Post secondary education options program.

WORKING DRAFT

ORIGINAL SENATE

FILE

NO.
0039

ENROLLED ACT NO. 52, SENATE

SIXTIETH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
WYOMING
2010 BUDGET SESSION

AN ACT relating to
the
Wyoming
post

secondary education options program; requiring agreements and

mandating compliance with statutory requirements; imposing reporting requirements and granting rulemaking authority;
providing for
development of policy and guidelines on program components; providing an appropriation;
and providing for
an
effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of
Wyoming
:

Section 1.

W.S. 21
‑
20
‑
201
(a), (e)
and
(h) is
amended to read:

21
‑
20
‑
201.

Agreement between districts and post

secondary education institutions
required
; student participation; credits; financial arrangements; transportation; accessibility
; required annual reporting
.

(a)

To
provide
a post

secondary education enrollment options program under this section, a
Wyoming school district board of trustees and a Wyoming community college district board of trustees or the University of Wyoming
may

shall
enter into an agreement

to establish a postsecondary education enrollment options program

whereby students resident of the participating district may attend
postsecondary
post secondary

education programs offered by the university or a participating community college.
Effective for the
2011-2012
school year
and each school year thereafter,
t
he post

secondary education enrollment options agreement shall comply with minimum
educational standards defined by the
commission in consultation with the department of education
,

community colleges and the University of Wyoming,
including post secondary education enrollment options provided by means of distance education
.

Additional student eligibility requirements for program participation shall be based upon criteria established by the university or the community college in collaboration with the department of education, which address the high school grade level, uniform prior curricula requirements, academic achievement levels and national examination performance indicators.

(e)

A student participating in the program shall be counted within the average daily membership of the resident school district as defined under W.S. 21
‑
13
‑
101(a)(i) and concurrently by the participating higher education institution for its full
-
ti
me equivalent enrollment count.

Ef
fective September 1, 2012 and each September 1 thereafter, any
school district or
institution participating in an enrollment options program agreement under this section
, including
any board of cooperative educational services established under W.S. 21
‑
20
‑
1
04

and involved
in
the program
,

shall file a report with the community college commission on
student participation and completion
and on
revenues and expenditures attributable to program
activities
for the immediately preceding school year
.
The report shall be based upon policy and guidelines developed by the statewide discussions conducted pursuant to section 2 of 2010 Senate File 39 as enacted into law.
Not later than October

1 of each school year,
t
he commission shall
report to the
joint education interim committee
, the community colleges, the department of education and the University of Wyoming
o
n statewide program revenue
s
, expenditure
s
and student participation and completion
.

(h)

Each school district board of trustees shall in conjunction with the
University
of
Wyoming
, community college district boards of trustees or other
postsecondary
post secondary

education institutions accredited by recognized and accepted accrediting agencies, make
postsecondary
post secondary

education options programs pursuant to this section reasonably accessible to eligible students.

Section 2.

(a)

The community college commission shall conduct discussions
to develop consensus
on
state seamless K-12 and post

secondary education programs
with relevant stakeholders
.
For purposes of this section, r
elevant stakeholders
i
nclude representatives from the
Wyoming
community college commission, the seven (7) community colleges and the
University
of
Wyoming
,
including administrators, faculty and board members, the department of education, school districts including administrators, teachers and counselors, and representatives of students and parents. Results of th
is
discussion shall
be used for developing

state
policy and
guid
elines
for programs:

(i)

Bridging high school and post

secondary education through concurrent and dual enrollment;

(ii)

Providing
high school students
an opportunity
to earn at least twelve (12) college credits in addition to coursework meeting high school graduation requirements;

(iii)

Complying with criteria developed by the commission based upon consensus discussions, which prescribe statewide processes, procedures and required components for:

(A)

Determining program participation through statewide uniform eligibility requirements;

(B)

Establishing and maintaining quality of courses offered through dual and concurrent enrollment programs;

(C)

Assuring a technological infrastructure and delivery methods through dual and concurrent enrollment following nationally established best practices;

(
D
)

Assembling required articulation agreements between high schools and post

secondary
institutions
pursuant to W.S. 21
‑
20
‑
201;

(
E
)

Communication
mechanisms
established for
participating
students and parents;

(
F
)

Student support services;

(
G
)

Parameters governing the use of weighted grades;

(
H
)

Establishing common student performance standards and expectations and establishing measures of student outcomes;

(
J
)

Course transferability between participating districts and post

secondary
institutions
;

(
K
)

Data reporting and collection instruments and requirements providing
the
basis for program monitoring and
evaluation
;

(
M
)

Reporting and accountability of funding sources available to districts and post

secondary education institutions for program provision.

(b)

A major component of state policy develop
ment
under subsection (a) of this section shall include the establishment
and maintenance
of a data system compiling student enrollment, completion and outcome
information
for
high school and post

secondary education

dual and concurrent enrollment
programs
. Efforts shall be coordinated with the
transcript
center within the department of education, and the longitudinal data collection effort under the Hathaway student scholarship program
pursuant
to 2008
Wyoming
session laws, chapter 95, section 901.

(c)

In undertaking the consensus discussions and state policy development required under subsection (a) of this section, the community college commission shall give consideration to the role provided by distance education in developing criteria for
providing access to
dual and concurrent enrollment
courses
. For this purpose, the commission shall
coo
rdinate efforts with the
university, community colleges and
the
Wyoming
switchboard network administered by the department of education.

(
d
)

The community college commission may contract with
appropriate persons and organizations to conduct the con
s
ensus discussions required under subsection (a) of this section and to
assist with work necessary to
establish policies and processes addressing issues identified in paragraphs (a)(i) through (iii) of this section.
Progress on consensus discussions and policy development shall be periodically reported to the joint education
interim
committee, cu
l
m
in
ating in a final report to the committee
to be submitted on or before January 1, 20
11, which shall be
comprised of policy recommendations on issues identified in this section, together with necessary enabling legislation.
Broad public involvement shall be documented
within the report, which
shall serve as a basis for development of uniform policy on dual and concurrent enrollment programs.

(e)

One hundred
fifty
thousand dollars ($1
5
0,000.00) is appropriated from the
school foundation program account

to the community college commission for the period commencing upon the effective date of this section, and ending June 30, 2011. The commission shall expend monies appropriated under this section to conduct consensus discussions and to develop policy and processes specified under this section. The commission may use monies appropriated under this section to contract with appropriate persons and organizations as authorized under subsection (d) of this section.

Section 3.

T
his act is effective immediately upon co
m
pletion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constit
u
tion.

(END)

Speaker of the House

President of the Senate

Governor

TIME APPROVED: _________

DATE APPROVED: _________

I hereby certify that this act originated in the Senate.

Chief Clerk

1