Article 1 - General Education

Section 1. Operating capital levy. Strikes obsolete pupil unit definition.

Effective date. Makes this section effective the day following final enactment for fiscal year 2015 and later.

Section 2. Student achievement rate. Modifies the date by which the commissioner must establish the student achievement rate.

Effective date. Makes this section effective the day following final enactment.

Section 3. General education aid. Strikes obsolete language. Makes a technical correction to the definition of general education aid for fiscal year 2015 and later.

Effective date. Makes this section effective for fiscal year 2015 and later.

Section 4. Referendum allowance. Makes a technical correction to the calculation of a district’s referendum allowance.

Effective date. Makes this section effective the day following final enactment for fiscal year 2015 and later.

Section 5. Referendum allowance limit. Strikes obsolete language related to local optional revenue subtraction.

Effective date. Makes this section effective the day following final enactment for fiscal year 2015 and later.

Section 6. Taconite payment and other reductions. Makes technical correction to calculation of levy reductions under this section.

Section 7. Repealer. Repeals a retired employee health insurance levy for which no district qualifies.

 Article 2 - Education Excellence

Section 1. Directory Information. Updates a reference to federal law relating to directory information.

Effective Date.  Makes the section effective immediately.

Section 2. Length of School Year; Hours of Instruction.  Allows for school board approval of a four-day week school schedule.

Section 3. Revisions and Reviews Required. Postpones the review of the mathematics academic standards to the 2020-2021 school year.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective immediately.

Section 4. Foreign Language and Culture; Proficiency Certificates. Strikes references to a Minnesota world language proficiency high achievement certificates.

Section 5. State Bilingual and Multilingual Seals. Amends the level needed to obtain a foreign language seal to advanced-low level or intermediate-high level listening, speaking, reading, and writing on assessments aligned with the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages proficiency guidelines.  Allows for the award of state bilingual gold and platinum seals and state multilingual gold and platinum seals. Directs MnSCU colleges and universities to establish criteria to translate the seals into college credits.

Effective Date.  Makes the section effective immediately.

Section 6. Credit Equivalencies. Clarifies when an agricultural science or career and technical education credit meets the graduation requirements in science.  Allows a computer science credit to fulfill a mathematics graduation requirement.  Allows a Project Lead the Way credit to fulfill a science or mathematics credit.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2015-2016 school year and later.

Section 7. Adopting Plans and Budgets. Requires a school districts long-term strategic plan for the world’s best workforce to include a process for determining grade promotion or retention that supports student progress and growth toward career and college readiness.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for plans adopted on or after July 1, 2015.

Section 8. Local Literacy Plan. (a) Requires a district’s local literacy plan to be consistent with the requirements for comprehensive, scientifically-based reading instruction.  The plan must include data to support the effectiveness of an assessment used to screen and identify a student’s level of reading proficiency; describe how schools in the district will determine the proper reading intervention strategy for a student and the process for increasing the intensity or modifying the strategy to obtain measureable reading progress; use evidence-based intervention methods and progress-monitoring, including a program to meet the identified staff development needs; and describe how schools will provide explicit and systematic instruction in basic phonology and language decoding skills.

Effective Date.  Makes the section effective for the 2015-2016 school year and later.

Section 9.  Planning for Students’ Successful Transition to Postsecondary Education and Employment; Personal Learning Plans. Strikes a reference to a section that is being repealed in this article (EPAS).

Section 10. Statewide Testing. Eliminates the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) in mathematics for grades 3 and 4.  Requires the MCAs in grades 5 through 8 and 11.  Eliminates the reading MCAs in grades 6 and 7.  Requires the MCAs in grades 3 through 5, 8 and 10.  The elimination of assessments is contingent upon the Department of Education obtaining an amendment to it federal flexibility waiver.  Eliminates the grade 8 Explore, grade 10 Plan, and the Compass tests.  Directs districts and schools to use career exploration elements to help students and their families explore and plan for postsecondary education or careers. Makes technical amendments to restructure the assessment statutes.

Section 11. Statewide and Local Assessments; Results. Makes technical amendments to restructure the assessment statutes.

