HOUSE 3rd Reading Unamended March 1, 2012 HOUSE Amended 2nd Reading February 29, 2012Second Regular Session Sixty-eighth General Assembly STATE OF COLORADO REENGROSSED This Version Includes All Amendments Adopted in the House of Introduction LLS NO. 12-0011.03 Julie Pelegrin x2700 HOUSE BILL 12-1149 HOUSE SPONSORSHIP Beezley, Holbert, Acree, Balmer, Becker, Murray, Ramirez, Summers SENATE SPONSORSHIP Johnston, House Committees Senate Committees Education Appropriations A BILL FOR AN ACT Concerning parents' authority to request interventions for low-performing schools. Bill Summary (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced and does not reflect any amendments that may be subsequently adopted. If this bill passes third reading in the house of introduction, a bill summary that applies to the reengrossed version of this bill will be available at http://www.leg.state.co.us/billsummaries.) Under existing law, if a public school fails to improve under a turnaround plan or operates under a priority improvement or turnaround plan for more than 5 consecutive school years, the state board of education (state board) directs the board of education of the school district (local school board) or the state charter school institute (institute) to take action to reconfigure the public school. The bill authorizes the parents of students enrolled in a public school that has operated under a priority improvement or turnaround plan for 2 consecutive years to submit a petition to the state board requesting the state board to direct the local school board or the institute to take action to reconfigure the public school immediately. The petition must be signed by more than 50% of the families of the students enrolled in the public school, and the parents must submit the petition by November 1 of the year preceding the year in which the public school would be reconfigured. If the state board receives such a petition, it must place consideration of the request on the agenda of the next regularly scheduled public state board meeting. The state board may choose to deny the petition, direct an action to take effect in the next school year, or reconsider the petition in the next school year. If the state board chooses to direct an action, it may ask the commissioner of education to convene the state review panel to evaluate the public school and make recommendations or it may direct the local school board or the institute to take action. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado: SECTION 1. In Colorado Revised Statutes, 22-11-210, add (7) as follows: 22-11-210. Public schools - annual review - plans - supports and interventions - rules. (7) (a) Notwithstanding any provision of this article to the contrary, the parents of students enrolled in a public school that operates under a priority improvement or turnaround plan for a combined total of at least two consecutive school years may request that the state board direct the local school board, for a district public school, or the institute, for an institute charter school, to reform the public school by implementing an action selected by the local school board or the institute from among the actions specified in paragraph (a) of subsection (5) of this section. To request that the state board direct the local school board or the institute to reform the public school, the parents shall submit to the state board a petition signed by at least sixty percent of the families of the students enrolled in the school; except that, if the parents submit the petition after the public school operates under a priority improvement or turnaround plan for a combined total of more than two consecutive school years, the petition shall be signed by more than fifty percent of the families of the students enrolled in the school. When submitting a petition to the state board, the parents shall simultaneously provide a copy of the petition to the affected public school and to the appropriate local school board if the affected public school is a school of a school district. The parents shall submit the petition by November 1 of the calendar year prior to the calendar year in which the action to reform the public school would take effect, or by January 15 of the calendar year in which the directed action would take effect if the school district or the institute appeals the determination of the plan the public school is required to adopt. Each petition shall identify the public school to which it applies and shall include the following statement at the top of each page: "By signing this petition, a person affirms that he or she is the parent or legal guardian of a student currently enrolled in the public school identified on this petition and that he or she understands that only one signature per family is allowed on this petition and duplicate signatures will not be counted." A valid petition shall include the signature of no more than one biological or adoptive parent or legal guardian from each student's household. If a petition includes the signature of more than one biological or adoptive parent or legal guardian from a student's household, the petition shall remain valid, but only one signature from a household will be counted in determining whether the petition meets the requirements for number of signatures specified in this paragraph (a). (b) Upon receiving a petition pursuant to this subsection (7), the state board shall place consideration of the petition on the agenda for its next regularly scheduled public board meeting. Following consideration at the public meeting, the state board may accept or reject the petition request or may choose to reconsider the petition request in the next school year. In considering the petition, the state board shall consider whether the public school has demonstrated impovement in its level of achievement on the performance indicators in the preceding two years. If it accepts the request, the state board may direct the commissioner to assign the state review panel to evaluate the public school's performance and make recommendations as provided in subsection (5) of this section or the state board may direct the local school board or the institute to reform the public school by implementing one of the actions specified in paragraph (a) of subsection (5) of this section. The state board may recommend that the local school board or the institute implement a particular action specified in paragraph (a) of subsection (5) of this section. (c) Within thirty days after receiving a direction from the state board pursuant to this subsection (7) to reform a public school, the local school board or the institute shall select from among the actions specified in paragraph (a) of subsection (5) of this section the action or actions it will implement to reform the public school. At the public meeting at which it makes the selection, the local school board or the institute shall, upon request, take testimony from the parents of students enrolled in the public school that is the subject of the action. The local school board or the institute shall implement the action to take effect in the following school year; except that the state board may grant an extension of time of up to one full school year to implement the reform action based on a showing by the local school board or the institute that it is not feasible to implement the action in the next school year with the level of integrity necessary to make the reform action successful. SECTION 2. No appropriation. The general assembly has determined that this act can be implemented within existing appropriations, and therefore no separate appropriation of state moneys is necessary to carry out the purposes of this act. SECTION 3. Act subject to petition - effective date. This act takes effect at 12:01 a.m. on the day following the expiration of the ninety-day period after final adjournment of the general assembly (August 7, 2012, if adjournment sine die is on May 9, 2012); except that, if a referendum petition is filed pursuant to section 1 (3) of article V of the state constitution against this act or an item, section, or part of this act within such period, then the act, item, section, or part will not take effect unless approved by the people at the general election to be held in November 2012 and, in such case, will take effect on the date of the official declaration of the vote thereon by the governor.