Article 1.  General Education.

Section 1. Textbook. Includes teacher materials that accompany student textbooks in the definition of “textbook” for the purpose of nonpublic pupil aids. Excludes the costs of teacher materials from the calculation of the annual nonpublic aid entitlement.

Section 2. Individualized instructional or cooperative learning materials.  Includes teacher materials that accompany student materials in the definition of “Individualized instructional or cooperative learning materials” for the purpose of nonpublic pupil aids. Excludes the costs of teacher materials from the calculation of the annual nonpublic aid entitlement.

Section 3. Cost; limitation. Strikes obsolete language related to the calculation of nonpublic aids for fiscal years 2015 and 2016 only.

Section 4. Payment percentage for reimbursement aids. Strikes an obsolete reference to a repealed aid program for special education litigation costs. This program was repealed by Laws 2005.

Section 5. Payments to third parties. Strikes a cross-reference to third-party payment authority that is repealed in this article.

Section 6. Repealer. Repeals authority for a district to request payment of certain aids to a cooperative unit; this payment authority has never been requested by a district. Repeals an annual district and department report of district special education litigation costs; these costs are already reported and available in district and agency accounting systems.

Article 2.  Education Excellence.

Section 1. Education records. Includes pupil withdrawal records in the records sent when a student is transferring to another district, charter school, or nonpublic school. Requires the student’s records to include the services a pupil needs to prevent recurrence of the inappropriate behavior.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 2. Legitimate exemptions. Allows participation in an activity necessary for a child to join a branch of the United States armed forces to be an excused absence from school.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 3. Required academic standards. (d) Allows a district to include child sexual exploitation prevention instruction in the health curriculum.

(e) allows a district to include instruction on substance misuse prevention in the health curriculum in grades 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective immediately.

Section 4. Identification; report. Requires a district to screen all students between the beginning of kindergarten and the beginning of grade 2 for dyslexia. Requires a student in grade 2 or higher who is identified as not reading at grade level to be screened for dyslexia.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective July 1, 2019.

Section 5. Planning For Students’ Successful Transition to Postsecondary Education and Employment; Personal Learning Plans. Requires districts to provide military recruiters with the same access to secondary school students as provided to higher education institutions or prospective employers. Encourages districts to sponsor an armed forces career opportunity day.

Section 6. State growth target; other state measures. Corrects a reference to “Asian and Pacific Islander” to align with the federal race definitions. Adds language allowing the state demographer to assist the Minnesota Department of Education in identifying which ethnicities in Minnesota are the most populous. Strikes the requirement that the Commissioner implement a value-added growth model and requires the Commissioner to report on student growth.

Section 7. Academic Achievement Rating System.

Subdivision 1. Commissioner duties. (a) Requires the Commissioner to develop an academic achievement rating system to provide parents and students with a brief overview of student performance and growth.

(b) Requires the Commissioner to assign a star rating to schools and school districts, ranging from one star for the lowest performing schools and districts to five stars for the highest performing schools and districts.

(c) Requires the Commissioner to assign an academic achievement score to schools and school districts. The score ranges on a scale from zero to 100 and equals the average of the equally weighted factors used to determine a school’s or district’s star rating.

(d) Requires the Department of Education to report the star rating and the academic achievement score of each school and district as part of the school performance reports under section 120B.36.

(e) Requires the Commissioner to examine how revisions to statewide assessments effect school and district ratings.

Subdivision 2. Definitions. (b) Defines “academic growth rate” as the average level of improvement in statewide test results for the current year over the previous year across all student groups in a school.

(c) Defines “low-income student achievement gap score” as 100 minus the average of:  (1) the statewide percentage of non-low-income students who are rated proficient on the statewide reading test minus a school’s percentage of low-income students who are rated proficient on the statewide reading test; and (2) the statewide percentage of non-low-income students who are rated proficient on the statewide math test minus a school’s percentage of low-income students who are rated proficient on the statewide math test.