Section 12. Special and Extenuating Circumstances. Directs the Department to develop a list of circumstances in which a student may not be able to take a test.  Prevents those students who have missed the opportunity to test from being penalized for that missed opportunity.

Section 13. Reporting. Directs the Commissioner to establish empirically derived benchmarks on adaptive assessments in grade 3 through 7 that reveal a trajectory towards career and college readiness.  Directs the Commissioner to establish composite career and college-ready scores in grades 5, 8, and high school.  The composite scores are required to be predictive of performance on a college entrance exam.

Section 14. Administration and Usage. Establishes the usage of statewide assessment data by districts and makes technical amendments to restructure the assessment statutes.

Section 15. Access to Tests. Makes technical amendments to conform to the assessment changes.

Section 16. Statewide Testing. Provides a cross-reference to the assessment statute.

Section 17. License and Rules. Directs the Board of Teaching to require all teacher licensure candidates to demonstrate a passing score on a board-adopted skill exam in reading, writing, and mathematics. Strikes the requirement of attaining a composite score on the ACT Plus Writing or the SAT.  Allows the Board to issue up to four temporary, one-year licenses to candidates who have not passed the board-adopted skills exam. Requires the Board and the test administrator to allow a candidate to receive testing accommodations.  Allows the Board of Teaching, when issuing a license to a teacher trained out of state or through an alternative teacher preparation program, to consider the following factors: a teaching license from another state in a similar content field; completion of a state-approved teacher preparation program; teaching experience as a teacher of record in a similar licensure field; depth of content knowledge; depth of content methods or general pedagogy; subject-specific professional development; and classroom performance. 

Section 18. Rules for Continuing Education Requirements. Strikes an exception for retired school principals from continuing education requirements adopted by the Board of School Administrators.

Effective Date.  Makes the section effective immediately.

Section 19. Teacher and Support Personnel Qualifications. Directs the Board of Teaching to require all teacher licensure candidates to demonstrate a passing score on a board-adopted skill exam in reading, writing, and mathematics. Strikes the requirement of attaining a composite score on the ACT Plus Writing or the SAT.  Allows the Board to issue up to four temporary, one-year licenses to candidates who have not passed the board-adopted skills exam.

Section 20. Limited Provisional Licenses. Allows the Board of Teaching to grant two-year provisional licenses to a candidate in a field in which they were not previously licensed or in a shortage licensure area.

Section 21. Grounds for Revocation, Suspension, or Denial. Directs the Board of Teaching and the Board of School Administrators, whichever has jurisdiction, to refuse to issue or renew or to automatically revoke an individual’s teaching license without the right to a hearing upon receiving a certified copy of a conviction showing that the individual was convicted of a specific crime including, first and second degree sex trafficking, engaging in hiring or agreeing to hire a minor to engage in prostitution, soliciting children to engage in sexual conduct or communicating sexually explicit materials to children, interfering with privacy, stalking a minor victim, and other offenses requiring the individual to register as a predatory offender, among other listed crimes.

Section 22. Licensure via Portfolio. Requires a candidate to submit a portfolio to the Board of Teaching, instead of the Educator Licensing Division of the Department of Education. Directs the Board to approve or disapprove a candidate’s portfolio within 90 calendar days.  Allows the candidate to resubmit a revised portfolio after receiving notification on how to revise the portfolio.

Effective Date.  Makes the section effective immediately and applicable to all portfolios submitted to the Board of Teaching after that date.

Section 23. Applicants Trained in Other States. Directs the Board of Teaching to publish criteria and procedures for granting a Minnesota teaching license to candidates trained out of state that recognize the experience and professional credentials of the person holding an out-of-state diploma or degree.  Requires the Board to issue a restricted license to a candidate with an out-of-state license that is more limited in the content field or grade levels than a similar Minnesota license.  Allows the Board to issue a two-year limited provisional license to an applicant to teach in a shortage area. Requires the Board to enter into interstate agreements for teacher license to allow fully certified teachers from adjoining states to transfer their certification to Minnesota.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective immediately.

Section 24. Requirements. Allows a nonprofit corporation that forms a partnership with a college or university to provide an alternative teacher preparation program. 

Effective Date. Makes the section effective immediately.

Section 25. Standard License. Allows for candidates trained in an alternative preparation program to obtain a qualifying score on board-approved exams in order to be issued a license. 

