The following is a summary of the major portions of HB 1187. This summary contains the final version of the bill as reported by the conference committee. The bill is over 175 pages long and it is impossible to detail everything.

• Allows juvenile courts to fine parents for failing to attend parent-teacher conferences. Gives juvenile courts the authority to order parents to participate in "programs or treatment" that the court determines necessary to improve student behavior. This applies only to those chronic disciplinary problem students.

• Requires local school superintendents to make reports to their local boards and to the public in response to financial deficits or budget irregularities. The State Board of Education shall require local boards to do corrective action plans.

• If a school is consistently underperforming, the local board of education may request from a RESA an instructional care team. RESAs must develop a registry of potential instructional care team members. Each RESA shall provide rules and regulations for the purchase of the services of an instructional care team. If the money is appropriated, RESAs may be provided grants for the purpose of facilitating the development and implementation of instructional care teams.

• Mandates school councils at each school. The councils must be made up of the principal of the school, two parents, two teachers, and two businesspersons. The duties of the councils are to provide advice, recommendations, and assistance to the local board. School councils are advisory bodies and shall provide advice and recommendations to the school principal and the local board on any matter, including curriculum, budget, principal selection, and the performance of school personnel. Local boards are to devolve such authority to school councils as deemed appropriate. The local board of education must "respond to each recommendation within 60 days."
• Council members must participate in any hearing mandated by the State Board of Education related to unacceptable performance of the school or recommended interventions.
• The councils are to be provided initial and midterm allotment sheets for the school.
• School councils shall be reflective of the school community.
• The principal of each school must provide at least a two-week notice before the meeting of each electing body. The electing body for the parent representatives is all parents and guardians and the electing body for the teachers is all certificated personnel.
• The State Board of Education shall develop model bylaws for the councils.

• The law is clarified so that Physical Education is no longer mandatory by law. The State Board has by rule made Physical Education and Health mandatory for grades K-5 for 90 hours of instruction per year. 1 unit of Health and Physical Education is still required for graduation purposes.

• There is created an Early Intervention Program in kindergarten and a Primary Grades Early Intervention Program in grades 1-3. These programs are for students performing below grade level. It is suggested that 25 percent of students will qualify for these programs. The Office of Education Accountability and the State Board of Education both have responsibility for administering and setting the definitions for who qualifies for the Early Intervention Programs. The Education Coordinating Council also must adopt the standards and definitions for these programs.
• Special education students are eligible for this program, but may only be counted for funding for either the early intervention program or a special education category.
• The school must provide timely notice and an opportunity for a conference with the student and his or her parents or guardians to discuss the student’s developmental deficiencies and options for addressing those deficiencies.
• Students should be "moved into this program, provided assistance, and moved out of this program."
• Delivery models may include, but are not limited to, class augmentation, pull-out or self-contained classes, and the Reading Recovery Program.

• In-school suspension is eliminated as a separate program.

• The English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program is no longer a grant. That funding is rolled into the general formula. The teacher-pupil funding ratio for ESOL classes is 1:7. The State Board of Education will establish the maximum class size for this program.

• The extended day program for students in grades 9-12 has been reinstated and funded. There are additional funds for an extra 20 days which local systems may use to either extend the school day or school year. However, these days are to be used for remediation of low performing students.
• Non-vocational lab funding has been eliminated.

The new class sizes are funded as follows:

• Kindergarten - 1:15
• Kindergarten Early Intervention Program - 1:11
• Grades 1-3 - 1:17
• Grades 1-3 Early Intervention Program - 1:11
• Grades 4-5 - 1:23
• Middle Grades Program - 1:23
• Middle School Program - 1:20
• High School - 1:23
• Vocational Labs - 1:20
• Category I Special Education - 1:8
• Category II Special Education - 1:6.5
• Category III Special Education - 1:5
• Category IV Special Education - 1:3
• Category V Special Education - 1:8
• Gifted - 1:12
• Remedial Education - 1:15
• Alternative Education - 1:15

The Governor is required to appoint a task force to review these funding formulas every three years.

