California
Bill: AB 342
Status: 04/17/2013 – In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author
Relevant Elements: 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
California AB 342, sponsored by Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Bob Blumenfield, D-Van Nuys, was amended by the Assembly Education Committee, read a second time on April 2 and re-referred to the same committee on April 3. It would:
- Substitute technology-based synchronous instruction for synchronous online instruction and define it to mean a class or course in which the pupil and the certificated employee who is providing instruction are online at the same time through the use of electronic means, including but not limited to the use of real time, internet-based collaborative software that combines audio, video, file sharing and other forms of interaction.
- Existing law requires that statewide testing results for technology-based pupils be reported but proposed law would allow the results to be disaggregated to compare the results to the students who are enrolled in regular classroom courses.
- Require a technology-based synchronous instruction course to be approved by the governing board of the school district or county office of education, or by the governing body of the charter school.
- Require the class to meet the same rigorous standard as a classroom-based course and to meet or exceed all relevant state content standards.
- Implement in 2014-15 school year a new way to compute the average daily attendance with the students in grades 9-12. It would include those students under the supervision of a certificated employee of the school district or a charter school that delivers technology-based asynchronous instruction if all of the following occur: periodic contact between the certificated employee providing instruction and the pupil to assess whether satisfactory educational progress, a written agreement for each technology-based pupil that is maintained on file to include different information, would authorize technology-based asynchronous instruction to commence upon receipt of an electronic copy of the agreement.
- Require the school district, county or charter school to provide the needed technology for a student who elects to take a technology-based class and does not have the needed equipment.
- Existing law provides that a school district or county office of education is not eligible to receive apportionments for independent study pupils unless it has adopted and implemented certain policies. Proposed law would extend these provisions to charter schools, and would require a school district, county office of education, or charter school to adopt different policies to be eligible to receive apportionments for independent study pupils, including, policies requiring periodic contact between the certificated employee providing instruction.
- Existing law prohibits a local educational agency, including a charter school, from claiming state funding for the independent study of a pupil if the local educational agency has provided any funds or other thing of value to the pupil or his or her parent or guardian that the local educational agency does not provide to pupils who attend regular classes or their parents or guardians. This bill would provide that this prohibition does not apply to technology-based instruction courses for which the local educational agency provides computer equipment, software, or both, or other components necessary for pupils to participate in online instruction.
Colorado
Bill: SB 260
Status: 04/18/2013 – Senate Second Reading Passed with Amendments
Relevant Elements: 9
Colorado SB 260, sponsored by Senate Education Committee Chair Evie Hudak, D-Westminster, was introduced in the Senate and assigned to Chair Hudak’s committee on April 9. It would modify the funding for public schools from pre-K through grade 12 for the 2013-14 budget year, and in some circumstances, for budget years after as follows. It would:
- Include in a district’s funded pupil count the certified pupil enrollment and the on-line pupil enrollment of each operating institute charter school for which the district is the accounting district.
Florida
Bill: HB 7029, SB 1436
Status: 04/15/2013 – Senate Received -SJ 436
Relevant Elements: 1, 2, 7, 9
Florida HB 7029 passed the House 82-37 on April 4. This bill would:
- Require the Auditor General to conduct on operational audit of the Florida Virtual School, including Florida Virtual School Global and to submit the final report to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives no later than January 31, 2014.
- Expand the pool of eligible applicants who can apply for state-level approval to include individuals or organizations who provide individual online courses, including, but not limited to, massive open online courses that are measured by state assessments; providing a funding mechanism and evaluation method for approved online providers; and authorizing providers of online courses to submit their courses for approval and inclusion in the statewide course numbering system.
- Develop an online catalog of available digital learning courses that has a description of the course, passage and completion rates, and a way for teachers and students users to give evaluative feedback.
- Provide requirements for funding a home education student enrolled in the Florida Virtual School.
- Provide reporting requirements relating to Florida Virtual School Global.
- Authorize school districts to provide part-time virtual instruction for k-12 students in all courses.
- Revise requirements for approval of provider of virtual instruction programs and provide requirements for conditional approval of a provider without sufficient experience.
- Create a new section on the district innovation school pilot program that authorizes a district school board to operate a district innovation school as a pilot program.
- Innovation schools would adopt and implement a blended learning program that could include differentiated instruction, data-driven placement, flexible scheduling, differentiated teaching, and self-paced learning.
- Provide delivery models for implementation of a school wide blended learning program.
- Exempt district innovation schools generally from the K-20 Education Code, but provide specific statutes within the code with which the schools must comply.
- Require identifiers for courses to designate their use for blended learning courses.
- Remove restrictions for students taking an online course across district lines.
- Prohibit a school district from requiring a student to take a course outside the school day that is in addition to the student’ s given courses for the term.
Similar bill SB 1436 is pending in the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education.
Bill: SB 904
Status: 04/16/2013 – Senate Placed on Special Order Calendar, 04/24/13
Relevant Elements: 6, 7
Florida SB 904 passed the Senate Rules Committee on April 9 as a substitute and is pending a second reading. As substituted, this bill would:
- Create the Florida Accredited Courses and Tests Initiative to expand student choice regarding courses and corresponding assessments, which a student may take to satisfy various secondary and postsecondary education requirements.
- Provide that approved Florida-accredited courses and corresponding assessments would be annually published in conjunction with the courses listed in the Statewide Course Numbering System and the Course Code Directory by the Articulation Coordinating Committee.
- Authorize any individual, institution, entity, or organization to create or provide the Florida-accredited courses.