Section 26. Development, Evaluation, and Peer Coaching for Continuing Contract Teachers. Prohibits a school administrator from placing a student, for two consecutive school years, in the classroom of a teacher who is in the improvement process, unless no other teacher at the school teaches that grade, or subject area.

Section 27. Development, Evaluation, and Peer Coaching for Continuing Contract Teachers. Prohibits a school administrator for a school located in a city of the first class from placing a student, for two consecutive school years, in the classroom of a teacher who is in the improvement process, unless no other teacher at the school teaches that grade, or subject area.

Section 28. Practice or Student Teachers. Requires a student teacher to be placed with a cooperating licensed teacher who has at least three years of experience and is not in the improvement process.

Effective Date.  Makes the section effective for the 2015-2016 school year and later.

Section 29. Authorization; Notification.  Allows a ninth or tenth grade student to participate in a world language concurrent enrollment course.

Section 30. Authorization; Career or Technical Education.  Allows a tenth grade student who did not take the eighth grade MCA to use a different reading assessment accepted by the enrolling postsecondary institution.

Section 31. Enrollment Priority. Requires a middle or early college program designed for a student to earn dual high school and college credit to have a well-defined pathway to a degree or credential.

Section 32. Authorizer. Directs a charter school authorizer that votes to withdraw as an authorizer to notify the Commissioner by July 15 for implementation on June 30 of the following year, regardless of when their five-year term ends.

Section 33. Formation of School. Requires a new charter school authorizer’s affidavit to be filed at least 14 months before July 1 of the year the new charter school plans to serve students.

Section 34. Federal, State, and Local Requirements. Allows a charter school to offer a fee-based preschool program.

Section 35. Admission Requirements. Allows a charter school to give a student preference for kindergarten enrollment if they were enrolled in the school’s free prekindergarten program.  Clarifies that a charter school with an early kindergarten admissions policy must have a process and procedure for comprehensive evaluation to determine a child’s ability to meet grade expectations.

Section 36. Pupil Performance. (b) Establishes alternative measure of statewide accountability for a charter school with at least 70 percent of its enrolled students eligible to participate in the graduation incentives program or a charter school with a contract that limits admission to students eligible to participate in the graduation incentives program. Requires the contract between the charter school authorizer and the school’s board of directors to be based on the student academic, career and college readiness, and student engagement performance measures established in this paragraph.

1.  Thirty percent of a performance evaluation must be based on longitudinal data showing student achievement and growth on a nationally or state-normed assessment for groups of students continuously enrolled in the charter school for at least 120 days before the assessment is administered.
2. Forty percent of a performance evaluation must be based on growth in any four of the following postsecondary and workforce readiness measures:
   1. a three-year average graduation rate for students who complete high school in four, five or six years;
   2. a three-year graduation rate for noncontinuously enrolled students who complete high school in seven years;
   3. average student drop-out rate for students who leave the school in a single year without pursuing an education alternative;
   4. the participation rate and composite score of those students taking a national postsecondary or workforce readiness assessment;
   5. the percentage of students in the 12^th grade cohort;
   6. the percentage of students in a school year who successfully transfer to another education program;
   7. the percentage of students in the previous school year who complete an education program, receive a diploma, enroll in a postsecondary program, enlist in the military, or obtain full-time employment;
   8. the percentage of students in a school year who successfully complete the number of course credits needed to stay on track to graduate within an established timeline;
   9. the percentage of students in a school year who successfully meet work certification or pre-apprenticeship program requirements; or
   10. the percentage of students in a school year who earn dual enrollment credits through PSEO or other dual credit program.
3. Thirty percent of a performance evaluation must be based on data from three of the following student engagement measures for groups of students continuously enrolled in the school for at least 120 days:
   1. a three-year average daily attendance rate;
   2. a demonstrated percentage improvement in attendance by a cohort;
   3. a three-year average of the total number of days students are reported as truant;
   4. the number of student dropouts who enroll in the school and remain continuously enrolled throughout that school year;
   5. the percentage of students in a school year or a 12-month period who participate in and demonstrate growth on character and social competency assessments; and
   6. the percentage of students in a school year who meet the community service goals in their individual learning plan as measured by the school’s citizenship and community outcomes rubric.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2016-2017 school year and later.

