H.B. 215 Enrolled

1

SCHOOL REPORTING AMENDMENTS
2 2007 GENERAL SESSION
3 STATE OF UTAH
4 Chief Sponsor: Karen W. Morgan
5 Senate Sponsor: Patricia W. Jones
6
7 LONG TITLE
8 General Description:
9 This bill modifies requirements for the reporting of certain data on public schools.
10 Highlighted Provisions:
11 This bill:
12 . specifies how average class size shall be calculated for the purpose of reporting
13 class size by grade and subject on annual school performance reports; and
14 . modifies the contents of the state superintendent's annual report.
15 Monies Appropriated in this Bill:
16 None
17 Other Special Clauses:
18 None
19 Utah Code Sections Affected:
20 AMENDS:
21 53A-1-301, as last amended by Chapter 2, Laws of Utah 2005, First Special Session
22 53A-3-602.5, as last amended by Chapters 210 and 244, Laws of Utah 2002
23
24 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
25 Section 1. Section 53A-1-301 is amended to read:
26 53A-1-301. Appointment -- Qualifications -- Duties.
27 (1) (a) The State Board of Education shall appoint a superintendent of public
28 instruction, hereinafter called the state superintendent, who is the executive officer of the board
29 and serves at the pleasure of the board.

30 (b) The board shall appoint the state superintendent on the basis of outstanding
31 professional qualifications.
32 (c) The state superintendent shall administer all programs assigned to the State Board
33 of Education in accordance with the policies and the standards established by the board.
34 (2) The superintendent shall develop a statewide education strategy focusing on core
35 academics, including the development of:
36 (a) core curriculum and graduation requirements;
37 (b) a process to select instructional materials that best correlate to the core curriculum
38 and graduation requirements that are supported by generally accepted scientific standards of
39 evidence;
40 (c) professional development programs for teachers, superintendents, and principals;
41 (d) remediation programs;
42 (e) a method for creating individual student learning targets, and a method of
43 measuring an individual student's performance toward those targets;
44 (f) progress-based assessments for ongoing performance evaluations of districts and
45 schools;
46 (g) incentives to achieve the desired outcome of individual student progress in core
47 academics, and which do not create disincentives for setting high goals for the students;
48 (h) an annual report card for school and district performance, measuring learning and
49 reporting progress-based assessments;
50 (i) a systematic method to encourage innovation in schools and school districts as they
51 strive to achieve improvement in their performance; and
52 (j) a method for identifying and sharing best demonstrated practices across districts and
53 schools.
54 (3) The superintendent shall perform duties assigned by the board, including the
55 following:
56 (a) investigating all matters pertaining to the public schools;
57 (b) adopting and keeping an official seal to authenticate the superintendent's official

58 acts;
59 (c) holding and conducting meetings, seminars, and conferences on educational topics;
60 (d) presenting to the governor and the Legislature each December a report of the public
61 school system for the preceding year to include:
62 (i) data on the general condition of the schools with recommendations considered
63 desirable for specific programs;
64 (ii) a complete statement of fund balances;
65 (iii) a complete statement of revenues by fund and source;
66 (iv) a complete statement of adjusted expenditures by fund, the status of bonded
67 indebtedness, the cost of new school plants, and school levies;
68 (v) a complete statement of state funds allocated to each of the state's 40 school
69 districts by source, including supplemental appropriations, and a complete statement of
70 expenditures by each district, including supplemental appropriations, by function and object as
71 outlined in the U.S. Department of Education publication "Financial Accounting for Local and
72 State School Systems";
73 (vi) a complete statement, by school district and charter school, of the amount of and
74 percentage increase or decrease in expenditures from the previous year attributed to:
75 (A) wage increases, with expenditure data for base salary adjustments identified
76 separately from step and lane expenditures;
77 (B) medical and dental premium cost adjustments; and
78 (C) adjustments in the number of teachers and other staff;
79 (vii) a statement that includes [such items as] fall enrollments, average membership,
80 high school graduates, licensed and classified employees, pupil-teacher ratios by grade,
81 pupil-adult ratios by grade, class sizes by grade, average salaries, applicable private school
82 data, and data from standardized norm-referenced tests in grades 5, 8, and 11 on each school
83 and district;
84 (viii) statistical information regarding incidents of delinquent activity in the schools or
85 at school-related activities with separate categories for:

