HF 2354 (LSB 6012HH (3) 83)

HOUSE FILE 2354

BY  HAGENOW

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the postsecondary enrollment options component of the senior year plus program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 261E.6, subsection 3, Code 2009, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  Authorization.  To participate in this program, an eligible student shall make application to an eligible postsecondary institution to allow the eligible student to enroll for college credit in a nonsectarian course offered at the institution. A comparable course, as defined in rules adopted by the board of directors of the school district consistent with department administrative rule, with the same or substantially the same content must not be offered by the school district or accredited nonpublic school the student attends. If the postsecondary institution accepts an eligible student for enrollment under this section, the institution shall send written notice to the student, the student’s parent or legal guardian in the case of a minor child, and the student’s school district or accredited nonpublic school and the school district in the case of a nonpublic school student, or the Iowa school for the deaf or the Iowa braille and sight saving school. The notice shall list the course, the clock hours the student will be attending the course, and the number of hours of college credit that the eligible student will receive from the eligible postsecondary institution upon successful completion of the course.
    Sec. 2.  Section 261E.6, subsection 6, Code 2009, is amended to read as follows:
   6.  Definition.  For purposes of this section and section 261E.7, unless the context otherwise requires, “eligible student” means a student classified by the board of directors of a school district, by the state board of regents for pupils of the Iowa school for the deaf and the Iowa braille and sight saving school, or by the authorities in charge of an accredited nonpublic school as a ninth or tenth grade student who is identified according to the school district’s gifted and talented criteria and procedures, pursuant to section 257.43, as a gifted and talented child, or an eleventh or twelfth grade student, during the period the student is participating in the postsecondary enrollment options program.  For purposes of this section and section 261E.7, a student who meets the definition of eligible student under this subsection is exempt from the proficiency requirements of section 261E.3, subsection 1, paragraph “e”.
    Sec. 3.  STATE MANDATE FUNDING SPECIFIED.  In accordance with section 25B.2, subsection 3, the state cost of requiring compliance with any state mandate included in this Act shall be paid by a school district from state school foundation aid received by the school district under section 257.16. This specification of the payment of the state cost shall be deemed to meet all of the state funding-related requirements of section 25B.2, subsection 3, and no additional state funding shall be necessary for the full implementation of this Act by and enforcement of this Act against all affected school districts.
EXPLANATION
   This bill exempts students who wish to participate in the postsecondary enrollment options program from a senior year plus program eligibility provision that requires a student to have demonstrated proficiency in reading, mathematics, and science in order to participate in the senior year plus program.
   The bill also provides that a student may apply to enroll in an eligible postsecondary institution for college credit in a nonsectarian course under the postsecondary enrollment options program if the school district does not offer a course that is the same or substantially the same as the course offered in the eligible postsecondary institution. Currently, the school district must not offer a comparable course as defined in rules adopted by the board of directors of the school district consistent with department of education administrative rule.
   This bill may include a state mandate as defined in Code section 25B.3. The bill requires that the state cost of any state mandate included in the bill be paid by a school district from state school foundation aid received by the school district under Code section 257.16. The specification is deemed to constitute state compliance with any state mandate funding-related requirements of Code section 25B.2. The inclusion of this specification is intended to reinstate the requirement of political subdivisions to comply with any state mandates included in the bill.