Section 37. Pupils with a Disability. Makes a special education statute relating to travel and litigation costs applicable to charter schools.

Effective Date.  Makes the section effective for fiscal year 2016 and later.

Section 38. Annual Public Reports. Allows a charter school to combine its annual public report with its World’s Best Workforce report.

Section 39. Merger. Provides a process for merging two charter schools.

Section 40. Definition of Flexible Learning Year Program. Strikes approval by the Commissioner from the definition.

Section 41. Establishment of Flexible Learning Year Program. Strikes approval by the Commissioner from the requirements to establish a flexible learning year program.

Section 42. Powers and Duties. Eliminates the Commissioner’s authority to promulgate rules, standards and qualifications for school districts to participate in the flexible learning year program.

Section 43. Termination of Flexible Learning Year Program. Strikes approval by the Commissioner from the requirements to terminate a flexible learning year program.

Section 44. Program Established. Strikes language related to grade acceleration that was missed in the 2014 policy bill.

Section 45. Policy. Updates the policy statement that relates to the American Indian Education Act.

Section 46. Tribal Nations Education Committee. Names the Tribal Nations Education Committee.

Section 47. Participating School; American Indian School. Conforms state statute to federal law.

Section 48. Public School Designation. Defines participating schools or American Indian schools as public schools for purposes of membership in professional organizations or associations.

Section 49. Program Described. Amends the curriculum considerations for American Indian education programs to include indigenous language. Establishes increased completion and graduation rates for American Indian students to the program emphasis.

Section 50. Enrollment of Other Children; Shared Time Enrollment. Allows American Indian students and other students in a nonpublic school to be enrolled in all academic and targeted services and American Indian education programs on a shared time basis.

Section 51. Nonverbal Courses and Extracurricular Activities. Makes a technical change.

Section 52. American Indian Language and Cultural Education Licenses. Directs the Board of Teaching to consult with the Tribal Nations Education Committee on American Indian language and culture licenses.

Section 53. Persons Holding General Teaching Licenses. Requires a person with an American Indian language and culture teaching license to have a deep knowledge and understanding of American Indian history and culture.

Section 54. Resolution or Letter. Makes technical changes.

Section 55. Affirmative Efforts in Hiring. Requires a school district that participates in the American Indian education program to involve parent advisory committees.

Section 56. Community Coordinators, Indian Home/School Liaisons, Paraprofessionals. Changes “teachers’ aides” to “paraprofessionals.” Requires participating school districts with more than 100 American Indian students to have an Indian home/school liaison.

Section 57. Parent and Community Participation. Makes technical changes to the American Indian education parent advisory committee.  Changes the deadline for the resolution of concurrence adopted by the American Indian education parent advisory committee from December 1 to March 1. 

Section 58. American Indian community Involvement. Conforming changes to the community involvement requirements.

Section 59. Technical Assistance. Directs the Commissioner to provide technical assistance that is designed to implement culturally responsive teaching methods and culturally-based curriculum development.

Section 60. Duties; Powers. Makes technical changes to the Indian Education Director powers and duties.

Section 61. Literacy Incentive Aid. Makes technical changes.  Requires a district to submit its local literacy plan to the Commissioner as a condition of receiving proficiency and growth aid.

Effective Date.   Makes the section effective for fiscal year 2016 and later.

Section 62. Definitions; Dyslexia.  Defines “dyslexia” to mean a specific learning disability with characteristic difficulties and identified consequences.

Section 63.  Use of Revenue.  Allows basic skills revenue to be used to implement local literacy plans to have all children reading proficiently by grade three, among other purposes and programs.

Effective Date.   Makes the section effective for fiscal year 2016 and later.

Section 64. Teacher Development and Evaluation Revenue. Eliminates the requirement for charter schools to reserve revenue for the teacher development and evaluation revenue program. 

Effective Date.  Makes the section effective for fiscal year 2015.

Section 65. School Start Date for the 2015-2016 School Year Only. Allows a school district to begin the 2015-2016 school year on September 1.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2015-2016 school year only.