(d) Defines “students of color achievement gap score” as 100 minus the average of: (1) the statewide percentage of white students who are rated proficient on the statewide reading test minus a school’s percentage of students of color who are rated proficient on the statewide reading test; and (2) the statewide percentage of white students who are rated proficient on the statewide math test minus the school’s percentage of students of color who are rated proficient on the statewide math test.

(e) Defines “four-year graduation rate gap score” as 100 minus the difference between the statewide four-year high school graduation rate for non-low-income students and a school’s four-year high school graduation rate for low-income students.

(f) Defines “low-income students” as students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

(g) Defines “proficient” as a student meets or exceeds federal accountability standards on statewide assessments in reading and math consistent with the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act plan.

(h) Defines “statewide reading test” and “statewide math test” as the statewide reading and math assessments developed and administered under section 120B.30.

(i) Defines “students of color” as students who identify themselves as American Indian, Asian, Hispanic, Black, or two or more races consistent with section 120B.35, subdivision 3, paragraph (a), clause (2).

Subdivision 3. Primary school rating components. Establishes the factors for elementary and middle school star ratings as:

1. the percentage of students rated proficient on the statewide reading test;
2. the percentage of students rated proficient on the statewide math test;
3. the academic growth rate for the statewide reading test;
4. the academic growth rate for the statewide math test;
5. the low-income student achievement gap score;
6. the students of color achievement gap score;
7. the English learner proficiency rate, as defined in the approved state Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan; and
8. the consistent attendance rate, as define in the approved state ESSA plan.

Subdivision 4. Secondary school rating components. Establishes the factors for a high school star rating as:

1. the percentage of students rated proficient on the statewide reading test;
2. the percentage of students rated proficient on the statewide math test;
3. the four-year graduation rate gap score;
4. the low-income student achievement gap score;
5. the students of color achievement gap score;
6. the English learner proficiency rate, as defined in the approved state ESSA plan; and
7. the consistent attendance rate, as defined in the approved state ESSA plan.

Subdivision 5. District rating components.  Establishes the factors for a school district star rating as:

1. the percentage of third grade students rated proficient on the statewide reading test;
2. the low-income student achievement gap score;
3. the students of color achievement gap score;
4. the percentage of high school students rated proficient on the statewide reading test;
5. the percentage of high school students rated proficient on the statewide math test; and
6. the district’s four-year high school graduation rate.

Section 8. School performance reports and public reporting.  Amends the Commissioner’s school performance reports and public reporting to include school and district academic achievement ratings. Requires the school performance report to include a prominent display of the school’s or district’s star rating and the academic achievement score assigned by the commissioner. Requires the report to calculate proficiency and growth rates.

Section 9. Student progress and other data.  Classifies the data the Commissioner uses to set goals for federal expectations as nonpublic data until the Commissioner publicly releases the data.

Section 10. Applicability. Requires a parent to inform the school if their student’s drugs or medication that is stored and administered at school is a controlled substance. For drugs or medications that are not controlled substances, requires the written permission to administer the medication to include a provision authorizing the school district to transport the medication for purposes of destruction if any unused medication is left at the school. When the district requests, the parent is required to retrieve the medication if it’s a controlled substance.

Section 11. Unclaimed drugs or medications. Requires a school district to adopt a procedure for the collection and transport of any unclaimed or abandoned prescription drugs or over-the-counter medication left with school personnel. Allows the school district to designate an individual to transport over-the-counter medications and prescription drugs that are not a controlled substance to a designated drop-off box or collection bin. The district may request a law enforcement agency to transport the drugs or medication. Prohibits school district or school personnel from transporting unclaimed or abandoned prescription drugs that are controlled substances.

Section 12. School Counselors. Encourages counselors to present and explain the career opportunities and benefits offered by the United States armed forces as part of college and career exploration.

Section 13. Nonexclusionary disciplinary policies and practices; alternatives to pupil removal and dismissal. Defines “Nonexclusionary disciplinary policies and practices” as policies and practices that are alternatives to removing a pupil from class or dismissing a pupil from school.  They include positive behavioral interventions and supports and alternative education services.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 14. Pupil withdrawal agreements. Defines “pupil withdrawal agreements” as a verbal or written agreement between a school or district administrator and a pupil’s parent to withdraw a student from the school district to avoid expulsion or exclusion dismissal proceedings.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 15. Policy. Encourages school officials to use nonexclusionary disciplinary policies and practices before beginning dismissal proceedings.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 16. Grounds for dismissal.