86 (A) alcohol and drug abuse;
87 (B) weapon possession;
88 (C) assaults; and
89 (D) arson;
90 (ix) information about:
91 (A) the development and implementation of the strategy of focusing on core
92 academics;
93 (B) the development and implementation of competency-based education and
94 progress-based assessments; and
95 (C) the results being achieved under Subsections (3)(d)(ix)(A) and (B), as measured by
96 individual progress-based assessments and the comparison of Utah Students' progress with the
97 progress of students in other states using standardized norm-referenced tests as benchmarks;
98 and
99 (x) other statistical and financial information about the school system which the
100 superintendent considers pertinent;
101 (e) collecting and organizing education data into an automated decision support system
102 to facilitate school district and school improvement planning, accountability reporting and
103 performance recognition, and the evaluation of educational policy and program effectiveness to
104 include:
105 (i) data that are:
106 (A) comparable across schools and school districts;
107 (B) appropriate for use in longitudinal studies; and
108 (C) comprehensive with regard to the data elements required under applicable state or
109 federal law or state board rule;
110 (ii) features that enable users, most particularly school administrators, teachers, and
111 parents, to:
112 (A) retrieve school and school district level data electronically;
113 (B) interpret the data visually; and

114 (C) draw conclusions that are statistically valid; and
115 (iii) procedures for the collection and management of education data that:
116 (A) require the state superintendent of public instruction to:
117 (I) collaborate with school districts in designing and implementing uniform data
118 standards and definitions;
119 (II) undertake or sponsor research to implement improved methods for analyzing
120 education data;
121 (III) provide for data security to prevent unauthorized access to or contamination of the
122 data; and
123 (IV) protect the confidentiality of data under state and federal privacy laws; and
124 (B) require all school districts to comply with the data collection and management
125 procedures established under Subsection (3)(e);
126 (f) administering and implementing federal educational programs in accordance with
127 Title 53A, Chapter 1, Part 9, Implementing Federal Programs Act; and
128 (g) with the approval of the board, preparing and submitting to the governor a budget
129 for the board to be included in the budget that the governor submits to the Legislature.
130 (4) Upon leaving office, the state superintendent shall deliver to his successor all
131 books, records, documents, maps, reports, papers, and other articles pertaining to his office.
132 (5) For the purpose of Subsection(3)(d)(vii):
133 (a) a pupil-teacher ratio shall be calculated by dividing the total number of students in a
134 grade at a school by the total number of licensed classroom teachers in that grade at the school;
135 and
136 (b) an adult-student ratio shall be calculated by dividing the total number of students in
137 a grade at a school by the total number of adults who work with students in an instructional
138 setting in that grade at the school.
139 Section 2. Section 53A-3-602.5 is amended to read:
140 53A-3-602.5. School performance report -- Components -- Annual filing.
141 (1) The State Board of Education in collaboration with the state's 40 school districts

142 shall develop a school performance report to inform the state's residents of the quality of
143 schools and the educational achievement of students in the state's public education system.
144 (2) The report shall be written and include the following statistical data for each school
145 in each school district, as applicable, and shall also aggregate the data at the district and state
146 level:
147 (a) except as provided in Subsection (2)(a)(ii), test scores over the previous year on:
148 (i) norm-referenced achievement tests;
149 (ii) criterion-referenced tests beginning with the 2001-02 school year, to include the
150 scores aggregated for all students by grade level or course for the previous two years and an
151 indication of whether there was a sufficient magnitude of gain in the scores between the two
152 years;
153 (iii) writing assessments required under Section 53A-1-603 ; and
154 (iv) tenth grade basic skills competency tests required under Section 53A-1-603 ;
155 (b) college entrance examinations data, including the number and percentage of each
156 graduating class taking the examinations for the previous four years;
157 (c) advanced placement and concurrent enrollment data, including:
158 (i) the number of students taking advanced placement and concurrent enrollment
159 courses;
160 (ii) the number and percent of students taking a specific advanced placement course
161 who take advanced placement tests to receive college credit for the course;
162 (iii) of those students taking the test referred to in Subsection (2)(c)(ii), the number and
163 percent who pass the test; and
164 (iv) of those students taking a concurrent enrollment course, the number and percent of
165 those who receive college credit for the course;
166 (d) the number and percent of students through grade ten reading at or above grade
167 level;
168 (e) the number and percent of students who were absent from school ten days or more
169 during the school year;

