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H0393.............................................................by EDUCATION
SCHOOLS - INSTRUCTIONAL HOURS - Amends existing law to provide that
instructional hours for required academic subjects and curriculum shall be
scheduled on Monday through Thursday; to provide that noninstructional and
nonacademic classes, social, athletic and extracurricular activities may be
scheduled on both Friday and Saturday; to exclude time in school assemblies
from being included in instructional hours; to provide that educational
programs for out-of-school youth and adults shall not be scheduled to
interfere with the academic instructional hours reserved for Monday through
Thursday; to provide that kindergarten classes shall be scheduled during
required instructional hours; to provide that extracurricular activities shall
not be scheduled at any time Monday through Thursday; and to clarify that time
spent in extracurricular activities shall not be counted toward general
attendance requirements.
03/26 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
03/27 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. 393
BY EDUCATION COMMITTEE
1 AN ACT
2 RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARDS OF TRUSTEES AND INSTRUCTIONAL HOURS; AMENDING
3 SECTION 33-512, IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE THAT INSTRUCTIONAL HOURS FOR
4 REQUIRED ACADEMIC SUBJECTS AND CURRICULUM SHALL BE SCHEDULED ON MONDAY
5 THROUGH THURSDAY, TO PROVIDE THAT NONINSTRUCTIONAL AND NONACADEMIC CLAS-
6 SES, SOCIAL, ATHLETIC AND EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES MAY BE SCHEDULED ON
7 BOTH FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, TO EXCLUDE TIME IN SCHOOL ASSEMBLIES FROM BEING
8 INCLUDED IN INSTRUCTIONAL HOURS, TO PROVIDE THAT EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR
9 OUT-OF-SCHOOL YOUTH AND ADULTS SHALL NOT BE SCHEDULED TO INTERFERE WITH
10 THE ACADEMIC INSTRUCTIONAL HOURS RESERVED FOR MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, TO
11 PROVIDE THAT KINDERGARTEN CLASSES SHALL BE SCHEDULED DURING REQUIRED
12 INSTRUCTIONAL HOURS AS PROVIDED HEREIN, TO PROVIDE THAT EXTRACURRICULAR
13 ACTIVITIES SHALL NOT BE SCHEDULED AT ANY TIME MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY AND
14 TO CLARIFY THAT TIME SPENT IN EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES SHALL NOT BE
15 COUNTED TOWARD GENERAL ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS.
16 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
17 SECTION 1. That Section 33-512, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby
18 amended to read as follows:
19 33-512. GOVERNANCE OF SCHOOLS. The board of trustees of each school dis-
20 trict shall have the following powers and duties:
21 1. To fix the days of the year and the hours of the day when schools
22 shall be in session. However:
23 (a) Each school district shall annually adopt and implement a school cal-
24 endar which provides its students at each grade level with the following
25 minimum number of instructional hours, and provided further, that instruc-
26 tional hours for required academic subjects and curriculum shall be sched-
27 uled on the days of the week Monday through Thursday. Noninstructional
28 classes, nonacademic classes, school social, athletic and extracurricular
29 activities may be scheduled at any time on both Friday and Saturday, but
30 shall not be scheduled during the noon hour, after-school hours or in the
31 evening hours on any day Monday through Thursday:
32 Grades Hours
33 9-12 990
34 4-8 900
35 1-3 810
36 K 450
37 (b) School assemblies, tTesting and other instructionally related activi-
38 ties involving students directly may be included in the required instruc-
39 tional hours scheduled Monday through Thursday.
40 (c) When approved by a local school board, annual instructional hour
41 requirements stated in paragraph (a) may be reduced as follows:
42 (i) Up to a total of twenty-two (22) hours to accommodate staff
43 development activities conducted on such days as the local school
2
1 board deems appropriate.
2 (ii) Up to a total of eleven (11) hours of emergency school closures
3 due to adverse weather conditions and facility failures.
4 However, transportation to and from school, passing times between classes,
5 recess and lunch periods shall not be included.
6 (d) Student and staff activities related to the opening and closing of
7 the school year, grade reporting, program planning, staff meetings, and
8 other classroom and building management activities shall not be counted as
9 instructional time or in the reductions provided in paragraph (c)(i) of
10 this section.
11 (e) For multiple shift programs, this rule applies to each shift (i.e.,
12 each student must have access to the minimum annual required hours of
13 instructions).
14 (f) The instructional time requirement for grade 12 students may be
15 reduced by action of a local school board for an amount of time not to
16 exceed eleven (11) hours of instructional time.
17 (g) The state superintendent of public instruction may grant an exemption
18 from the provisions of this section for an individual building within a
19 district, when the closure of that building, for unforeseen circumstances,
20 does not affect the attendance of other buildings within the district.
