2003 Legislation
Print Friendly

SENATE BILL NO. 1091 – Schools, instructional time

SENATE BILL NO. 1091

View Daily Data Tracking History

View Bill Text

View Statement of Purpose / Fiscal Impact



Text to be added within a bill has been marked with Bold and
Underline. Text to be removed has been marked with
Strikethrough and Italic. How these codes are actually displayed will
vary based on the browser software you are using.

This sentence is marked with bold and underline to show added text.

This sentence is marked with strikethrough and italic, indicating
text to be removed.

Daily Data Tracking History



S1091.............................................................by EDUCATION
SCHOOLS - INSTRUCTIONAL TIME - Amends existing law to authorize a reduction in
the number of hours of instructional time required in public schools when the
distribution from the Public School Income Fund is deficient.
                                                                        
02/10    Senate intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/11    Rpt prt - to Educ

Bill Text


                                                                        
                                                                        
  ||||              LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO             ||||
 Fifty-seventh Legislature                 First Regular Session - 2003
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                       IN THE SENATE
                                                                        
                                    SENATE BILL NO. 1091
                                                                        
                                   BY EDUCATION COMMITTEE
                                                                        
  1                                        AN ACT
  2    RELATING TO INSTRUCTIONAL HOURS IN A SCHOOL  YEAR;  AMENDING  SECTION  33-512,
  3        IDAHO  CODE,  TO  AUTHORIZE A REDUCTION IN THE NUMBER OF HOURS OF INSTRUC-
  4        TIONAL TIME REQUIRED WHEN A DISTRIBUTION FROM  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  INCOME
  5        FUND  IS  DEFICIENT  AND  TO MAKE A TECHNICAL CORRECTION; AND DECLARING AN
  6        EMERGENCY.
                                                                        
  7    Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
                                                                        
  8        SECTION 1.  That Section 33-512, Idaho Code, be, and the  same  is  hereby
  9    amended to read as follows:
                                                                        
 10        33-512.  GOVERNANCE  OF SCHOOLS. The board of trustees of each school dis-
 11    trict shall have the following powers and duties:
 12        1.  To fix the days of the year and the hours  of  the  day  when  schools
 13    shall be in session. However:
 14        (a)  Each school district shall annually adopt and implement a school cal-
 15        endar  which  provides its students at each grade level with the following
 16        minimum number of instructional hours:
 17                      Grades                             Hours
 18                       9-12                               990
 19                       4-8                                900
 20                       1-3                                810
 21                       K                                  450
 22        (b)  School assemblies, testing and other instructionally related  activi-
 23        ties  involving students directly may be included in the required instruc-
 24        tional hours.
 25        (c)  When approved by a local  school  board,  annual  instructional  hour
 26        requirements stated in paragraph (a) may be reduced as follows:
 27             (i)   Up  to  a  total  of twenty-two (22) hours to accommodate staff
 28             development activities conducted on such days  as  the  local  school
 29             board deems appropriate.
 30             (ii)  Up to a total of eleven (11) hours of emergency school closures
 31             due to adverse weather conditions and facility failures.
 32             (iii) Any  number  of  hours determined necessary by the local school
 33             board when distributions from the public school income fund are defi-
 34             cient in any year and there is no  reasonable  expectation  that  the
 35             deficiency will be restored or reduced.
 36        However, transportation to and from school, passing times between classes,
 37        recess and lunch periods shall not be included.
 38        (d)  Student  and  staff  activities related to the opening and closing of
 39        the school year, grade reporting, program planning,  staff  meetings,  and
 40        other classroom and building management activities shall not be counted as
 41        instructional  time  or  in the reductions provided in paragraph (c)(i) of
 42        this section.
 43        (e)  For multiple shift programs, this rule applies to each  shift  (i.e.,
                                                                        