Section 66. Report on Assessing Students’ Proficiency in Foreign Languages For Which ACTFL Assessments Are Not Available. Allows the Commissioner to report to the legislature with recommendations on how best to: assess students’ foreign language proficiency when ACTFL or equivalent assessments are not available; create guidelines for curriculum, instruction and assessments for foreign languages for which no written forms exist; and, train a corps of individuals qualified to assess students’ foreign language proficiency.

Effective Date.  Makes the section effective immediately.

Section 67. Repealer. Repeals sections 120B.128 (Educational Planning and Assessment System Program); 120B.35, subdivision 5 (Improving graduation rates for students with emotional or behavioral disorders); and 126c.12, subdivision 6 (Learning and Development Revenue; Annual Report.)  Repeals Minnesota Rules part 3500.1000 (Experimental and Flexible School Year Programs.)

Article 3 - Special programs

Section 1. Elementary Discipline Policy. Requires districts to adopt a discipline policy for elementary pupils that outlines effective alternatives to suspension.  Suspension is allowed only when alternatives were attempted and proven ineffective or in certain circumstances.

Section 2. Programming. Directs a school district to develop programming to address underlying causes of disruptive behavior with the goal of reducing suspensions.

Section 3. Annual Report. Directs a superintendent to annually report to the school board on suspensions.

Section 4. Exclusions and Expulsions. Includes written agreements by parents to withdraw a child from school in the exclusion and expulsion report.

Section 5. Alternatives to Pupil Suspension. Adds alternative restorative consequence, in-school suspension, positive behavior intervention plan, or coordinating with crisis services to the alternatives to suspension.

Section 6. Policy Components. Amends the removal from class policy components to include the use of mobile crisis response teams.

Section 7. Notification of Parents. Requires a school administrator to make reasonable efforts to contact the parent of any student who is removed from a school building or school grounds by a peace officer, unless prohibited by law.

Section 8. Requirements for American sign language/English interpreters. Removes references to the Minnesota Resource Center Serving Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, as these duties are now carried out by the Department of Education through the kindergarten through grade 12 deaf and hard-of-hearing coordinator.

Section 9. Oral or Cued Speech transliterators. Removes references to the Minnesota Resource Center Serving Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, as these duties are now carried out by the Department of Education through the kindergarten through grade 12 deaf and hard-of-hearing coordinator.

Section 10. Providing transportation. Clarifies that the responsibility for transportation to and from early learning sites outside the school district setting is limited to transportation for services required as part of an IEP team decision.

Section 11. Definitions. Makes technical changes to the Interagency Early Interventions Committee statute to conform to 2014 changes.

Section 12. State interagency committee. Makes technical changes to the Interagency Early Interventions Committee statute to conform to 2014 changes.

Section 13. Local agency coordination responsibilities. Makes technical changes to the Interagency Early Interventions Committee statute to conform to 2014 changes. Restructures the section for readability.

Section 14. Individualized education programs. Clarifies that the individualized education program team must consider positive behavioral interventions, strategies, and supports that address behavior needs for all children. Requires a school board to ensure that paraprofessionals providing direct support to students with disabilities have sufficient disability- and behavioral-specific knowledge and skills before or immediately upon employment. Requires annual training on the same.

Section 15. Student information systems; transferring records. Beginning in the 2018-2019 school year, requires that a district special education case management information system be compatible with the state-sponsored system for reporting under section 125A.085. Requires the district system to be capable of transferring records between school districts.

Effective date. Makes this section effective the day following final enactment and applies to all district contracts with student information system vendors entered into or modified after that date.

Section 16. Online reporting of required data. Eliminates the requirement that all districts use the state-sponsored system by 2018-2019.

Section 17. Third-party payment. Modifies the section to also make reference to Part C wherever there are references to Part B or to an IEP.

Section 18. State interagency coordinating council. Allows the State Interagency Coordinating Council 30 days to recommend policies after receiving the Part C Annual Performance Report from the Office of Special Education.

Section 19. Advisory committees. Makes technical changes to reflect that the duties of the Resource Center for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing are now carried out by the Department of Education through the kindergarten through grade 12 deaf and hard-of-hearing coordinator.