Subdivision 1. Provision of alternative programs. Directs the school to provide alternative educational services or use nonexclusionary disciplinary practices before dismissal proceedings.

Subdivision 2. Grounds for dismissal. Provides technical changes.

Subdivision 3. Strikes the subdivision.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 17. Administrator notifies pupil of grounds for suspension. Clarifies that the administrator must inform the pupil that they are not required to present their version of the facts and ask questions at the informal administrative conference before a suspension.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 18. Written notice of grounds for suspension. Clarifies what is contained in a written notice of grounds for suspension and how it is to be served on the pupil and their parents or guardian. Requires the notice include documents indicated the nonexclusionary disciplinary policies and practices used with the pupil, the length of the suspension, and a request for a meeting with the pupil’s parent or guardian consistent with subdivision 3a.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

 Section 19. Parent notification and meeting; suspension; mental health screening. (a) Requires a school official to make reasonable attempts to convene a meeting with the pupil and their parent or guardian within 30 days of a suspension.  State the purpose of the meeting as engaging the pupil’s parent or guardian in developing a plan to help the pupil succeed in school by addressing the behavior that led to the dismissal.

(b) If a pupil’s total days of removal from school exceed ten cumulative days, the school district must attempt to convene a meeting with the pupil and their parent or guardian to arrange for mental health screening for the pupil if the parent consents.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 20. Minimum education services. Requires a school official to give a suspended pupil the opportunity to complete all school work assigned during the pupil’s suspension and to receive credit for satisfactorily completing the assignments. Encourages the school principal to designate a liaison to work with the pupil’s teachers to allow the suspended pupil to receive timely course materials and complete daily and weekly assignments and receive teachers’ feedback.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 21. Written notice. Makes technical changes and requires the written notice of expulsion to explain the grounds for expelling the pupil instead of imposing nonexclusionary disciplinary policies and practices.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 22. Exclusions and expulsions; physical assaults. Requires the school district report to the Commissioner to include each pupil withdrawal agreement. Requires the report to identify:

1. the pupil’s behavior leading to the discipline;
2. the nonexclusionary disciplinary policies and practices used, if applicable;
3. any attempts to provide the pupil with alternative education services before excluding or expelling the pupil;
4. the effective date of the disciplinary action; and
5. the duration of the exclusion or expulsion.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 23. Policies to be established. Makes technical changes. Requires a district to continue to provide school-linked mental health services to an expelled or excluded student or a student who is the subject of a pupil withdrawal agreement until the pupil is enrolled in a new district. Requires the district to provide the pupil’s parent with a list of mental health and counseling services available to the pupil after expulsion. Requires the district to report on its policy on the appropriate use of school resource officers.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 24. Discipline and removal of pupils from class. Makes technical changes. Amends the requirement that the district discipline policy includes minimum consequences for violations of the rules to require that potential consequences are included in the policy. Requires the policy to include parental notification requirements. Requires a meeting with a pupil’s parent or guardian to discuss the problem causing the pupil’s removal from class after the pupil has been removed from class more than five, instead of ten, times in one school year.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 25. Parent notification. Requires a school administrator to make and document efforts to immediately contact the parent or guardian of a pupil removed from a school building or school grounds by a peace or school resource officer unless the notice is specifically prohibited by law.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 26. Essential data. Reassigns a requirement that the Minnesota Department of Education maintain a list of licensed and non-licensed staff members for each school district to the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board. This data is collected through Staff Automated Report (STAR), which was transferred to the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board last session.

Section 27. Clerk records. Deletes a report required under 123B.14, subdivision 7 (Clerk Records.)

Section 28. Resolution of concurrence. Clarifies that a resolution of non-concurrence by the American Indian education parent advisory committee and recommendations on educational programs for American Indian students must be submitted directly to the school board.

Section 29. Essential data. Removes a requirement that the Minnesota Department of Education maintain a list of licensed and non-licensed staff members for each school district to the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board, which is reassigned to the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board in Section 26.