• Changes equalization funding up to the 75^th percentile instead of the 90^th percentile.
• Equalization funding "may be adjusted" to allow for systems who lose money as a result of the change. Any adjustment shall not be in place for more than five years.
• Beginning with FY 2002, a midterm adjustment in a local school system’s equalization grant shall be made if the system increases its actual millage rate and ranks at or below the 75th percentile.
• Allotment sheets will be issued for each school rather than for each system. Each school shall spend a minimum of 90 percent of funds designated for direct instructional costs at the school site. However, funds earned for special education programs shall be summed. One hundred percent of funds earned for direct instructional salaries shall be expended on teachers and aides. Ninety percent of the funds designated for media center costs must be spent at each school site where the funds are earned.
• In connection with the statewide educational information system, there must also be a uniform budget and accounting system established with input from the Office of Educational Accountability and the Education Coordinating Council.
• The state will reduce funding for all administrative salaries of schools which are deemed to be failing for three years and who have not implemented interventions. However, these schools shall continue to earn funds for nurses, secretaries, visiting teachers, school psychologists, and accountants.
• The code section regarding program weights for vocational laboratory program supervisors has been restored and funded.
• Funding for staff and professional development has been lowered from 1 ½% of salaries to 1%.

• Funding is provided for nursing services. There are funds allocated for one nurse per system (using a $20,000 salary), and additional funds allocated on an FTE basis ($18.89 per FTE).
• Each local board of education shall establish policies and procedures regarding the school health nurse program.

• Guidance counselors are required to spend at least five of six periods counseling or advising students and parents.
• Funding for middle school counselors has been changed to 1:624. Funding for elementary school counselors will now be at 1:462.

• Maximum class sizes may not exceed the funding class size by more than 20 percent, unless specifically authorized by the State Board of Education. The 20 percent maximum may not be exceeded for mathematics, science, social studies, or English classes. The maximum class size for grades 1-3 shall not exceed 20 percent except for art, music, and physical education classes.
• The State Board of Education shall establish the maximum class sizes for special education, gifted, and ESOL classes.
• For a period not to exceed four years, local school systems shall be allowed to exceed the maximum class sizes. The State Board of Education shall lower the class sizes proportionately each year until the 2003-2004 school year when the sizes must comply with this Code section. An aide may be used to increase the maximum class size in kindergarten from 18 to 20 students and may be used in other classes as established by the State Board of Education rule. However, an aide may not be used to increase the class size in grades 1-3. The actual class size reduction schedule can be found at 160-5-1-.08.
• The middle school program shall use the funding ratio of the middle grades program.
• The maximum class size for grades K-3 refers to the number of students in a physical classroom.

• Mandates that holders of a renewable certificate must pass a computer skills competency test before they can receive certification renewal. Successful completion of the phase one InTech model training at a state educational technology training center or a State Board of Education approved redelivery team shall be acceptable for certificate renewal purposes.
• Teacher evaluations must include evaluation of student achievement and communication skills with parents, students, teachers, administrators and others.
• Principals and assistant principals must be evaluated by a trained evaluator and may be evaluated by the teachers in the school , if required by the local school superintendent.
• All certificated personnel must be evaluated by a trained evaluator.
• If student assessments have not been administered and scored at the time of evaluation, the evaluation shall be performed on the basis of information available at the time. As results of student assessments subsequently become available. An addendum to the initial report shall be completed and become part of the teacher’s cumulative evaluative record, and these cumulative student assessment results may be used in a teacher’s subsequent annual evaluations.
• Applicants for renewal of teaching or administrative certificates must demonstrate that they have worked as a teacher in a classroom for at least five days or have completed a teacher training course.
• Teachers have the right to request and receive written notice stating why their contract is not renewed.
• Background checks are required of all school personnel and are required of all certificated personnel upon any application for certificate renewal.
• Teachers will not advance a step on the salary schedule if they receive an unsatisfactory evaluation.
• A person who has received two unsatisfactory annual performance evaluations in a five-year period shall not be entitled to a renewable certificate.
• Teachers receiving National Board Certification will receive a 10 percent increase in salary.
• In schools and school systems where there is an insufficient supply of qualified teachers in mathematics, science, special education, or foreign language, teachers may be advanced an additional step on the salary schedule if they agree to teach in these areas. The Office of Educational Accountability shall decide whether a school or a system is experiencing a shortage. This program is dependent on funding from the General Assembly.

