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

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.