Introduced Version
SENATE BILL No. 309
_____
DIGEST OF INTRODUCED BILL
Citations Affected: IC 20-20; IC 20-26-5-1.
Synopsis: Early childhood education. Specifies areas included in an
educational services center's purchasing authority. Establishes the early
education trust fund (fund), administered by the department of
education (department), to provide funding and grants for educational
programs for children from birth through seven years of age. Requires
school corporations that receive Title I funding to offer full-day
kindergarten beginning with the 2007-2008 school year, and all school
corporations to offer full-day kindergarten beginning with the
2009-2010 school year. Appropriates $1,500,000 to the fund to be used
for matching grants to school corporations to participate in the
Imagination Library to provide books for children from birth through
five years of age. Requires the department to enter into an agreement
with a qualified entity to conduct a study and to prepare a report on the
amount of money attributable to each factor within the complexity
index and to develop a fixed cost index for each school corporation in
Indiana.
Effective: July 1, 2006.
Simpson, Sipes, Breaux, Rogers,
Skinner
January 9, 2006, read first time and referred to Committee on Education and Career
Development.
Introduced
Second Regular Session 114th General Assembly (2006)
PRINTING CODE. Amendments: Whenever an existing statute (or a section of the Indiana
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SENATE BILL No. 309
A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning
education and to make an appropriation.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana:
SOURCE: IC 20-20-1-2; (06)IN0309.1.1. -->
SECTION 1. IC 20-20-1-2, AS ADDED BY P.L.1-2005, SECTION
4, IS AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE JULY 1,
2006]: Sec. 2. (a) As used in this chapter, "educational service center"
means an extended agency of school corporations that:
(1) operates under rules established by the state board;
(2) is the administrative and operational unit that serves a
definitive geographical boundary; and
(3) allows school corporations to voluntarily cooperate and share
programs and services that the school corporations cannot
individually provide but collectively may implement.
(b) Programs and services collectively implemented through an
educational service center may include, but are not limited to, the
following:
(1) Curriculum development.
(2) Pupil personnel and special education services.
(3) In-service education.
(4) State-federal liaison services.
(5) Instructional materials and multimedia services.
(6) Vocational and career education.
(7) Purchasing and financial management, including the
following types of purchases and services:
(A) School buses and other vehicles.
(B) Fuel, maintenance, or other services for vehicles.
(C) Energy needs. At least each school corporation shall,
and more than one (1) school corporation acting jointly
may, be considered a single purchaser of energy.
(D) Food services.
(E) Facilities.
(F) Transportation.
(G) Textbooks, technology, and other school materials and
supplies.
(H) Insurance.
(I) Any other purchases a school corporation may require.
(8) Needs assessment.
(9) Computer use.
(10) Research and development.
SOURCE: IC 20-20-33; (06)IN0309.1.2. -->
SECTION 2. IC 20-20-33 IS ADDED TO THE INDIANA CODE
AS A
NEW CHAPTER TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE
JULY 1, 2006]:
Chapter 33. Early Education Trust Fund
Sec. 1. As used in this chapter, "fund" refers to the early
education trust fund established by section 2 of this chapter.
Sec. 2. (a) The early education trust fund is established for the
purpose of receiving, holding, and disbursing funds and grants for
early education initiatives and programs under this chapter. The
fund shall be administered by the department.
(b) The fund consists of money appropriated by the general
assembly, federal grants, and private grants and gifts.
(c) The treasurer of state shall invest the money in the fund not
currently needed to meet the obligations of the fund in the same
manner as other public money may be invested. Interest that
accrues from these investments shall be deposited in the fund.
(d) Money in the fund at the end of a state fiscal year does not
revert to the state general fund.
(e) There is appropriated continuously to the department from
the fund the amount necessary to carry out the purposes of this
chapter.
Sec. 3. (a) When funds are available, the department shall call
for proposals from school corporations, schools, units of local
government, and private entities to provide programs for children
from birth through seven (7) years of age, including the following
types of programs:
(1) Full-day kindergarten.
(2) Early reading programs, such as the Imagination Library.
(3) Head Start and preschool programs, including the
expansion of existing programs.
(4) Parental education programs, such as Parents as Teachers.
(5) Any other innovative program or service that provides
early childhood education.
(b) The department may establish matching fund requirements
to receive grants from the fund. An entity seeking a grant that
requires a match may use federal funds, state funds, local funds
including property tax revenues, private funds, and in-kind
matches for the match.
Sec. 4. (a) The department shall:
(1) evaluate and rank proposals received under section 3 of
this chapter; and
(2) present the results of the rankings to the state board.
