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H0288.............................................................by EDUCATION
SCHOOLS - Amends existing law to further clarify duties of the boards of
trustees of school districts to exclude certain materials from the schools.
02/20 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/21 Rpt prt - to Educ
|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ||||
Fifty-seventh Legislature First Regular Session - 2003
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HOUSE BILL NO. 288
BY EDUCATION COMMITTEE
1 AN ACT
2 RELATING TO GOVERNANCE OF SCHOOLS; AMENDING SECTION 33-512, IDAHO CODE, TO
3 FURTHER CLARIFY DUTIES OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES TO EXCLUDE CERTAIN MATE-
4 RIALS FROM THE SCHOOLS.
5 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
6 SECTION 1. That Section 33-512, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby
7 amended to read as follows:
8 33-512. GOVERNANCE OF SCHOOLS. The board of trustees of each school dis-
9 trict shall have the following powers and duties:
10 1. To fix the days of the year and the hours of the day when schools
11 shall be in session. However:
12 (a) Each school district shall annually adopt and implement a school cal-
13 endar which provides its students at each grade level with the following
14 minimum number of instructional hours:
15 Grades Hours
16 9-12 990
17 4-8 900
18 1-3 810
19 K 450
20 (b) School assemblies, testing and other instructionally related activi-
21 ties involving students directly may be included in the required instruc-
22 tional hours.
23 (c) When approved by a local school board, annual instructional hour
24 requirements stated in paragraph (a) may be reduced as follows:
25 (i) Up to a total of twenty-two (22) hours to accommodate staff
26 development activities conducted on such days as the local school
27 board deems appropriate.
28 (ii) Up to a total of eleven (11) hours of emergency school closures
29 due to adverse weather conditions and facility failures.
30 However, transportation to and from school, passing times between classes,
31 recess and lunch periods shall not be included.
32 (d) Student and staff activities related to the opening and closing of
33 the school year, grade reporting, program planning, staff meetings, and
34 other classroom and building management activities shall not be counted as
35 instructional time or in the reductions provided in paragraph (c)(i) of
36 this section.
37 (e) For multiple shift programs, this rule applies to each shift (i.e.,
38 each student must have access to the minimum annual required hours of
39 instructions).
40 (f) The instructional time requirement for grade 12 students may be
41 reduced by action of a local school board for an amount of time not to
42 exceed eleven (11) hours of instructional time.
43 (g) The state superintendent of public instruction may grant an exemption
2
1 from the provisions of this section for an individual building within a
2 district, when the closure of that building, for unforeseen circumstances,
3 does not affect the attendance of other buildings within the district.
4 2. To adopt and carry on, and provide for the financing of, a total edu-
5 cational program for the district. Such programs in other than elementary
6 school districts may include education programs for out-of-school youth and
7 adults; and such districts may provide classes in kindergarten;
8 3. To provide, or require pupils to be provided with, suitable textbooks
9 and supplies, and for advice on textbook selections may appoint a textbook
10 adoption committee as provided in section 33-512A, Idaho Code;
11 4. To protect the morals and health of the pupils;
12 5. To exclude from school, children not of school age;
13 6. To prescribe rules for the disciplining of unruly or insubordinate
14 pupils, such rules to be included in a district discipline code adopted by the
15 board of trustees and a summarized version thereof to be provided in writing
16 at the beginning of each school year to the teachers and students in the dis-
17 trict in a manner consistent with the student's age, grade and level of aca-
18 demic achievement;
19 7. To exclude from school, pupils with contagious or infectious diseases
20 who are diagnosed or suspected as having a contagious or infectious disease or
21 those who are not immune and have been exposed to a contagious or infectious
22 disease; and to close school on order of the state board of health or local
23 health authorities;
24 8. To equip and maintain a suitable library or libraries in the school or
25 schools and to exclude therefrom, and from the schools, all books, tracts,
26 papers, and catechisms of sectarian nature, and any materials that do not sup-
27 port the definition of a thorough system of public schools as established in
28 section 33-1612, Idaho Code;
29 9. To determine school holidays. Any listing of school holidays shall
30 include not less than the following: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Indepen-