Section 30. Annual expenditure report. Moves a requirement that school districts report on how their basic skills revenue raised student achievement levels to the World’s Best Workforce Plan under section 120B.11.

Section 31. Limitations of order effective January 1, 2015, and later. Strikes an obsolete requirement that notices of expungements be sent to the licensing division of the Department of Education.

Section 32. Definitions. Adds a cross-reference to the definition of “sexual abuse” under the Maltreatment of Minors Act to allow the Department of Education to investigate behaviors that fall under that statute for maltreatment.

Section 33. Intermediate School District Mental Health Innovation Grant Program; Appropriation. Clarifies that a mental health or substance use disorder provider agency is eligible for the mental health innovation grant program.

Section 34. Paraprofessional pathway to teacher licensure. Clarifies that charter school can apply for the Grow Your Own grants.

Section 35. Repealer. Repeals section 120B.35, subdivision 4 (Best Practices in High Performing Schools report); and section 120B.35, subdivision 5 (Improving Graduation Rates for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders)

Article 3.  Teachers.

Section 1. Public employer compensation reduction prohibited. Prohibits public employer of a Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board member from reducing the member’s compensation or benefits for their absence from employment due to engaging in the business of the board.

Section 2. Reading preparation. Requires Tier 3 and Tier 4 licensed teachers to receive reading preparation to enable the teacher to understand dyslexia and recognize dyslexia characteristics in students as a renewal requirement.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective for teachers who are renewing their Tier 3 or Tier 4 license on or after July 1, 2019.

Section 3. Grounds for revocation, suspension, or denial. (a) Allows the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board or the Board of School Administrators to refuse to issue, refuse to renew, suspend, or revoke a teacher’s license for intentional and inappropriate patting, touching, pinching, or other physical contact with a student that is unwelcome and sexually motivated.

(d) Requires the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board or the Board of School Administrators to refuse to issue, refuse to renew, or revoke a teacher’s license if the teacher has engaged in sexual penetration, defined in section 609.321, subdivision 11, with a student enrolled in a school where the teacher works or volunteers. Allows the board to suspend the teacher’s license pending an investigation into the report under this paragraph. Allows for an appeal of the board’s decision under the Administrative Procedures Act.

(e) Requires the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board or Board of School Administrators to review and permits them to refuse to issue, renew or revoke a teacher’s license if the teacher has been convicted of a:

1. qualified domestic violence-related offense under section 609.02, subd. 16;
2. embezzlement of public funds under 609.54; or
3. felony involving a minor as a victim.

Allows a person whose license to teach has been revoked, not issued, or not renewed to appeal the board’s decision.

(f) Allows the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board to suspend a teacher’s license during the board’s disciplinary investigation of a report of teacher misconduct, if the teacher has been charged with a violation of a crime listed in paragraph (b) (mandatory action based on certain convictions).

Effective Date. Makes the section effective immediately.

Sections 4 and 5. Immediate discharge. Makes technical changes. Requires a school district to immediately discharge a teacher whose license has been acted upon by the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board under section 122A.20, subdivision 1, paragraph (b) or (d).

Effective Date. Makes the sections effective for the 2018-2019 school year and later.

Section 6. Persons mandated to report; persons voluntarily reporting. Makes members of the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board and the Board of School Administrators mandatory reporters under the child maltreatment reporting law.

Effective Date. Makes the section effective immediately.

Section 7. Law enforcement agency responsibility for investigation; welfare agency reliance on law enforcement fact-finding; welfare agency offer of services. Requires a law enforcement agency to report to the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board on investigations under the child maltreatment reporting law involving a person licensed by the board.

Section 8. Determinations. Requires the commissioner of education to report to the appropriate licensing entity when the commissioner has made a determination that maltreatment was not determined (current law only refers to a determination that maltreatment occurred).

Article 4.  Special Education.

