Bill Text: GA SB291 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Education; Georgia's Pre-K Program; change the funding source; provide for student enrollment counts for children

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-04-14 - Senate Read and Referred [SB291 Detail]

Download: Georgia-2011-SB291-Introduced.html

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11 LC 33 4292

Senate Bill 291

By: Senator Hill of the 4th

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT

To amend Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to education, so as to change the funding source for Georgia's Pre-K Program; to provide for student enrollment counts for children in Georgia's Pre-K Program; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:

SECTION 1.

Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to education, is amended by revising paragraph (1) of Code Section 20-1A-4, relating to the powers and duties of the Department of Early Care and Learning, as follows:

"(1) To administer such programs and services as may be necessary for the operation and management of voluntary pre-kindergarten, which shall be known as 'Georgia's Pre-K Program'; provided, however, that beginning in school year 2013-2014, state funding for such programs shall be provided in the same manner as the kindergarten program pursuant to Code Section 20-2-161, and the available enrollment slots and approved programs shall be fixed at the same levels and for the same programs which received state funding under Georgia's Pre-K Program in Fiscal Year 2013, which shall only be increased at the direction of the State Board of Education when additional funding is made available by the General Assembly to expand Georgia's Pre-K Program;"

SECTION 2.

Said title is further amended by revising subsection (a) of Code Section 20-2-160, relating to determination of enrollment by institutional program, as follows:

"(a) The State Board of Education shall designate the specific dates upon which two counts of students enrolled in each instructional program authorized under this article shall be made each school year and by which the counts shall be reported to the Department of Education. The initial enrollment count shall be made after October 1 but prior to November 17 and the final enrollment count after March 1 but prior to May 1. The report shall indicate the student's specific assigned program for each one-sixth segment of the school day on the designated reporting date. No program shall be indicated for a student for any one-sixth segment of the school day that the student is assigned to a study hall; a noncredit course; a course recognized under this article or by state board policy as an enrichment course, except a driver education course; a course which requires participation in an extracurricular activity for which enrollment is on a competitive basis; a course in which the student serves as a student assistant to a teacher, in a school office, or in the media center, except when such placement is an approved work site of a recognized career or vocational program; an individual study course for which no outline of course objectives is prepared in writing prior to the beginning of the course; a course taken through the Georgia Virtual School pursuant to Code Section 20-2-319.1; or any other course or activity so designated by the state board. For the purpose of this Code section, the term 'enrichment course' means a course which does not dedicate a major portion of the class time toward the development and enhancement of one or more student competencies as adopted by the state board under Code Section 20-2-140. A program shall not be indicated for a student for any one-sixth segment of the school day for which the student is not enrolled in an instructional program or has not attended a class or classes within the preceding ten days; nor shall a program be indicated for a student for any one-sixth segment of the school day for which the student is charged tuition or fees or is required to provide materials or equipment beyond those authorized pursuant to Code Section 20-2-133. A student who is enrolled in an eligible institution under the program established in Code Section 20-2-161.1 may be counted for the high school program for only that portion of the day that the student is attending the high school for those segments that are eligible to be counted under this subsection. The state board shall adopt such regulations and criteria as necessary to ensure objective and true counts of students in state approved instructional programs. The state board shall also establish criteria by which students shall be counted as resident or nonresident students, including specific circumstances which may include, but not be limited to, students attending another local school system under court order or under the terms of a contract between two local school systems. If a local school system has a justifiable reason, it may seek authority from the state board to shift full-time equivalent program counts from the designated date to a requested alternate date. Beginning in school year 2013-2014, the state board shall determine enrollment counts for pre-kindergarten programs operated by local school systems pursuant to Georgia's Pre-K Program. Such counts shall be fixed at the same enrollment counts and for the same programs which received state funding under Georgia's Pre-K Program in Fiscal Year 2013."

SECTION 3.

All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.