2010 Legislative Session

2010 Legislative Session Overview

High School Graduation Requirements

The legislature set higher standards for earning high school diplomas by increasing the minimum credits necessary to graduate from 20 to 25, starting with the graduating class of 2018. Beginning with 7th graders in the 2012-13 school year (the graduating class of 2018), local boards must provide adequate support and remedial services for students. For those who are unable to successfully complete any of the required courses or exams, the student support and remedial services must provide an alternate way for a student to meet these requirements. (sSB 438, effective July 1, 2010).

Education Reform Measures

The legislature enacted various reforms to bolster the state’s chances of winning a federal Race to the Top grant, including:

giving the State Board of Education (SBE) the power, without first seeking legislative approval, to reconstitute a local or regional board of education for a district that, after being designated as a low-achieving district, fails for two consecutive years to make adequate progress;
requiring teacher evaluations to be based partly on student academic growth;
expanding the public school information system to include data on performance growth by students, teachers, schools, and school districts;
explicitly authorizing school officials to consider a student’s previous disciplinary problems when deciding whether an out-of-school suspension is warranted;
requiring SBE to waive enrollment limits for charter schools whose students show a record of achievement, if the school applies for a waiver;
requiring the State Department of Education (SDE) to review and approve proposals for alternate route to certification programs for school administrators; and
allowing the school board of a priority school district to convert an existing school or establish a new school as an “innovation school” through agreements with the school’s teachers and administrators to improve school performance and student achievement. (sSB 438, effective July 1, 2010)

Parental Involvement and Governance Councils for Low-Achieving Schools

A new law requires school boards with low-achieving schools to create school governance councils made up mostly of students’ parents or guardians. The councils are empowered to, among other things, advise the principal on the school budget before it is submitted to the superintendent, interview candidates to fill principal vacancies, and vote to reorganize low-achieving schools using models included in the act. (sSB 438, effective July 1, 2010)

Vocational-Technical (V-T) Schools

The legislature addressed the needs of the state’s V-T schools by, among other things,

requiring the SBE to hold a public hearing and vote before closing or suspending the operation of a V-T school;
expanding the SBE from 11 to 13 members and requiring at least two members to have V-T school or manufacturing experience and at least one to have agriculture or regional agricultural science and technology education center experience;
requiring the State Bond Commission to vote periodically on whether to issue authorized V-T bond funds when the balance of these funds reaches a certain threshold; and
requiring the state to replace any V-T school bus that is 12 or more years old or that has been ordered out of service by the Department of Motor Vehicles for two years in a row for the same problem. (PA 10-76, effective July 1, 2010)

Student Athletes and Head Injuries

A new law requires anyone who has an SBE-issued intramural or interscholastic athletics coaching permit to:

be periodically trained in how to recognize and respond to head injuries and concussions;
take a student athlete out of any interscholastic or intramural game or practice if the athlete shows signs of, or is diagnosed with, a concussion; and
keep the athlete out of any game or practice until the athlete has received clearance from a licensed medical professional to return to play. SBE may revoke the coaching permit of any coach who violates the act’s requirements. (PA 10-62, effective on passage for the training requirements and July 1, 2010 for the requirement to remove students from games and practices)