• Local boards of education may not employ or promote any person who is a member of the immediate family of any board member, unless a public, recorded vote is taken on such employment or promotion as a separate matter from any other personnel matter. The board member whose family member is being considered may not vote.

• Elementary school construction projects are to be given a priority in funding. Also, existing buildings can be renovated more than once.

• Duty-free lunches are mandated in grades K-5 and are no longer dependent on funding from the General Assembly.

• Mandates all school systems, as well as all technical schools and colleges and universities, belong to a RESA. Also, each RESA board of control must contain a public library director. RESAs will be responsible for training school councils, training and assisting in the school subjects being assessed, providing assistance for schools designated as failing schools, and assisting the RESA members in complying with the rules of the Educational Coordinating Council and State Board of Education.
• RESA shall annually develop a regional plan for improvement of educational efficiency and cost effectiveness of its member institutions.

• Removes the current requirements of a state strategic plan and reporting by the Georgia Department of Education. Also removes the current requirement for complying with Public School Standards. Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) accredited schools will no longer be exempt.
• Mandates Criterion Reference Competency Tests (CRCTs) in grades 1-8. English, language arts, math and reading will be assessed in grades 1-8. Science and social studies will be added for grades 3-8. End-of-course tests in high school for core subject areas will be developed. Georgia shall participate in a norm-referenced test and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Georgia may also participate in any other national or international performance tests. (This might include Achieve and International TMSS.) Note: There is no funding for the on-line version of these CRCTs.
• The High School Graduation Tests will be eliminated when the end of course tests are put in place.
• Any possible funding for locally developed assessments is eliminated.
• The State Board of Education may grant waivers until FY 2003 to local school boards exempting those boards from administration of the state criterion-reference competency tests at any or all of the subject areas and grade levels for which the local school board implements locally developed criterion referenced competency tests based on the Quality Core Curriculum which increases expectations for student achievement beyond the state criterion reference competency tests.
• Local boards of education shall have the option of allowing scores on end-of-course assessments to be counted as part of a student’s grade in the course.

• The Council for School Performance is eliminated.

• The requirements for the middle school program stay exactly the same for the next school year, with 85 minutes of common planning time.
• Beginning with the 2001-2002 school year, local boards of education shall schedule each middle school so a to give a minimum of 5 hours of instruction in language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and other academic subjects as defined by the State Board.
• There has to be a common planning time of between 55 and 85 minutes for the interdisciplinary team of academic teachers.
• The local board of education shall have the authority to schedule exploratory and physical education classes for the remainder of the school day.
• For students below grade level, any additional time shall be used for academic instruction.
• Until the accountability system is in place, any middle school with a combined total of 65% scoring good or very good in the previous school year on the first administration of the Eighth Grade Writing Test and at the 65^th percentile or above on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills eighth grade composite score, the local board is only required to have 4 ½ hours of academic instruction.
• After the implementation of the accountability system, for any middle school scoring and A or B on the absolute standard, the local board is only required to have 4 ½ hours of academic instruction.

• Allows parents or guardians of students who live closer to a school other than the one to which they are assigned to request to attend the closer school, even if the school is across county lines If crossing county lines, the receiving system can bill the sending system for the costs of the student. The receiving system may petition the state to pay any difference between what that system expends to educate the child and the amount paid by the sending system.
• Any transfer is dependent on there being permanent space available.

• The compulsory attendance age is lowered from seven to six. There is created voluntary pre-enrollment of two-year-olds in local school systems. Parents must include a certification of immunization as a condition of pre-enrollment.

• Creates Promise Scholarships in teacher education for paraprofessionals and instructional aides who were employed in a public school in Georgia throughout the 1999-2000 school year.