Section 1. Education, residence, and transportation of homeless. Provides that, for homeless pupils with an individualized education plan (IEP) enrolled in a program authorized by an intermediate district or other cooperative unit, the serving district at the time of the pupil’s enrollment in the program remains responsible for transporting the pupil for the remainder of the school year, unless the initial serving district and current serving district mutually agree that the current serving district will be responsible for providing transportation.

Section 2. Special Education Legislative Working Group.

Subdivision 1. Duties. Establishes a special education legislative working group to review special education delivery and cost containment in Minnesota, to consult with stakeholders, and to submit a written report and recommendations to the legislature. Requires the working group to examine certain aspects of the special education system. Requires the working group to consider a 10-year plan to reduce special education costs that contribute to district cross-subsidies and forecasted state appropriations for special education.

Subdivision 2. Membership. Provides that the working group consists of twelve members, including three members appointed by the speaker of the house, three appointed by the house minority leader, three appointed by the senate majority leader, and three appointed by the senate minority leader. Requires that the chairs of the house and senate committees with jurisdiction over education policy be appointed to the working group. Requires that only duly elected and currently serving members of the house or senate be members of the working group.

Subdivision 3. Organization; process; administrative and technical support. Requires that working group appointments be made by July 1, 2018. Requires caucus leaders to fill vacancies in working group membership. Requires that the house education policy chair convene the first meeting and serve as a co-chair of the working group together with the senate education policy chair. Requires that working group meetings be held periodically be open to the public. Directs the Legislative Coordinating Commission to provide administrative assistance. Requires the Department of Education to provide technical assistance.

Subdivision 4. Consultation with stakeholders. Requires the working group to consult with stakeholders in developing its recommendations.

Subdivision 5. Report. Requires the working group to submit its report the legislature no later than January 15, 2019.

Subdivision 6. Expiration. Provides that the working group expires on January 16, 2019, unless extended by law.

Article 5.  Facilities and Technology.

Section 1. Student online privacy. Provides a cross-reference in the Data Practices Act to the new provisions in section 2.

Section 2. Student Online Privacy.

Subdivision 1. Definitions. (b) Defines “covered information” as personally identifiable information or material, or information that is linked to personally identifiable information or material, in any media or format that is not publicly available. The identifiable information may be:

1. created by or provided by a student or student’s parent or guardian in the course of the use of the operator’s site, service, or application for school purposes;
2. created by or provided to an operator by an employee or agent of the school or school district; or
3. gathered by an operator through the operation of its site, service, or application for school purposes and personally identifies the student.

(c) Defines “interactive computer service” as the meaning given in United States Code, title 47, section 230: “Any information service, system, or access software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server, including specifically a service or system that provides access to the Internet and such systems operated or services offered by libraries or educational institutions.”

(d) Defines “operator” as the operator of an Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application with actual knowledge that the site, service, or application is used for school purposes and was designed and marketed for school purposes. Includes in the definition an agent or assignee of an operator and a vendor.

(e) Defines “school purposes” as purposes that are directed by or that customarily take place at the direction of a school, teacher, or school district, or aid in the administration of school activities.

(f) Defines “student” as a student in prekindergarten through grade 12.

(g) Defines “targeted advertising” as presenting advertisements to a student where the advertisement is selected based on information obtained or inferred over time from that student’s online behavior, usage of applications, or covered information.

(h) Defines “vendor” as a person who contracts with a school to provide access to an Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application for school purposes.

Subdivision 2. Prohibited activities. Prohibits an operator from:

1. engaging in targeted advertising on the operator’s site, service, or application or any other site if the targeting of the advertising is based on any information that the operator acquired because of the use of that operator’s site, service, or application for school purposes;
2. using information created or gathered by the operator’s site, service, or application to amass a profile about a student except in furtherance of school purposes;
3. selling or renting a student’s information, including covered information;
4. except as provided in subdivision 4, disclosing covered information unless the disclosure is:
   1. in furtherance of the school purpose of the site, service, or application if the recipient of the covered information disclosed under this item does not further disclose the information;
   2. to ensure legal and regulatory compliance or protect against liability;
   3. to respond to or participate in the judicial process;
   4. to protect the safety or integrity of users of the site or others or the security of the site, service, or application;
   5. for school, educational, or employment purposes requested by the student or student’s parent or guardian;
   6. to a national assessment provider if the provider secures the express written consent of the student, parent, or guardian given in response to clear and conspicuous notice; or
   7. to a third party, if the operator contractually prohibits the third party from using any covered information for any purpose other than providing the contracted service to or on behalf of the operator and requires the third party to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices.