170 (f) achievement gaps that reflect the differences in achievement of various student
171 groups as defined by State Board of Education rule;
172 (g) the number and percent of "student dropouts" within the district as defined by State
173 Board of Education rule;
174 (h) course-taking patterns and trends in secondary schools;
175 (i) student mobility;
176 (j) staff qualifications, to include years of professional service and the number and
177 percent of staff who have a degree or endorsement in their assigned teaching area and the
178 number and percent of staff who have a graduate degree;
179 (k) the number and percent of parents who participate in SEP, SEOP, and
180 parent-teacher conferences;
181 (l) average class size by grade level and subject;
182 (m) average daily attendance as defined by State Board of Education rule, including
183 every period in secondary schools; and
184 (n) enrollment totals disaggregated with respect to race, ethnicity, gender, limited
185 English proficiency, and those students who qualify for free or reduced price school lunch.
186 (3) The State Board of Education, in collaboration with the state's school districts, shall
187 provide for the collection and electronic reporting of the following data for each school in each
188 school district:
189 (a) test scores and trends over the previous four years on the tests referred to in
190 Subsection (2)(a);
191 (b) the average grade given in each math, science, and English course in grades 9
192 through 12 for which criteria-referenced tests are required under Section 53A-1-603 ;
193 (c) incidents of student discipline as defined by State Board of Education rule,
194 including suspensions, expulsions, and court referrals; and
195 (d) the number and percent of students receiving fee waivers and the total dollar
196 amount of fees waived.
197 (4) (a) (i) The State Board of Education shall adopt common definitions and data

198 collection procedures for local school boards to use in collecting and forwarding the data
199 required under Subsections (2) and (3) to the state superintendent of public instruction.
200 (ii) Average class size by grade and subject shall be calculated for the purposes of
201 Subsection (2)(l) in accordance with the following:
202 (A) for kindergarten through grade six, average class size by grade shall be calculated
203 by dividing grade membership on October 1 by the number of classes in the corresponding
204 grade; and
205 (B) for grades seven through twelve, average class size shall be calculated for core
206 language arts, mathematics, and science courses by dividing membership on October 1 in core
207 language arts, mathematics, or science course classes by the number of classes for the
208 corresponding course.
209 (b) The state board, through the state superintendent of public instruction, shall adopt
210 standard reporting forms and provide a common template for collecting and reporting the data,
211 which shall be used by all school districts.
212 (c) The state superintendent shall use the automated decision support system referred to
213 in Section 53A-1-301 to collect and report the data required under Subsections (2) and (3).
214 (5) (a) For the school year ending June 30, 2003, and for each year thereafter, the state
215 board, through the state superintendent of public instruction, shall issue its report annually by
216 October 1 to include the required data from the previous school year or years as indicated in
217 Subsections (2) and (3).
218 (b) The state board shall determine the nature and extent of longitudinal data to be
219 reported under Subsections (2)(b), (c), and (d) and (3)(a) during the first three years of the
220 reporting program, with the baseline reporting year beginning July 1, 2002 and ending June 30,
221 2003.
222 (6) (a) Each local school board shall receive a written or an electronic copy of the
223 report from the state superintendent of public instruction containing the data for that school
224 district in a clear summary format and have it distributed, on a one per household basis, to the
225 residence of students enrolled in the school district before November 30th of each year.

226 (b) Each local school board and the state board shall have a complete report of the
227 statewide data available for copying or in an electronic format at their respective offices.