1. Definitions are provided for the following: minority, school, teacher and parent.
2. Boards of education shall adopt policies for the implementation of School-Based Decision Making and for School Councils to make reports regarding the progress of the Council at a public meeting.
2, (a). Councils will be composed of three teachers, two parents and one principal or an increased proportion of this ratio. An alternative model can be completed and submitted to the local board of education, which refers the alternative model to the Kentucky Department of Education for approval if a Council wishes to deviate from the described model. Amendments to this section (HB 321) allow teachers who reside outside the commonwealth of Kentucky to serve on SBDM Councils at the school(s) in which they are employed and allow some school district personnel to serve as parent representatives. A parent representative on the Council may be a district employee, if assigned to another school, or may be a relative of a district employee assigned to another school.
2, (b, 1&2). These sections describe the election process to the Council and provide for minority representation if none is obtained in the initial Council election.
2, (c, 1&2). These sections describe the responsibility of the Council
-- to create policies to enhance student achievement -- and provide for the establishment of SBDM Council committees.
2, (d,e,f,g). These sections give the Council the responsibility to determine agenda and frequency of meetings; to provide for Open Meetings and Records of Council meetings and Council-assigned committees; to determine budget from allocated funds; and to determine textbooks, instructional materials, and student support services.
2 (h). This section provides for consultation with the principal for the hiring of new personnel when a vacancy occurs and for the selection of a principal (when a vacancy occurs) from a list recommended by the superintendent. HB 321 amends this section by giving descriptors of consultation. These descriptors, to be included in the policy, are meetings, time lines, interviews, and reviews of written materials.
2. (i). This section describes the area of policy development by Councils.
3. This section describes the areas of policy, adopted by the local board of education, related to the implementation of School-Based Decision Making.
4. This section provides for liability insurance for Council decisions.
5. This section describes the process for implementation of and the exemption from
School-Based Decision Making.
6. This section gives requirements for six hours of professional development for new
Council members and three hours of professional development for experienced
Council members. The professional development will be related to the process and
responsibilities of School-Based Decision Making.
7. This section gives provisions for filing an alternative model to exempt the Council
from having the principal as the chairperson.
8. This section describes the requirement of professional-development funds to be
allocated to the local school.
9. This section gives the process for reporting interference with the School-Based
Decision Making process.