Clarifies that this subdivision does not prohibit the operator’s use of information for maintaining, developing, supporting, improving, or diagnosing the operator’s site, service, or application.

Subdivision 3. Security procedures and practices. Requires an operator to:

1. implement reasonable security procedures and practices designed to protect the covered information from unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure; and
2. within 30 days of a request from a student, parent, or legal guardian, destroy or return a student’s covered information.

Subdivision 4. Permissible disclosures. Allows an operator to use or disclose covered information under the following circumstances:

1. if other provisions of federal or state law require the operator to disclose the information and the operator complies with the requirements in protecting and disclosing that information;
2. for legitimate research purposes as required by state or federal law and subject to restrictions under the law or as allowed by state or federal law and under the direction of a school, school district, or the Department of Education if covered information is not used for advertising or to amass a profile on the student for purposes other than school purposes; or
3. to a state or local educational agency for school purposes as permitted by state or federal law.

Subdivision 5. Use of information by operator. This section does not prohibit an operator from doing the following;

1. using covered information to improve educational products if that information is not associated with an identified student;
2. using covered information that is not associated with an identified student to demonstrate the effectiveness of the operator’s products or services;
3. sharing covered information that is not associated with an identified student for the development and improvement of educational sites, services, or applications;
4. using recommendation engines to recommend to a student either of the following;
   1. additional content relating to an educational, other learning, or employment opportunity purpose within an online site, service, or application if the recommendation is not determined by payment or other consideration from a third party; or
   2. additional services relating to an educational, other learning, or employment opportunity purpose within an online site, service, or application if the recommendation is not determined by payment or other consideration from a third party; or
5. responding to a student’s request for information or for feedback without the information or purpose being determined by payment or other consideration from a third party.

Subdivision 6. Certain activities not affected. The section does not:

1. limit the authority of a law enforcement agency to obtain any content or information from an operator as authorized by law or court order;
2. limit the ability of an operator to use student data for adaptive learning or customized student learning purposes;
3. apply to general audience Web sites, online services, online applications, or mobile applications even if the login credentials may be used to access those general audience sites, services, or applications;
4. limit service providers from providing Internet connectivity to schools or students and their families;
5. prohibit an operator of an Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application from marketing educational products directly to parents if the marketing did not result from the use of covered information obtained by the operator through the services covered under this section;
6. impose a duty upon a provider of an electronic store, gateway, marketplace, or other means of purchasing or downloading software or applications to review or enforce compliance with this section;
7. impose a duty upon a provider of an interactive computer services to review or enforce compliance with this section by third-party content providers; or
8. prohibit students from downloading, exporting, transferring, saving, or maintaining their own student data or documents.

Subdivision. 7. Special requirements applicable to vendors. Provides that, in addition to complying with subdivisions 2 to 6, a vendor is subject to the provisions of section 13.05, subdivision 11, relating to government contracts with private entities. Provides that information created, received, or maintained pursuant to the contract are the property of the school. Requires the vendor to destroy or return data within 30 days of the expiration of the contract or a request from the school.

Section 3. Duties of fire marshal. Requires that, of the five school fire drills required each year, at least three drills must require an evacuation.

Section 4. Fire drill. Authorizes a public or private school or educational institution to implement an alternative fire drill that does not require evacuation. Requires a school or educational institution to work with the local fire chief and law enforcement chief or their designees in developing and implementing the alternative drills. Requires a school to keep records of fire drills, including information about the type of drill and evacuation

Article 6.  Nutrition.

Section 1. Food service contracts. Adds a cross-reference to federal statute to clarify that school districts and charters can contract for up to four years for summer programs and Child and Adult Care Food Programs (CACFP). Legislation passed last year was specific to federal school lunch programs.

Section 2. School meals policies; lunch aid; food service accounting.

