Bill > SB0714

This bill establishes "educational oversight boards" for Local Education Agencies (LEAs), which are essentially school districts, that meet four or more of six specific criteria indicating underperformance. These criteria include low student proficiency in math and English language arts, a high percentage of schools with low letter grades, significant chronic absenteeism (defined as missing 10% or more of school days), priority school designations, and findings of mismanagement or leadership instability. If an LEA meets these criteria, the Commissioner of Education will notify relevant officials, and an oversight board, appointed by the Governor, Speaker of the House, and Speaker of the Senate, will be established for four years. This oversight board will conduct needs assessments, develop transformation plans to improve academic performance and operations, and have significant control over the LEA's budget, contracts, purchases, and even the authority to terminate employees, including the director of schools, if deemed necessary for improvement. The bill also creates a special fund to support these oversight boards and ensures that any provisions of the act that are found to be invalid will not affect the rest of the law.