Year round school calendar incentive.

WORKING DRAFT
2013
STATE OF
WYOMING
13LSO-0531

HOUSE BILL
NO.

HB0255

Year round school calendar incentive.

Sponsored by:
Representative(s) Nicholas, B. and Harshman

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to
school finance;
appropriating funds from the school foundation program account for a pilot program providing s
upplemental financial assistance to school districts for operat
ing schools

year round
;
requiring application and prescribing qualifications; delegating program administration to the department of education;
and providing for
an
effective date.

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

Section 1.

(a)

For the period commencing July 1,
2013,
and ending June 30, 2014, up to three million dollars ($3,000,000.00) is appropriated from the school foundation program account to the department of education
for
administering a
pilot program
providing assistance to
school districts in accordance with this section. Under this pilot program,
supplement
al financial assistance
shall be
available to school districts
to augment resources contained within the education resource block grant model for
the provision of
education programs designed t
o

schedule
student instruction
over the entire
school
year.

T
he pilot program shall be
:

(
i
)

I
n addition to and shall not be considered in determining the school foundation program amount under the education resource block grant model pursuant to W.S. 21
‑
13
‑
309;

(ii)

A
vailable for
schools
providing
instruction for the
minimum
n
umber of
student-teacher contact days
required
under W.S. 21
‑
4
‑
301
, which are
scheduled
over the entire
school year such that any break from student-teacher instruction
does

not exceed
a period greater than
three (3)
consecutive
weeks
;

(
iii
)

M
ade available upon school district application to the department of education
and subsequent qualification
in accordance with this section.

(
b
)

T
o receive supplemental assistance
awarded

under this section,
a school
district
shall
apply to the department of education on or before
June
15
, 2013.
Application to the department shall be in a manner and form prescribed by the department and shall include:

(
i
)

A plan develop
ed by the applicant district depicting
the
schedule for school operation
for
school year 2013
‑
2014
which provides at minimum, instruction for the required number of student-teacher contact days with breaks spread out over the entire school year such that any one (1) break does not exceed a period of three (3) consecutive weeks
;

(ii)

Document
ation of
a process to provide
for an

evaluation
of the effectiveness of the proposed
school operating schedule
in meeting educational goals, student retention and achievement
goals
and other purposes for which the schedule was proposed;

(i
ii
)

Other information determined necessary to implement this section as may be required by the department.

(
c
)

Department review of applications filed under subsection (
b
) of this section shall be completed by
July

3
1
, 2013
, followed by notification to the recipient districts
.
Supplemental assistance
awards shall be limited
to not more
than
one (1) school for each applicant district, and shall be limited
based upon
total district-wide average daily membership (ADM)
based upon
school year 2012
‑
2013
data
, as follows:

(
i
)

Two (2) schools
within
districts
of
six hundred forty-nine (649)
ADM
or less
;

(
ii
)

Two (2) schools
with
in districts
of
at least
six hundred fifty (650) ADM but
not
more
than o
ne thousand six hundred ninety-nine (1699) ADM;

(
iii
)

Two (2) schools within districts of one thousand seven hundred (1700) ADM or greater.

(
d
)

Supplemental f
inancial assistance
awarded
to each selected school qualifying under
this section
shall be equal to five percent (5%) of the
total school level resources computed under W.S. 21
‑
13
‑
309 for
that school
.
Supplemental assistance s
hall be distributed in two (2)
payments, one (1) on
or before
January 15, 2014, and the last payment on
or before
May 15, 2014.

(
e
)

On or before December 31, 2013, t
he department shall report to the joint education interim committee on
schools
receiving financial assistance under this section
and provide recommendations on
continuing assistance
under this section for subsequent school years.
In addition, the department shall upon receipt, compile and report to the committee on each district's evaluation of program effectiveness.

Section
2
.

T
his act is effective
immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constitution.

(END)

1
HB0255