Subdivision 1. School meals policies. Requires each Minnesota participant in the national school lunch program to adopt and publish a written school meals policy. Requires certain policy components. Requires the policy to apply to contracts with third-party meal service providers.

Subdivision 5. Respectful treatment. Requires the participant to provide meals to students in a respectful manner. Prohibits the participant from dumping meals, withdrawing served meals, publicly listing the names of students with meal debt, identifying students with meal debt with stickers, stamps, or pins, or other demeaning actions. Prohibits participants from restricting students with outstanding debt from participation in any school activity for which a fee is otherwise prohibited under section 123B.37. Requires the commissioner to communicate with noncompliant participants. Requires noncompliant participants to respond to commissioner communications and to remedy noncompliant practices.

Article 7.  Early childhood and family support.

Section 1. Family eligibility. Allows children in protective services or experiencing homelessness to qualify for early learning scholarships without providing income verification. Makes other technical changes.

Section 2. Administration. Clarifies that children receiving early learning scholarships are required to receive an early learning screening within 90 days of their third birthday, but not before, for those children who receive a scholarship at an earlier age.

Section 3. Early childhood program eligibility. Strikes an obsolete provision that allowed the early learning scholarship pilot sites to participate in the statewide program prior to becoming rated through the state’s quality rating and improvement system.

Section 4. Administration; design. Requires that the commissioner’s education partnership program requirements align with programs that collect and utilize data to improve student outcomes; share disaggregated performance data with the community to set community-level outcomes; employ continuous improvement processes; have an anchor entity to manage the partnership; convene a cross-sector leadership group and have a documented accountability structure; and demonstrate use of non-state funds, from multiple sources, including in-kind contributions, among other requirements. Requires that a grant recipients supportive services programming also address middle school mathematics and postsecondary enrollment and completion.

Section 5. Grants. Requires that, for Tier 2 grants authorized in fiscal year 2020 and later, priority must be given to past grant recipients. (As of fiscal year 2018, past Tier 2 grant recipients include the Northfield Healthy Community Initiative in Northfield; the Jones Family Foundation for the Every Hand Joined program in Red Wing; and the United Way of Central Minnesota for the Partners for Student Success program.)

Article 8.  Self-sufficiency and lifelong learning.

Sections 1, 2 and 3: Clarify that the state may select more than one high school equivalency test.

Article 9.  State agencies.

Section 1. [Minnesota State High School League] eligibility bylaws, policies, and procedures.

Subdivision 1. Public input and access to proposed eligibility bylaws, policies, and procedures. Clarifies the requirements for public notice and public hearings of proposed changes to league eligibility bylaws, policies, and procedures. Reduces the number of parent/guardian requests necessary to require that a hearing be conducted by an administrative law judge or a person contracted by the Office of Administrative Hearings. Requires the league to maintain a public docket of historical and proposed changes to eligibility bylaws, policies, and procedures. Requires the league to post notice and proposed changes to eligibility bylaws, policies, and procedures no later than 30 days prior to board meetings. Requires the league to indicate publication dates on the league handbook and other advisory documents concerning eligibility and remove duplicate policies and procedures.

Subdivision 2. Eligibility review process. Requires the league to establish a process for student eligibility review that provides students and parents an opportunity to present information. Requires the league to publish general criteria by which a request for a review may qualify for a review by the league’s eligibility committee or further review by an independent hearing officer and the conditions, timelines, and procedures for such reviews. Requires the league to provide specific reasons for denying a request for review when a request is denied. Provides that the eligibility review process does not create a property right or liberty interest in extracurricular varsity athletic competition. 

Section 2. League information review and report; commissioner recommendations. Transfers responsibility for annual information review from the commissioner to the league. Requires that the league annually evaluate current and proposed bylaws, procedures, policies, and definitions for compliance with Minnesota Department of Education programs and state and federal law. Requires that the league annually review any recent or proposed changes to eligibility bylaws, policies, and procedures. Requires that the league post its review on the league website and deliver a copy to the commissioner and the legislature.

Section 3. Repealer. Repeals a duplicative annual league reporting requirement.

AMB/BEA/syl