• A steering committee for hardware/software specifications and updates is created. This committee will establish the specifications for a statewide student information system to be created by 2003.
• The State Data and Research Center shall develop and collect data for and operate the student information system, and the fund accounting system and the salary data system. According to the Office of Planning and Budget, this center will become the hub of the instructional technology system. Local school systems will send data directly to this Center.
• The Office of Planning and Budget shall collect from local school systems information to verify the proper expenditure of funds and employment of positions funded in the Quality Basic Education formula and categorical grants.

• In-school suspension and alternative schools have been combined to create alternative programs. In-school suspension may be included as a type of alternative program. The Office of Educational Accountability determines what is an acceptable performance of alternative education programs.
• The intent of the alternative education program is to meet the education needs of a student suspended from his or her regular classroom and also of a student who is eligible to remain in his or her regular classroom but is more likely to succeed in a nontraditional setting.
• Funding for the alternative education program shall be based on 2.5 percent of the full-time equivalent count for grades 6 through 12. For the 2001-2002 school year and thereafter, the funds shall be allocated based on the actual count of students served not to exceed 2.5 percent of the full-time equivalent count.

• The fair dismissal provisions have been removed for teachers first becoming a teacher after July 1.
• "A person who first becomes a teacher on or after July 1, 2000, shall not acquire any rights . . . to continued employment with respect to any position as a teacher. A teacher who had acquired any rights to continued employment...prior to July 1, 2000, shall retain such rights."

• Allows the State Board of Education to grant a charter school petition if the local board of education refuses. The State Board of Education can call for a local tax referendum to support the charter school.
• Charter schools shall be subject to all the provisions of chapter 14 of Title 20, the accountability system.

• Funding for technical schools will now be on a formula basis based on enrollment.

• The Governor may appoint study commissions as he deems appropriate to study education questions, issue findings and make recommendations to the Education Coordinating Council. This provision will go into effect upon signature to allow the current Education Reform Commission to continue.

• The Education Coordinating Council (ECC) is created. The ECC members are the Governor, the State School Superintendent, the chair of the State Board of Education, the chancellor of The University System of Georgia, the chair of the Board of Regents, the commissioner of the Department of Technical and Adult Education, the chair of the State Board of Technical and Adult Education, the executive secretary of the Professional Standards Commission, the chair of the Professional Standards Commission, and the director of the Office of School Readiness.
• The Governor shall be the chair of the Education Coordinating Council and meetings are to be held quarterly. The staff for the ECC is selected from the department, boards, and offices represented on the Council, the Office of Planning and Budget, and the Office of Education Accountability.
• The powers of the ECC include making and executing contracts and other legal instruments, applying for and accepting gifts and federal grants, depositing and investing funds, and promulgating rules and regulations. The ECC is assigned 15 duties, some of which include exercising oversight of accountability systems in other departments and coordinating the activities of state, regional, and local cooperative public education agencies, offices, or councils.
• All departments, agencies, and boards are required to give the ECC access to whatever records it desires. The judicial and legislative branches are authorized to likewise provide such access to the Council.
• The Office of Education Accountability (OEA) is also created. The Governor appoints the director and sets his/her salary. The director serves at the pleasure of the Governor and is subject to the policies set by the Education Coordinating Council. The director hires and fires employees.
• The OEA is directed to establish accountability policies and standards for the state. The OEA will establish the "official" report card. The OEA’s report on K-12 accountability is due in 2001. The other agencies’ report cards are due in 2002.
• The Governor and the OEA will give rewards to successful schools. The State Board of Education is given the task of mandating interventions for failing schools, including appointing special masters, mandating school improvement teams, removal of school personnel, allow for a state charter school, mandating the complete reconstitution of the school and hiring all new staff and mandating that parents have the option to relocate to another public school in the district.
• The OEA has the authority to promulgate rules and require reporting.
• The OEA develops and both the Council and the State Board of Education adopt a definition for which students are performing "below grade level" and the definition of "dropout." It is charged with setting the pass score for the CRCT and end of course tests.

• All parts of the bill became effective on July 1, 2000.