701 KAR 5:100.

Guidelines for alternative models for school-based decision making.

 

      RELATES TO: KRS

160.345

      STATUTORY

AUTHORITY: KRS 156.070, 160.345

      NECESSITY,

FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY: The State Board for Elementary and Secondary

Education is directed by KRS 160.345(7) to review for approval applications for

alternative models for school-based decision making. This administrative

regulation establishes approval guidelines for alternative models for school-

based decision making.

 

      Section 1. The

membership of school councils shall be maintained at the 3-2-1 ratio set forth

in KRS 160.345(2) so that parental membership shall not fall below one-third

(1/3) of voting members. Any representation of classified staff or of students

on the school council shall either be as nonvoting members of the council or on

committees advisory to the council, whichever the council itself shall decide.

 

      Section 2. (1)

If a school can demonstrate that it had in operation prior to July 13, 1990, a

successful school-based decision making model composed of a different

membership than specified in KRS 160.345(2), it may apply to the State Board

for Elementary and Secondary Education for approval of its model under KRS

160.345(7) regarding alternative models. Priority for approval of alternative

models shall be given to those preexisting models which add parents in numbers

sufficient to meet the 3-2-1 statutory configuration.

      (2) To

demonstrate that a school had a formal, operational, decision-making entity in

place before July 13, 1990, it shall submit written evidence of decisions and

actions taken by the decision-making body and implemented in the school. Groups

that were informal and advisory in that they were dealing with peripheral

issues not covered in the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 shall not

qualify for alternative model approval.

      (3) In the case

of requests for approval of alternative models which were in operation prior to

July 13, 1990, the school shall show evidence that the model in existence has

been subjected to review, evaluation, and recommendation regarding its

continuation by representatives of the parents, students, certified personnel,

and the administrators of the school, and that two-thirds (2/3) of the faculty

(all certified members of the school including any itinerant teacher assigned

to the school for payroll purposes) have agreed to apply for the continued use

of that model for school- based decision making.

 

      Section 3. Each

application for alternative models from schools which began school-based

decision making after July 13, 1990, shall be based on the 3-2-1 statutory

configuration so that parental membership shall not fall below one-third (1/3)

of voting members, shall have no more than two (2) year terms of office, and

shall show any student or classified staff representation as nonvoting or

advisory. The other requests shall be approved or rejected after a case-by-case

review by the board and recommendation by the Department of Education.

 

      Section 4. KRS

160.345(7) stipulates that the school shall submit its application for an

alternative model "through" the local board to the Commissioner of

Education and the State Board for Elementary and Secondary Education for

approval. The state board interprets that provision to mean that the local board

shall transmit the request to the state as quickly as possible. In exercising

this function, the local board is serving as transmittal agent and shall not

have the right to delay or deny a school's request for an alternative model.

 

      Section 5. All

alternative models approved by the state board pursuant to any provision

contained in this administrative regulation shall be valid for and indefinite

period, subject to continuous review by the state board. This approval for an

indefinite period, subject to continuous review by the state board, shall apply

to all alternative models approved prior to and subsequent to the date of

enactment of this administrative regulation.

 

      Section 6. The

Kentucky Department of Education shall keep records of all schools which apply

for, and all schools which are granted, an alternative model for school-based

decision making.  (18 Ky.R. 219; Am. 685; eff. 9-6-91; 21 Ky.R. 2241; eff.

6-1-95.)