21 2. To adopt and carry on, and provide for the financing of, a total edu-
22 cational program for the district. Such programs in other than elementary
23 school districts may include education programs for out-of-school youth and
24 adults, provided such programs shall not be scheduled so as to interfere with
25 the academic instructional hours reserved for Monday through Thursday as spec-
26 ified in subsection 1.(a) of this section; and such districts may provide
27 classes in kindergarten, provided such classes are scheduled during hours
28 reserved for required instructional hours Monday through Thursday as specified
29 in subsection 1.(a) of this section;
30 3. To provide, or require pupils to be provided with, suitable textbooks
31 and supplies, and for advice on textbook selections may appoint a textbook
32 adoption committee as provided in section 33-512A, Idaho Code;
33 4. To protect the morals and health of the pupils;
34 5. To exclude from school, children not of school age;
35 6. To prescribe rules for the disciplining of unruly or insubordinate
36 pupils, such rules to be included in a district discipline code adopted by the
37 board of trustees and a summarized version thereof to be provided in writing
38 at the beginning of each school year to the teachers and students in the dis-
39 trict in a manner consistent with the student's age, grade and level of aca-
40 demic achievement;
41 7. To exclude from school, pupils with contagious or infectious diseases
42 who are diagnosed or suspected as having a contagious or infectious disease or
43 those who are not immune and have been exposed to a contagious or infectious
44 disease; and to close school on order of the state board of health or local
45 health authorities;
46 8. To equip and maintain a suitable library or libraries in the school or
47 schools and to exclude therefrom, and from the schools, all books, tracts,
48 papers, and catechisms of sectarian nature;
49 9. To determine school holidays. Any listing of school holidays shall
50 include not less than the following: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Indepen-
51 dence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Other days listed in section
52 73-108, Idaho Code, if the same shall fall on a school day, shall be observed
53 with appropriate ceremonies; and any days the state board of education may
54 designate, following the proclamation by the governor, shall be school holi-
55 days;
3
1 10. To erect and maintain on each schoolhouse or school grounds a suitable
2 flagstaff or flagpole, and display thereon the flag of the United States of
3 America on all days, except during inclement weather, when the school is in
4 session; and for each Veterans Day, each school in session shall conduct and
5 observe an appropriate program of at least one (1) class period remembering
6 and honoring American veterans;
7 11. To prohibit entrance to each schoolhouse or school grounds, to pro-
8 hibit loitering in schoolhouses or on school grounds and to provide for the
9 removal from each schoolhouse or school grounds of any individual or individu-
10 als who disrupt the educational processes or whose presence is detrimental to
11 the morals, health, safety, academic learning or discipline of the pupils. A
12 person who disrupts the educational process or whose presence is detrimental
13 to the morals, health, safety, academic learning or discipline of the pupils
14 or who loiters in schoolhouses or on school grounds, is guilty of a misde-
15 meanor.
16 12. To supervise and regulate, including by contract with established
17 entities, those extracurricular activities which are by definition outside of
18 or in addition to the regular academic courses or curriculum of a public
19 school, and which extracurricular activities shall not be considered to be a
20 property, liberty or contract right of any student, and such extracurricular
21 activities shall not be deemed a necessary element of a public school educa-
22 tion, but shall be considered to be a privilege, and such activities shall not
23 be scheduled for any day, including the noon hour, after-school hours or eve-
24 ning hours on Monday through Thursday as required by the provisions of subsec-
25 tion 1.(a) of this section, nor shall attendance during these activities be
26 counted toward general attendance requirements.
27 13. To govern the school district in compliance with state law and rules
28 of the state board of education.
29 14. To submit to the superintendent of public instruction not later than
30 July 1 of each year documentation which meets the reporting requirements of
31 the federal gun-free schools act of 1994 as contained within the federal
32 improving America's schools act of 1994.
33 15. To require that all persons hired for the first time by the district
34 or who have been in the employ of the district five (5) years or less, undergo
35 a criminal history check as provided in section 33-130, Idaho Code. All such
36 employees who are required to undergo a criminal history check shall obtain
37 the history check within three (3) months of starting employment, or for
38 employees with five (5) years or less with the district, within three (3)
39 months from the date such employee is notified that he must undergo a criminal
40 history check. Such employees shall pay the cost of the criminal history
41 check. If the criminal history check shows that the employee has been con-
42 victed of a felony crime enumerated in section 33-1208, Idaho Code, it shall
43 be grounds for immediate termination, dismissal or other personnel action of
44 the district, except that it shall be the right of the school district to
45 evaluate whether an individual convicted of one (1) of these crimes and having
46 been incarcerated for that crime shall be hired. The district may require any
47 or all persons who have been employed continuously with the same district for
48 more than five (5) years, to undergo a criminal history check as provided in
49 section 33-130, Idaho Code. If the district elects to require criminal his-
50 tory checks of such employees, the district shall pay the costs of the crimi-
51 nal history check or reimburse employees for such cost. A substitute teacher
52 who has undergone a criminal history check at the request of one (1) district
53 in which he has been employed as a substitute shall not be required to undergo
54 an additional criminal history check at the request of any other district in
55 which he is employed as a substitute if the teacher has obtained a criminal
4
1 history check within the previous three (3) years. If the district next
2 employing the substitute still elects to require another criminal history
3 check within the three (3) year period, that district shall pay the cost of
4 the criminal history check or reimburse the substitute teacher for such cost.
5 16. Each board of trustees of a school district shall be responsible for
6 developing a system for registering volunteers or contractors consistent with
7 maintaining a safe environment for their students.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 13222
The purpose of this legislation is to emphasize the importance of
academics; to allow students to take full advantage of the
academic opportunities provided by Idaho's tax supported public
schools; to give students adequate time to attend all of the
classes offered during each school day; to provide students with
adequate time to prepare all home work required by their
teachers; to assure that students have adequate time to rest so
that they can arrive at school each day fully rested and prepared
to participate in all classroom activities; to provide teachers
the opportunity to teach all of their classes with a minimum
number of absent students; and to allow ample time on Friday and
Saturday for extra-curricular activities.
FISCAL IMPACT
It is estimated that savings to the state general fund could be
up to $8 million each year; school district cost savings could be
up to $1.5 million a year.
Contact
Name: Lee Crockett
Phone: 208-648-7803
Name: Rep. Eulalie Langford
Phone: 208-332-1000
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE H 393