Bill Text: GA SB68 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Parent Trigger Act; enact; petitions from parents for interventions for low-achieving schools
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-02-10 - Senate Read and Referred [SB68 Detail]
Download: Georgia-2011-SB68-Introduced.html
11 LC 33
3849
Senate
Bill 68
By:
Senators Albers of the 56th and Rogers of the 21st
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Chapter 2 of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to elementary and secondary education, so as to enact the "Parent Trigger Act";
to provide for definitions; to provide for petitions from parents for
interventions for low-achieving schools; to provide for notice by the local
board to the state board regarding petitions; to provide for a maximum number of
petitions; to provide for limitations on when local boards are not required to
approve petitions; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws;
and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
This
Act shall be known and may be cited as the "Parent Trigger Act."
SECTION
2.
Chapter
2 of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to elementary
and secondary education, is amended by adding a new article to read as
follows:
"ARTICLE
36
20-2-2200.
As
used in this article, the term 'low-achieving school' means a public school
that:
(1)
Fails to meet adequate yearly progress for two or more consecutive years in the
same subject, in accordance with the accountability system established pursuant
to Article 2 of Chapter 14 of this title; or
(2)
Is a high school that has failed to graduate at least 60 percent of its students
within four years of entering ninth grade for the past three years.
20-2-2201.
For
any low-achieving school which is not currently subject to one or more
interventions by the state board pursuant to Code Section 20-14-41 which, after
one full school year, is subject to corrective action pursuant to paragraph (7)
of Section 1116(b) of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (20
U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.) and continues to fail to make adequate yearly
progress, and where at least one-half of the parents or legal guardians of
students attending the school, or a combination of at least one-half of the
parents or legal guardians of students attending the school and the elementary
or middle schools that normally matriculate into a middle or high school, as
applicable, sign a petition requesting the local board to implement one or more
of the four interventions for turning around persistently lowest-achieving
schools described in Appendix C of the Notice of Final Priorities, Requirements,
Definitions, Selection Criteria for the Race to the Top program published in
Volume 74 of Number 221 of the Federal Register on November 18, 2009, or the
federally mandated alternative governance arrangement pursuant to Section
1116(b)(8)(B)(v) of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (20
U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), the local board shall implement the option requested
by the parents unless, in a regularly scheduled public hearing, the local board
makes a finding in writing stating the reason it cannot implement the specific
recommended option and instead designates in writing which of the other options
described in this Code section it will implement in the subsequent school year
consistent with requirements specified in federal regulations and guidelines for
schools subject to restructuring under Section 1116(b)(8) of the federal
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.) and
regulations and guidelines for the four interventions.
20-2-2202.
(a)
The local board shall notify the state board upon receipt of a petition under
Code Section 20-2-2201 and upon its final disposition of that
petition.
(b)
If the local board indicates in writing that it will implement in the upcoming
school year a different alternative governance arrangement than requested by the
parents, the local board shall notify the state board that the alternative
governance option selected has substantial promise of enabling the school to
make adequate yearly progress as defined in the federally mandated state plan
under Section 1111(b)(2) of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act
(20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.).
20-2-2203.
(a)
No more than 75 schools shall be subject to a petition authorized by this
article.
(b)
A petition shall be counted toward this limit upon the state board receiving
notice from the local board of its final disposition of the
petition.
20-2-2204.
A
local board shall not be required to implement the option requested by the
parent petition if the request is for reasons other than improving academic
achievement or student
safety."
SECTION
3.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.