SB 768 - This act establishes the School Accountability Board, composed of members appointed as described in the act. The Board shall advise the State Board of Education and Department on matters pertaining to the development and implementation of the state's school improvement program through activities described in the act, including presenting findings and recommendations related to school accountability and improvement to the State Board of Education at least two times annually. Under this act, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education shall, by November 1 of each year, publish on the Department's website a list of schools in the state that have been performing within the bottom 5% of schools for more than three years, and shall designate any such school as a "persistently failing school".
Any school district with more than two schools falling into the bottom 5% of schools for more than two years shall be classified as provisionally accredited by the State Board of Education.
School districts with any school falling in the bottom 5% of schools for three years over a five year period beginning in 2018, shall:
· Close the school and transfer students attending such school to a higher performing school in the district;
· Develop a partnership with a nonprofit school operator to create an in-district charter school; or
· Reimburse any district or charter school, that will allow students to transfer, an amount equal to the average per-pupil expenditure for the district.
Any school district that has more than 20% of students attending persistently failing schools shall work with an external partner to develop a district plan to reduce the number of students in such schools by 5% each year, and shall establish a charter authorizing office, or partner with an eligible public four-year college or university to review any charter petitions for the district, approve such charter petitions, and submit such petitions to the Board of Education for a vote.
This act is substantially similar to SB 1021 (2020) and provisions of SCS/SB 400 (2021).
JAMIE ANDREWS