  3  1 five consecutive days shall equal at least a minimum of
  3  2 twenty-seven and one-half hours, though the school district
  3  3 may record one or more days of school with less than the
  3  4 minimum instructional hours as a minimum school day.  The
  3  5 director of the department of education shall annually submit
  3  6 a report that specifies the number of school districts that
  3  7 request approval to conduct a pilot program under this
  3  8 subsection, the number of school districts whose requests are
  3  9 approved or denied, and the reason for denying any request,
  3 10 and the goals and savings to be attained by each district that
  3 11 conducts a pilot program in accordance with this subsection,
  3 12 to the chairpersons and ranking members of the senate and
  3 13 house standing committees on education and the joint
  3 14 appropriations subcommittee on education by February 1.  
  3 15                           EXPLANATION
  3 16    This bill addresses the amount of instructional time
  3 17 accredited schools are required to provide during a school
  3 18 year by replacing the 180 days of instructional school time
  3 19 requirement with an equivalent hourly requirement of 990 hours
  3 20 of instructional school time.
  3 21    The bill also strikes a provision that requires the state
  3 22 board of education to allow schools to record as a minimum
  3 23 school day a day consisting of less than five and one-half
  3 24 hours of instructional time if the school shortened the school
  3 25 day due to emergency health or safety-related factors and for
  3 26 staff development opportunities.  The bill provides that if
  3 27 the school day is shortened due to a late arrival or early
  3 28 dismissal, the time before arrival or after dismissal cannot
  3 29 be counted as instructional time.  The bill makes
  3 30 corresponding changes to provisions relating to the charter
  3 31 school pilot program and the innovative school year pilot
  3 32 program.  The bill allows a school district to request
  3 33 approval from the department of education for a pilot program
  3 34 for an innovative school week that allows for greater
  3 35 flexibility in the scheduling of instructional time during a
  4  1 school week, and requires the department to submit an annual
  4  2 report to the general assembly's committees on education
  4  3 detailing those requests.  
  4  4 LSB 6017XC 80
  4  5 kh/gg/14.3
     

Text: SSB03107                          Text: SSB03109
Text: SSB03100 - SSB03199               Text: SSB Index
Bills and Amendments: General Index     Bill History: General Index

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