SB32: Bill Text

Note: The bill creates a new "Achievement Gap Reduction" program section of the statutes to replace the SAGE program. This subsection provides that school districts and schools that are currently participating in SAGE will be eligible to participate in the AGR program.

SB32,4,13 (3) Contract. The school board of an eligible school district may enter into a 5-year contract with the department on behalf of one or more schools in the school district that are eligible under sub. (2) (b). No achievement gap reduction contract entered into under this section may include a waiver of any requirement of or rule promulgated under the authority of this section.

SB32,4,17 (4) Requirements. (a) Strategies: class size; instructional coaching; tutoring. The department shall require a school board that has entered into a contract under sub. (3) to implement one or more of the following strategies in each participating school:

SB32,4,20 1. Provide professional development related to small group instruction and reduce the class size in one or more classes in one or more participating grades to one of the following:

SB32,4,21 a. No more than 18.

SB32,5,2 b. No more than 30 in a combined classroom having at least 2 regular classroom teachers.

SB32,5,7 2. Provide data-driven instructional coaching for one or more teachers of one or more participating grades. The instruction shall be provided by licensed teachers who possess appropriate content knowledge to assist classroom teachers in improving instruction in math or reading and possess expertise in reducing the achievement gap.

SB32,5,12 3. Provide data-informed, one-to-one tutoring to pupils in one or more classes in one or more participating grades who are struggling with reading or mathematics or both subjects. Tutoring shall be provided during regular school hours by a licensed teacher using an instructional program found to be effective by the What Works Clearinghouse of the Institute of Education Sciences.

SB32,5,15 (b) Annual reporting. The department shall require a school board that has entered into a contract under sub. (3) to annually report all of the following to the department:

SB32,5,18 1. Before November 1 of each school year, a brief description of the strategies identified under par. (a) that the school board intends to implement in each participating grade in each participating school.

SB32,5,21 2.   Before the last day of each school year, a brief description of the strategies identified under par. (a) that the school board did implement in each participating grade in each participating school.

SB32,6,3 (c) Goals. Each contract entered into under sub. (3) shall include a description of the performance objectives for the academic achievement of the pupils enrolled in participating grades in each participating school and the formative and summative assessments that will be used to evaluate success in attaining those objectives. The school board and participating schools shall identify specific, measurable, and achievable performance objectives, including reducing the achievement gap in math and reading in each participating grade.

SB32,6,8 (d) School board review. The school district shall require each participating school to present information regarding the school's implementation of the contract requirements under par. (a), its performance objectives under par. (c), and its success in attaining the objectives to the school board at the end of every semester of the contract.

Note: Contracts signed under the AGR program must require a participating school to implement one of three strategies, or a combination of the three. The three strategies include: (a) small class sizes of 18:1 or 30:2 and professional development related to small group instruction; (b) data-driven instructional coaching for teachers; or (c) data-informed one-to-one tutoring for students at risk of difficulty with math or reading.

An AGR contract must also require annual reporting to DPI. A school district must report at the beginning of the school year what strategies it intends to use, and must report by the end of the year what strategies it did use.

Further, an AGR contract must require a school to set performance objectives that include reducing the achievement gap for low-income pupils in math and reading and to specify the assessments the school will use to determine if it achieved the objectives.

Finally, an AGR contract must require a school to describe its implementation of the program and report its objectives and its success in achieving them to the school board every semester.

SB32,6,12 (5) Contract renewals. (a) Except as provided in par. (b), a contract under this section may be renewed for one or more terms of 5 school years. No achievement gap reduction contract renewed under this section may include a waiver of any requirement of or rule promulgated under the authority of this section.

SB32,6,15 (b) The department may not renew a contract with a school district on behalf of a participating school if the department determines that the school board has failed to comply with the terms of the contract under sub. (4).

Note: Prohibits DPI from renewing an AGR contract with a school district on behalf of any school that fails to comply with the contractual requirements.

SB32,7,2 (6) State aid. (a) In this subsection, "amount appropriated" means the amount under s. 20.255 (2) (cu) in any fiscal year less $250,000.

SB32,7,6 (b) From the appropriation under s. 20.255 (2) (cu), the department shall pay to each school district that has entered into a contract with the department under this section $2,027.25 multiplied by the number of low-income pupils enrolled in a participating grade.

SB32,7,8 (c) The school board shall use the aid under this section to satisfy the terms of the contract.

SB32,7,11 (d) The department shall cease payments under this section to any school district if the school board withdraws from the contract before expiration of the contract.

SB32,7,13 (e) The department shall promulgate rules to implement and administer the payment of state aid under this subsection.

SB32,7,18 (f) Limitations on payment. If a school fails to implement the requirements under sub. (4) (a) in a participating grade for which the department has made payment, the school board of the district shall, upon the request of the department, reimburse the department the amount paid for the participating grade on the school's behalf for the school year in which the requirements were not implemented.

Note: Largely maintains language related to state funding and evaluation from the SAGE statute. The Section applies the existing appropriation and funding for the SAGE program to the newly created AGR program, but changes the appropriation from a sum certain to a sum sufficient to provide the per-pupil amount awarded to schools participating in SAGE in the 2013-14 school year. While current law establishes a maximum per-pupil payment of $2,250 for each low-income SAGE pupil, the current appropriation of $108.9 million was not sufficient to provide the full per-pupil payment and therefore payments were prorated for 2013-14 at 90.1 percent, resulting in a per-pupil payment of $2,027.25.

Unlike the SAGE program, the AGR program requires the school district to return the funds paid for a participating grade for any school year in which the school does not implement the strategies required under the AGR contract under sub. (4) in that grade.

As in the SAGE statute, the Section maintains the $250,000 allocation for evaluation of the program and requires DPI to promulgate rules regarding payment of state aid.

SB32,8,3 (7) Evaluation. (a) Beginning in the 2017-18 school year, the department shall arrange for an annual evaluation of the program under this section and shall allocate from the appropriation under s. 20.255 (2) (cu) $250,000 for that purpose.

SB32,8,6 (b) The entity performing the evaluation under this subsection shall distribute each such evaluation to each school district that has entered into a contract under sub. (3).

Note: Requires DPI to arrange for yearly evaluation of the AGR program following the first year of implementation. As in the SAGE statute, the subsection also budgets $250,000 for this evaluation. Unlike the SAGE statute, the subsection requires the evaluation to be sent to each participating school district.

SB32,8,7 (End)