Idaho Bills

Amends existing law to revise the election date for school district trustees and to provide a term expiration date for incumbent trustees.

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding the Public Education Stabilization Fund, to provide for an annual transfer of certain moneys from the General Fund to the Public Education Stabilization Fund, to provide conditions for such transfer; and to revise an amount to be transferred from the General Fund to the Budget Stabilization Fund.

Amends existing law to establish additional provisions regarding supplemental contracts.

School districts and charter schools pay some certificated employees to work extra days, (called extended days), beyond the standard teaching contract year. Employees such as school counselors, speech language pathologists, school psychologists, PTE instructors, IT personnel, school nurses or others may work anywhere from 1 to 60 days beyond the end of the standard teaching contract year. School districts and charter schools are required to issue contracts to all certificated employees using a state-approved contract which does not allow districts to differentiate between the standard teaching contract and extended days. The inclusion of extended days on a standard teaching contract creates a property right for these certificated employees, and removes any flexibility in amending the designation of extended days by the local board of trustees, which may create an unintended financial burden on a district's budget. This legislation would allow school districts and charter schools to issue separate contracts for those extended days.

Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding the calculation for the Educational Support Program.

This bill clarifies the distribution of funding for college and career advising to school districts and public charter schools. The legislation specifies that funding will be distributed in full, or pro rata, based on secondary support units used to calculate the February 15 payment of state funds, based on 33-1009, Idaho Code. The legislation provides funding for districts and charter schools which serve all grades 8-12.

Adds to existing law to establish the Local Innovation School Act and to provide eligibility requirements, exemptions and school agreements.

Thisbillwouldempowerschoolstoevaluateexistinglawsandrules,andrequestwaiversthatwould allowthemtorespondininnovativewaystolocalneedsthroughthecreationofuptotenInnovation Schools around the state each year for five years. Teachers, principals, superintendents and school boards will have the opportunity to receive waivers in exchange for clearly demonstrating student outcomes and meeting well-defined goals.

Amends and adds to existing law to provide for the Tuition Lock Plan for undergraduate students; and to provide for the Tuition Lock Stabilization Account in the Higher Education Stabilization Fund.

The tuition lock plan offers stabilization and predictability of tuition costs according to a tuition schedule that will remain unchanged for four years for each cohort of undergraduate resident students. The plan ensures that the tuition rate first charged to a resident undergraduate student will remain constant for a period of four continuous academic years following initial enrollment, unless the student changes to a major that is charged a different tuition rate. Thelawdoesnotapplytoroomandboardnordoesitapplytomandatoryfees, programfees, and/or course-specific fees. Further, the law does not apply to graduate or professional students. Students who are guaranteed a fixed tuition rate for four continuous years include resident students who enroll first-time, full-time for the Fall 2016 term or later, or students who were previously enrolledatapublictwo-yearandaretransferringtoapublicfour-yearinstitutionasadegree-seeking student. At the end of four years, the student's tuition rate will no longer be fixed. This tuition lock plan provides not only predictability but also incentivizes timely completion. Students who do not qualify for the tuition lock include 1.) graduate students, 2.) professional students, 3.) undergraduate students whose fixed rate time period has expired, 4.) non-degree seeking students, 5.) students enrolled in cost-recovery courses and 6.) high school students who are enrolled in college courses at an Idaho public higher education institution (until such time as they earn a high school diploma and enroll as undergraduates). This legislation would require that the state appropriate funding to offset any increase in tuition at the four-year institutions over students' locked tuition rate.

Amends existing law to remove a certain qualification requirement of school electors and to revise provisions regarding elections of trustees.

The proposed legislation changes how school board elections are conducted by requiring trustees to live in their zones, but allowing all voters in the school district to vote on each trustee. As in county commissioner races, with this change there will still be representation from each of the school district zones, but all voters in the district will be eligible to participate in the election. This measure will improve accuracy in voting in school board elections. Because voting precincts and taxing districts do not match zone boundaries there have been issues with voters who are in a precinct but not the trustee zone voting in trustee elections. Areviewof22districtsinIdaho's2015SchoolBoardElections, includingdistrictsofvaryingsizes, shows voter turnout of less than 12 percent in half of the districts, and seven of those districts had turnouts in single digits: 1, 3, 4 percent, etc. With this change Boards will more accurately reflect the will of school district patrons.