- Enable students to take courses that are offered by qualified individuals and entities for credit to meet the requirements for promotion, graduation, and degree attainment at the secondary or postsecondary education level, provided the student passes approved assessments that indicate competency in the course content. This is consistent with the growing massive open online course trend.
- Revise virtual instruction program provider qualifications by removing a requirement regarding location of an administrative office in Florida and Florida residency of administrative staff.
- Require certain information to be posted and accessible regarding course instructors and technical support and require a minimum of one phone contact per month between students and instructors.
- Expand requirements regarding instructional staff to include staff that are certified as adjunct educators.
- Exempt individuals or organizations seeking to offer online courses from requirements regarding curriculum of full- and part-time programs, school policies and procedures, accreditation, annual financial audits, and school grades.
Bill: HB 7009
Status: 4/15/2013 – Senate Received -SJ 438
Relevant Elements: 1
Florida HB 7009 passed the House 87-29 on April 4 with amendments. It would:
- Require that the charter school would implement innovative blended learning instructional models in which a full-time student learns in part through online content with some element of student control over time, place, path or pace and in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home.
Idaho
Bill: SB 1199
Status: 4/11/2013 – Signed by Governor on 04/11/13 Session Law Chapter 338 Effective: 07/01/13 Sections 1, 3, 5, 6 & 8; 07/01/14 Sections 2, 4 & 7
Relevant Elements: 9
In Idaho SB 1199, sponsored by the Senate Affairs Committee, was delivered to Republican Gov. Butch Otter on April 5 who will have until April 15 to act on the measure. It would encompass two points of objection that Senate Education Committee Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, had felt were an “overstep” by the Joint Budget Committee in the original budget bill HB 323 which failed to pass the Senate, according to The Spokesman-Review. SB 1199 would appropriate $21 million for locally directed teacher merit bonuses and professional development in school districts as well as $3 million for grants in technology pilot projects. The school budget, SB 1200, which was signed by Governor Otter on April 9, funds the two items for one year but refers to SB 1199 to describe them. The signed budget gives a 2.2 percent school funding for next year.
SB 1199 would also create technology pilot project grants that would be available to public schools and public charter schools in multiple school districts. The grants would be for one or two years for technology pilot projects meant to improve student academic growth. The program would provide for a competitive grant process prescribed by the superintendent of public instruction. The program also provides requirements for grant applications under the program.
Indiana
Bill: SB 189
Status: 4/15/2013 – House conferees appointed: Huston and V. Smith; H House advisors appointed: Behning, Braun, Battles and Goodin
Relevant Elements: 2, 7
Indiana SB 189 passed the House Education Committee on April 2 with amendments and the House 95-0 on April 10. It would establish performance qualified school districts and high schools to provide flexibility in administration and instruction to school corporations or high schools that meet certain performance criteria. It would provide that a performance qualified school district or high school is exempt from certain education statutes, rules, and guidelines. It would establish the performance criteria that must be met and the statutes, rules, and guidelines with which a performance qualified school district or high school must continue to comply. As amended in the House it no longer contains AP provisions.
Oklahoma
Bill: SB 169
Status: 04/16/2013 – Sent to Governor
Relevant Elements: 2, 7
Oklahoma SB 169 passed the House Education Committee on April 3. It would establish that a virtual education provider offering full-time virtual education to non-resident students of the school district with which the provider is contracted to be considered a site within each school district with which the provider contracts. It would also require the virtual provider and the district with which it contracts to identify those students who are full-time virtual students and do not live in the physical boundaries of the district. The district and provider would submit as necessary detailed data on the performance of non-resident students who are receiving full-time instruction.
Pennsylvania
Bill: HB 1123
Status: 04/08/2013 – PN 1372 Referred to EDUCATION
Relevant Elements: 1, 2, 6
Pennsylvania HB 1123, sponsored by Rep. Gordon Denlinger, R-Ephrata, was introduced and referred to the House Education Committee on April 8. It would:
- Add the definition of online school as a school with at least one office located in the state which uses technology in order to provide a significant portion of its curriculum and to deliver a significant portion of instruction to its students through the internet or other electronic means and which would not include a cyber charter school.
- Amend the existing definition of private academic schools to include online schools.
- Require the Board of Private Academic Schools to promulgate rules and regulations and to establish policies, principles and standards necessary relating to online schools and which would address the unique provision of instruction and services to students by online schools and to provide for any additional requirements or exemptions as may be required to accommodate the ability of online schools to provide instruction and student services.
The bill would prohibit the Board from issuing a license to an online school until the rules and regulations required above are in effect.
Bill Updates:
- Alaska HB 190, sponsored by Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, passed the House Education Committee with amendments on April 8.
- Arkansas Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe signed SB 66/Act 601 on April 4.
- Arkansas HB 1785 passed the Senate Education Committee on April 10. Latest House amendments would provide that the bill would not authorize a government entity to provide directly or indirectly basic local exchange, voice, data, broadband, video, or wireless telecommunication service.
- Colorado SB 139 was delivered to Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper on April 10 who will have until April 20 to act on the measure.
- Hawaii SB 238 failed to pass a third reading on April 9 21-30. Latest amendments make technical changes and clarify that existing student instructional hour requirements are minimum requirements. House Education Committee amendments would narrow the definition of student instructional hours for secondary schools by removing unspecified activities to which a general learner outcome can be attached.
- Utah Republican Gov. Gary Herbert signed HB 393 on April 1 and will take effect on May 13.
- Washington SB 5496 passed the House Education Committee on March 28 and was placed on a second reading in the House on April 10.