Section 20. Programs by Nonprofits. Makes technical changes to reflect that the duties of the Resource Center for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing are now carried out by the Department of Education through the kindergarten through grade 12 deaf and hard-of-hearing coordinator.

Section 21. Advisory Committees. Makes technical changes to reflect that the duties of the Resource Center for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing are now carried out by the Department of Education through the kindergarten through grade 12 deaf and hard-of-hearing coordinator.

Section 22. Statewide hearing loss early education intervention coordinator. Makes technical changes to reflect that the duties of the Resource Center for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing are now carried out by the Department of Education through the kindergarten through grade 12 deaf and hard-of-hearing coordinator.

Section 23. Definitions. Clarifies that special education aid is paid directly to cooperatives, education districts, and intermediate districts, beginning in fiscal year 2016 (conforming change to 2013 legislation).

Section 24. Special education aid. Clarifies that special education aid is paid directly to cooperatives, education districts, and intermediate districts, beginning in fiscal year 2016 (conforming change to 2013 legislation).

Section 25. Repealer. Repeals a subdivision related to transfer of Resource Centers for Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing and Blind or Visually Impaired to the Department of Education.

Article 4 - Facilities and Technology

Section 1. E-rates. Removes the reporting requirement for districts receiving telecommunications/Internet access equity aid.

Article 5 - Early Childhood Education

Section 1. Family Eligibility. Allows a child receiving a Race to the Top-Early Learning Scholarship to receive a state funded scholarship if they have not entered kindergarten when the federally funded program ends.

Section 2. Administration. Prioritizes early learning scholarship applicants who are in foster care, experiencing homelessness, or has a parent under 21 who is pursuing a high school diploma or postsecondary education or training.

Effective Date.  Makes the section effective for fiscal year 2016 and later.

Section 3. Early Childhood Program Eligibility. Disqualifies a program provider from participating in the scholarship program if the provider has been disqualified from the child care assistance program, is on the national disqualified list for the Child and Adult Care Food program, or has been convicted of an activity indicating a lack of business integrity.

Effective Date.  Makes the section effective for fiscal year 2016 and later.

Section 4. Record-Keeping Requirements. Requires program to maintain attendance and payment records for children participating in the program.

Section 5. Use of Funds. Requires scholarships to be used in a program that the child attends on a regular basis.

Article 6 - State Agencies

Section 1. Identification; Report. Allows for the third grade reading report to be reported within the World’s Best Workforce reporting requirements, instead of reporting to the Commissioner.

Section 2. Report; Continued Funding. Allows for Alternative Teacher Professional Pay System reporting to be reported within the World’s Best Workforce reporting requirements, instead of reporting to the Commissioner.

Section 3. Staff Development Report. Allows for the staff development report to be reported within the World’s Best Workforce reporting requirements, instead of reporting to the Commissioner.  Allows the Commissioner to report to the legislature on staff development by February 1, instead of February 15, of each year.

Section 4. Distribution of Assets and Liabilities. Requires the parties involved in a dispute between a cooperative unit and a member district to equally split the costs of the proceedings if an administrative law judge is involved.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective immediately.

Section 5. Statement for Comparison and Correction. Moves the deadline for districts to submit audited financial data for the preceding fiscal year to the Department from November 30 to November 15. Moves the deadline for districts to submit audited financial statements to the Department from December 31 to December 15.  Moves the deadline for the Department to post consolidated financial statements to the web from February 15 to February 1.

Section 6. Litigation Costs; Annual Report. Moves the date for the Commissioner to report school district special education litigation costs from January 15 to February 1.

Section 7. Survey of Districts. Moves the date for the Commissioner to report on the teacher workforce from January 15 to February 1.

Section 8. Annual Reports. Allows the Commissioner to combine 8 reports into one report to the legislature delivered by February 1 of each year.

Section 9. Omissions. Moves the deadline for finalization of aid payments for the previous fiscal year from December 30 to December 15.

Section 10. Establishment; Membership. Makes the Commissioner of Education or their designee the compact commissioner for the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children.

Article 7 - Charter School Statutes Recodification.

Sections 1 to 6. Purposes.  Provide for technical corrections to the charter school statute and allows for the Revisor of Statutes to recodify the section as Chapter 124E as indicated.

AMB/BA/syl