(b) The state board shall decide which proposals will receive
grants from the fund.
Sec. 5. The state board shall adopt rules under IC 4-22-2 to
carry out this chapter. Rules adopted under this section must
include criteria for consideration in evaluating programs and
establishing matching requirements.
SOURCE: IC 20-26-5-1; (06)IN0309.1.3. -->
SECTION 3. IC 20-26-5-1, AS ADDED BY P.L.1-2005, SECTION
10, IS AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE JULY 1,
2006]: Sec. 1. (a) A school corporation shall:
(1) conduct an educational program for all children who reside
within the school corporation in kindergarten
(subject to
subsection (e)) and in grades 1 through 12; and
(2) provide each preschool child with a disability with an
appropriate special education as required under IC 20-35-4-9 only
if the general assembly appropriates state funds for preschool
special education.
(b) A school corporation may:
(1) conduct an educational program for adults and children at
least fourteen (14) years of age who do not attend a program
described in subsection (a);
(2) provide instruction in vocational, industrial, or manual
training;
(3) provide libraries for the schools of the school corporation;
(4) provide public libraries open and free for the use and benefit
of the residents and taxpayers of the school corporation where
permitted by law;
(5) provide vacation school and recreational programs;
(6) conduct other educational or other activities as are permitted
or required to be performed by law by any school corporation; and
(7) provide a school age child care program that operates during
periods when school is in session for students who are enrolled in
a half-day kindergarten program.
(c) A school corporation shall develop a written policy that provides
for:
(1) the implementation of a school age child care program for
children who attend kindergarten through grade 6 that, at a
minimum, operates after the school day and may include periods
before school is in session or periods when school is not
otherwise in session (commonly referred to as a latch key
program) and is offered by the school corporation; or
(2) the availability of the school corporation's buildings or parts
of the school corporation's buildings to conduct the type of
program described in subdivision (1) by a nonprofit organization
or a for-profit organization.
(d) The written policy required under subsection (c) must address
compliance with certain standards of reasonable care for children
served by a child care program offered under subsection (c), including:
(1) requiring the offering entity to acquire a particular amount of
liability insurance; and
(2) establishing maximum adult to child ratios governing the
overall supervision of the children served.
If a school corporation implements a child care program as described
in subsection (c)(1) or enters into a contract with an entity described in
subsection (c)(2) to provide a child care program, the school
corporation may not assess a fee for the use of the building, and the
contract between the school corporation and the entity providing the
program must be in writing. However, the school corporation may
assess a fee to reimburse the school corporation for providing security,
maintenance, utilities, school personnel, or other costs directly
attributable to the use of the building for the program. In addition, if a
school corporation offers a child care program as described in
subsection (c)(1), the school corporation may assess a fee to cover
costs attributable to implementing the program.
(e) Beginning with the 2007-2008 school year, a school
corporation shall offer a full-day kindergarten program in any
school within the school corporation that has kindergarten classes
and that is eligible to receive federal funding under Title I.
Beginning with the 2009-2010 school year, a school corporation
shall offer a full-day kindergarten program in each school within
the school corporation that has kindergarten classes. However, a
parent may elect:
(1) not to send a child to kindergarten; or
(2) to send a child to kindergarten for only a half day.
(e) (f) The powers under this section are purposes as well as powers.
SOURCE: ; (06)IN0309.1.4. -->
SECTION 4. [EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2006] (a) There is
appropriated to the department of education one million five
hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000) from the state general fund
to fund the disbursement of the early education trust fund
(established by IC 20-20-33-2, as added by this act) to the
Imagination Library beginning July 1, 2006, and ending June 30,
2007.
(b) Before January 1, 2007, the department of education shall
enter into an agreement with the Imagination Library to establish
a free book program for children from birth through five (5) years
of age in Indiana.
(c) This SECTION expires July 1, 2007.
SOURCE: ; (06)IN0309.1.5. -->
SECTION 5. [EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2006]
(a) The department of
education shall enter into an agreement with an entity qualified to
conduct a study and prepare a report on the amount of money
attributable to each factor within the complexity index determined
under IC 21-3-1.7-6.7 and to develop a fixed cost index for each
school corporation in Indiana.
(b) Not later than January 1, 2007, the entity with which the
department of education enters into an agreement under
subsection (a) shall submit the report required under subsection (a)
to the following:
(1) The state board of education.
(2) The education roundtable.
(3) The governor.
(4) The general assembly. A report under this subdivision
must be in an electronic format under IC 5-14-6.
(5) The public.
(c) This SECTION expires June 30, 2007.