Senate File 135 - Introduced SENATE FILE 135 BY McKINLEY A BILL FOR An Act relating to the minimum hours of instructional time in 1 a school day for school districts, charter schools, and 2 accredited nonpublic schools and including effective date 3 and applicability provisions. 4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 5 TLSB 2084XS (3) 84 kh/rj
S.F. 135 Section 1. Section 256.7, subsection 19, unnumbered 1 paragraph 1, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows: 2 Define the minimum school day as a day consisting of five 3 and one-half seven hours of instructional time for grades one 4 through twelve. The minimum hours shall be exclusive of the 5 lunch period, but may include passing time between classes. 6 Time spent on parent-teacher conferences shall be considered 7 instructional time. A school or school district may record a 8 day of school with less than the minimum instructional hours as 9 a minimum school day if any of the following apply: 10 Sec. 2. Section 256.7, subsection 19, paragraph b, Code 11 2011, is amended to read as follows: 12 b. If the total hours of instructional school time for 13 grades one through twelve for any five consecutive school 14 days equal a minimum of twenty-seven and one-half thirty-five 15 hours, even though any one day of school is less than the 16 minimum instructional hours because of a staff development 17 opportunity provided for the professional instructional staff 18 or because parent-teacher conferences have been scheduled 19 beyond the regular school day. Furthermore, if the total hours 20 of instructional time for the first four consecutive days equal 21 at least twenty-seven and one-half thirty-five hours because 22 parent-teacher conferences have been scheduled beyond the 23 regular school day, a school or school district may record zero 24 hours of instructional time on the fifth consecutive school day 25 as a minimum school day. 26 Sec. 3. STATE MANDATE FUNDING SPECIFIED. In accordance 27 with section 25B.2, subsection 3, the state cost of requiring 28 compliance with any state mandate included in this Act shall 29 be paid by a school district from state school foundation aid 30 received by the school district under section 257.16. This 31 specification of the payment of the state cost shall be deemed 32 to meet all the state funding-related requirements of section 33 25B.2, subsection 3, and no additional state funding shall 34 be necessary for the full implementation of this Act by and 35 -1- LSB 2084XS (3) 84 kh/rj 1/ 2
S.F. 135 enforcement of this Act against all affected school districts. 1 Sec. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect July 1, 2013. 2 Sec. 5. APPLICABILITY. This Act applies to school years 3 beginning on or after July 1, 2013. 4 EXPLANATION 5 This bill increases the hours in the minimum school day from 6 five and one-half hours to seven hours, or from 27.5 hours 7 per week to 35 hours per week for school districts, charter 8 schools, and accredited nonpublic schools. 9 This bill may include a state mandate as defined in Code 10 section 25B.3. The bill requires that the state cost of 11 any state mandate included in the bill be paid by a school 12 district from state school foundation aid received by the 13 school district under Code section 257.16. The specification 14 is deemed to constitute state compliance with any state mandate 15 funding-related requirements of Code section 25B.2. The 16 inclusion of this specification is intended to reinstate the 17 requirement of political subdivisions to comply with any state 18 mandates included in the bill. 19 The bill takes effect July 1, 2013, for school years 20 beginning on or after that date. 21 -2- LSB 2084XS (3) 84 kh/rj 2/ 2