31 dence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Other days listed in section
32 73-108, Idaho Code, if the same shall fall on a school day, shall be observed
33 with appropriate ceremonies; and any days the state board of education may
34 designate, following the proclamation by the governor, shall be school holi-
35 days;
36 10. To erect and maintain on each schoolhouse or school grounds a suitable
37 flagstaff or flagpole, and display thereon the flag of the United States of
38 America on all days, except during inclement weather, when the school is in
39 session; and for each Veterans Day, each school in session shall conduct and
40 observe an appropriate program of at least one (1) class period remembering
41 and honoring American veterans;
42 11. To prohibit entrance to each schoolhouse or school grounds, to pro-
43 hibit loitering in schoolhouses or on school grounds and to provide for the
44 removal from each schoolhouse or school grounds of any individual or individu-
45 als who disrupt the educational processes or whose presence is detrimental to
46 the morals, health, safety, academic learning or discipline of the pupils. A
47 person who disrupts the educational process or whose presence is detrimental
48 to the morals, health, safety, academic learning or discipline of the pupils
49 or who loiters in schoolhouses or on school grounds, is guilty of a misde-
50 meanor.
51 12. To supervise and regulate, including by contract with established
52 entities, those extracurricular activities which are by definition outside of
53 or in addition to the regular academic courses or curriculum of a public
54 school, and which extracurricular activities shall not be considered to be a
55 property, liberty or contract right of any student, and such extracurricular
3
1 activities shall not be deemed a necessary element of a public school educa-
2 tion, but shall be considered to be a privilege.
3 13. To govern the school district in compliance with state law and rules
4 of the state board of education.
5 14. To submit to the superintendent of public instruction not later than
6 July 1 of each year documentation which meets the reporting requirements of
7 the federal gun-free schools act of 1994 as contained within the federal
8 improving America's schools act of 1994.
9 15. To require that all persons hired for the first time by the district
10 or who have been in the employ of the district five (5) years or less, undergo
11 a criminal history check as provided in section 33-130, Idaho Code. All such
12 employees who are required to undergo a criminal history check shall obtain
13 the history check within three (3) months of starting employment, or for
14 employees with five (5) years or less with the district, within three (3)
15 months from the date such employee is notified that he must undergo a criminal
16 history check. Such employees shall pay the cost of the criminal history
17 check. If the criminal history check shows that the employee has been con-
18 victed of a felony crime enumerated in section 33-1208, Idaho Code, it shall
19 be grounds for immediate termination, dismissal or other personnel action of
20 the district, except that it shall be the right of the school district to
21 evaluate whether an individual convicted of one (1) of these crimes and having
22 been incarcerated for that crime shall be hired. The district may require any
23 or all persons who have been employed continuously with the same district for
24 more than five (5) years, to undergo a criminal history check as provided in
25 section 33-130, Idaho Code. If the district elects to require criminal history
26 checks of such employees, the district shall pay the costs of the criminal
27 history check or reimburse employees for such cost. A substitute teacher who
28 has undergone a criminal history check at the request of one (1) district in
29 which he has been employed as a substitute shall not be required to undergo an
30 additional criminal history check at the request of any other district in
31 which he is employed as a substitute if the teacher has obtained a criminal
32 history check within the previous three (3) years. If the district next
33 employing the substitute still elects to require another criminal history
34 check within the three (3) year period, that district shall pay the cost of
35 the criminal history check or reimburse the substitute teacher for such cost.
36 16. Each board of trustees of a school district shall be responsible for
37 developing a system for registering volunteers or contractors consistent with
38 maintaining a safe environment for their students.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 13014
The purpose of this legislation is to further clarify duties of
the Board of Trustees to exclude certain materials from the
schools.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact to the General Fund.
Contact
Name: Rep. Peter Nielsen
Phone: 322-1000
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE H 28