                                           2
                                                                        
  1        each  student  must  have  access  to the minimum annual required hours of
  2        instructions).
  3        (f)  The instructional time requirement  for  grade  12  students  may  be
  4        reduced  by  action  of  a local school board for an amount of time not to
  5        exceed eleven (11) hours of instructional time.
  6        (g)  The state superintendent of public instruction may grant an exemption
  7        from the provisions of this section for an individual  building  within  a
  8        district, when the closure of that building, for unforeseen circumstances,
  9        does not affect the attendance of other buildings within the district.
 10        2.  To  adopt and carry on, and provide for the financing of, a total edu-
 11    cational program for the district. Such  programs  in  other  than  elementary
 12    school  districts  may  include education programs for out-of-school youth and
 13    adults; and such districts may provide classes in kindergarten;
 14        3.  To provide, or require pupils to be provided with, suitable  textbooks
 15    and  supplies,  and  for  advice on textbook selections may appoint a textbook
 16    adoption committee as provided in section 33-512A, Idaho Code;
 17        4.  To protect the morals and health of the pupils;
 18        5.  To exclude from school, children not of school age;
 19        6.  To prescribe rules for the disciplining  of  unruly  or  insubordinate
 20    pupils, such rules to be included in a district discipline code adopted by the
 21    board  of  trustees and a summarized version thereof to be provided in writing
 22    at the beginning of each school year to the teachers and students in the  dis-
 23    trict  in  a manner consistent with the student's age, grade and level of aca-
 24    demic achievement;
 25        7.  To exclude from school, pupils with contagious or infectious  diseases
 26    who are diagnosed or suspected as having a contagious or infectious disease or
 27    those  who  are not immune and have been exposed to a contagious or infectious
 28    disease; and to close school on order of the state board of  health  or  local
 29    health authorities;
 30        8.  To equip and maintain a suitable library or libraries in the school or
 31    schools  and  to  exclude  therefrom, and from the schools, all books, tracts,
 32    papers, and catechisms of sectarian nature;
 33        9.  To determine school holidays. Any listing  of  school  holidays  shall
 34    include  not  less  than the following: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Indepen-
 35    dence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Other days listed  in  section
 36    73-108,  Idaho Code, if the same shall fall on a school day, shall be observed
 37    with appropriate ceremonies; and any days the state  board  of  education  may
 38    designate,  following  the proclamation by the governor, shall be school holi-
 39    days;
 40        10. To erect and maintain on each schoolhouse or school grounds a suitable
 41    flagstaff or flagpole, and display thereon the flag of the  United  States  of
 42    America  on  all  days, except during inclement weather, when the school is in
 43    session; and for each Veterans Day, each school in session shall  conduct  and
 44    observe  an  appropriate  program of at least one (1) class period remembering
 45    and honoring American veterans;
 46        11. To prohibit entrance to each schoolhouse or school  grounds,  to  pro-
 47    hibit  loitering  in  schoolhouses or on school grounds and to provide for the
 48    removal from each schoolhouse or school grounds of any individual or individu-
 49    als who disrupt the educational processes or whose presence is detrimental  to
 50    the  morals,  health, safety, academic learning or discipline of the pupils. A
 51    person who disrupts the educational process or whose presence  is  detrimental
 52    to  the  morals, health, safety, academic learning or discipline of the pupils
 53    or who loiters in schoolhouses or on school grounds, is  guilty  of  a  misde-
 54    meanor.
 55        12. To  supervise  and  regulate,  including  by contract with established
                                                                        
                                           3
                                                                        
  1    entities, those extracurricular activities which are by definition outside  of
  2    or  in  addition  to  the  regular  academic courses or curriculum of a public
  3    school, and which extracurricular activities shall not be considered to  be  a
  4    property,  liberty  or contract right of any student, and such extracurricular
  5    activities shall not be deemed a necessary element of a public  school  educa-
  6    tion, but shall be considered to be a privilege.
  7        13. To  govern  the school district in compliance with state law and rules
  8    of the state board of education.
  9        14. To submit to the superintendent of public instruction not  later  than
 10    July  1  of  each year documentation which meets the reporting requirements of
 11    the federal gun-free schools act of  1994  as  contained  within  the  federal
 12    improving America's schools act of 1994.
 13        15. To  require  that all persons hired for the first time by the district
 14    or who have been in the employ of the district five (5) years or less, undergo
 15    a criminal history check as provided in section 33-130, Idaho Code.  All  such
 16    employees  who  are  required to undergo a criminal history check shall obtain
 17    the history check within three (3)  months  of  starting  employment,  or  for
 18    employees  with  five  (5)  years  or less with the district, within three (3)
 19    months from the date such employee is notified that he must undergo a criminal
 20    history check. Such employees shall pay  the  cost  of  the  criminal  history
 21    check.  If  the  criminal  history check shows that the employee has been con-
 22    victed of a felony crime enumerated in section 33-1208, Idaho Code,  it  shall
 23    be  grounds  for immediate termination, dismissal or other personnel action of
 24    the district, except that it shall be the right  of  the  school  district  to
 25    evaluate whether an individual convicted of one (1) of these crimes and having
 26    been  incarcerated for that crime shall be hired. The district may require any
 27    or all persons who have been employed continuously with the same district  for
 28    more  than  five (5) years, to undergo a criminal history check as provided in
 29    section 33-130, Idaho Code. If the district elects to require criminal history
 30    checks of such employees, the district shall pay the  costs  of  the  criminal
 31    history  check  or reimburse employees for such cost. A substitute teacher who
 32    has undergone a criminal history check at the request of one (1)  district  in
 33    which he has been employed as a substitute shall not be required to undergo an
 34    additional  criminal  history  check  at  the request of any other district in
 35    which he is employed as a substitute if the teacher has  obtained  a  criminal
 36    history  check  within  the  previous  three  (3) years.  If the district next
 37    employing the substitute still elects  to  require  another  criminal  history
 38    check  within  the  three (3) year period, that district shall pay the cost of
 39    the criminal history check or reimburse the substitute teacher for such cost.
 40        16. Each board of trustees of a school district shall be  responsible  for
 41    developing  a system for registering volunteers or contractors consistent with
 42    maintaining a safe environment for their students.
                                                                        
 43        SECTION 2.  An emergency existing  therefor,  which  emergency  is  hereby
 44    declared to exist, this act shall be in full force and effect on and after its
 45    passage and approval.

Statement of Purpose / Fiscal Impact


                      STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
                            RS 12832

The purpose of this bill is to amend section 33-512, Idaho Code, to
authorize a reduction in the number of hours of instructional time
required when distribution from the Public School Income Fund is
deficient.








                         FISCAL IMPACT
                                
There is no fiscal impact to the General Fund or any local unit of
government.


Contact:
Senator Gary J. Schroeder
Idaho Senate
332-1324



                                                                                                                  S 1091