CSSB 312(HES) AM: "An Act relating to the school term, school construction grants and to interscholastic school activities; relating to a pilot project for state aid for special education; and providing for an effective date."
00CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 312(HES) am 01 "An Act relating to the school term, school construction grants and to 02 interscholastic school activities; relating to a pilot project for state aid for special 03 education; and providing for an effective date." 04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 * Section 1. AS 14.11.013(c) is amended to read: 06 (c) The department may 07 (1) modify a project request when necessary to achieve cost- 08 effective school construction; 09 (2) require that school construction in a project request be phased; 10 and 11 (3) reject project requests and omit them from the six-year schedule due 12 to 13 (A) [(1)] incomplete information or documentation provided by 14 the district;
01 (B) [(2)] a determination by the department that existing 02 facilities can adequately serve the program requirements, or that alternative 03 projects are in the best interests of the state; 04 (C) [(3)] a determination that the project is not in the best 05 interest of the state. 06 * Sec. 2. Section 3 of ch. 33, SLA 1991, is amended to read: 07 Sec. 3. AS 14.03.030 is repealed and reenacted to read: 08 Sec. 14.03.030. SCHOOL TERM. A school term begins and ends on the dates 09 fixed by the governing body of a school district. A school term shall include not less 10 than 180 days in session, unless with the approval of the commissioner, 11 (1) a day used for in-service training of teachers is substituted for a day 12 in session, up to a maximum of 10 days; 13 (2) an "emergency closure day" is substituted for a day in session 14 because of conditions posing a threat to the health or safety of students; [OR] 15 (3) a school board adopts a school term of not less than 150 days for 16 a school if the commissioner finds that 17 (A) the shorter term is necessary for abating [ASBESTOS] 18 health hazards in the school; and 19 (B) the school board has submitted an acceptable plan under 20 which students will receive the approximate educational equivalent of a 180-day term; or 21 (4) the school board adopts a school term of not less than 170 days 22 for a school if the commissioner finds that the school board has submitted an 23 acceptable plan under which students will receive the approximate educational 24 equivalent of a 180-day term. 25 * Sec. 3. AS 14.03.030 is repealed and reenacted to read: 26 Sec. 14.03.030. SCHOOL TERM. A school term begins and ends on the dates 27 fixed by the governing body of a school district. A school term shall include not less 28 than 180 days in session, unless with the approval of the commissioner, 29 (1) a day used for in-service training of teachers is substituted for a day 30 in session, up to a maximum of 10 days; 31 (2) an "emergency closure day" is substituted for a day in session
01 because of conditions posing a threat to the health or safety of students; or 02 (3) a school board adopts a school term of not less than 150 days for 03 a school if the commissioner finds that 04 (A) the shorter term is necessary for abating health hazards in 05 the school; and 06 (B) the school board has submitted an acceptable plan under 07 which students will receive the approximate educational equivalent of a 180-day term. 08 * Sec. 4. AS 14.17.045 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 09 (c) Notwithstanding (a) of this section, the commissioner may distribute 10 foundation aid money allocated under this section to a district to fund a special 11 education pilot project in the state if 12 (1) the project is designed to demonstrate appropriate alternative 13 methods to meet the educational needs of 14 (A) students who would otherwise receive resource and self-contained services and generate funding at those 15 levels; or 16 (B) students who in the district's opinion are likely to be 17 referred for special education services; 18 (2) the amount to be annually distributed to a district for 19 implementation of a pilot project is 20 (A) in place of the instructional units that the district could have 21 claimed under (a) of this section for the provision of resource and self-contained services; and 22 (B) equal to the amount that the district would have received 23 under (a) of this section if it had counted the same percentage of its students 24 for resource and self-contained services as it counted on the last day of the 25 most recent counting period before the pilot project was approved; 26 (3) the pilot project does not exceed three years; 27 (4) the total number of pilot projects approved under this section does 28 not exceed four in the state at any one time; 29 (5) the project complies with the requirements of federal law, including 30 20 U.S.C. 1400 - 1485 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act); 31 (6) the district proposing the project provides details of how students
01 shall be educated and how student achievement shall be measured; and 02 (7) the commissioner finds that the project is in the best interests of the 03 students and the state. 04 (d) Special education for children requiring intensive services shall be funded 05 under (a) of this section. Nothing in this subsection prevents a district from providing 06 intensive services in an innovative manner and in the least restrictive environment. 07 * Sec. 5. AS 14.07.058 and 14.07.059 are repealed. 08 * Sec. 6. Section 3 of this Act takes effect July 1, 1997. 09 * Sec. 7. Except as provided in sec. 6 of this Act, this Act takes effect July 1, 1994.