Authorizes two or more school districts in certain supervisory districts to enter into a contract to establish and operate a regional high school

Summary of specific provisions

The Education Law is amended by adding a new article 39-A with new Section 1920, and by adding a new paragraph to Subdivision 14 of Section 3602 of the education law regarding regional high school incentive aid.

Section 1920: authorizes two or more school districts that are wholly contained within the same BOCES district to enter into a contract to allow a hosting school district to operate a regional high school, subject to approval by the Commissioner.

The bill provides that in order for school districts to form a regional high school, school boards must first vote to give the school authority to formally pursue the formation of a regional high school by proposing a contract for its operation. Then, there must be a public meeting not less than thirty days in advance of a public vote to be held on the proposed resolution to form a regional high school contract. The public must then approve the resolution by an aggregate majority vote of all voters from all the school districts considering the question of whether or not to form a regional high school.

Next, the participating school districts must finalize and submit the contract to the Commissioner of Education for approval. The final step to form the regional high school is for the Commissioner to certify that the regional high school will expand and improve the educational services to students and can result in administrative efficiencies. Once the Commissioner has approved the contract, the new regional high school is formed as a legal entity.

The contract shall be for a minimum of five years and with the approval of the Commissioner may be renewed by mutual agreement of the respective boards of education. In the case of unforeseen circumstances, the contract may be modified with the consent of the majority of each of the school boards and the approval of the commissioner.

The contract shall also stipulate the manner of transportation of the students and that the cost shall be charged to the student's district of residence. The regional high school shall also operate its own extracurricular activities and athletics, except in the case of modified athletic teams, mixed grade music and band programs and joint grade extracurricular programs.

Students of the regional high school shall be deemed to be enrolled in the regional high school except for purposes of state aid, in which case their attendance and enrollment shall be treated and counted as part of their participating district.

The contract shall also include information on the regional high school's fiscal plans, staffing plans, special education plans, student disciplinary procedure plans, building plans, transportation plans, curriculum plans and projections on cost-savings, student enrollment, state aid changes, expenditures and local tax effort.

The contract shall provide that school principals, assistant principals, other supervisory personnel, teachers and other staff members of the participating school districts, except the superintendent whose services in the participating school districts are no longer needed, shall be granted employment rights in the host school district in the same manner as is provided in sections 3014-a and 3014-b of the education law.

The contract shall provide that all teachers and other staff members of the participating school districts, except the superintendent of schools whose services are no longer needed because of the creation of a regional high school, or the transference of students to an existing regional high school, shall be granted employments rights in the host school district. Teachers and all other employees previously employed by participating districts would assume the host district contract until such time as a new employee contract has been negotiated. Teacher and employee transfer and seniority rights shall be recognized in accordance with current state education and civil service law.

The contract shall state what the governance plan for participating district school administrations shall be after the regional high school is formed. The contract shall also specify that the regional high school shall be solely responsible for the implementation and completion of all academic achievement standards for the students of participating school districts. The regional high school shall be responsible for the evaluation, grading and academic performance of students and diplomas shall be awarded by the Regional High School.

Section two of the bill adds a new paragraph to Subdivision 14 of Section 3602 of the education law regarding regional high school incentive aid. This section provides that each school district would get regional high school incentive aid in addition to their normal foundation aid for each student they are sending to the regional high school. The incentive aid piece in the bill provides for 40 percent of the normal reorganization incentive aid as already laid out in state education law. There is a stipulation to the regional high school incentive aid, that of the regional high school incentive aid each participating school would be required to use 50 percent of that to improve ore-K through 8 programs.

Section three of the bill provides for an immediate effective date.

Justification

This bill has been requested by several school districts across the state that would like the opportunity to improve educational outcomes by sharing resources and opportunities on a regional basis.

In many districts in New York-particularly in rural areas, schools have faced declining enrollment while standard operating costs and mandated and contractual expenses continue to rise. This bill would

allow schools to consolidate resources, take advantage of regional resources and save taxpayers and school districts money.

This bill would authorize school districts in the state, at local option, to enter into a regional high school operating agreement contract with at least one or more schools within their own BOCES supervisory district. This reorganization option is important because it can help schools maintain local identity because they are so often the focal point of the community. This bill helps them do that while providing aid for them to actually strengthen lower grade levels, which will improve educational outcomes for all the students in the participating school districts.

The New York State Rural Schools Association (RSA) has encouraged consideration of this option for several years. They work to help school districts address issues of declining enrollment and loss of tax base. They believe that some schools could benefit greatly from having a regional high school because they can enrich opportunities for secondary students by offering full curricular, co-curricular and interscholastic programs. RSA supports the approach of having a hosting district administer the programs because it keeps regional high schools within existing governance structures and does not create new layers of school governance.

The New York State Board of Regents and the State Education Department have recently indicated their support of legislation to authorize regional high schools. Also, the Governor's Education Reform Task Force in their final recommendation report of November 2012, encouraged the Legislature to enact legislation authorizing regional high schools as an option for school reorganizations. Further, many education stakeholder groups have endorsed the proposal given the fact that it has worked well in other states and would be a way to improve educational outcomes while helping schools deal with the increasingly higher costs of educating students in the state.

Prior legislative history

2012: S.5247-A Referred to Education 2011: S.5247-A Committed to Rules

Fiscal implications

None. Cost savings will be realized by participating school districts.

Effective date

Immediately.