HB 15-1321 Summary

• Exempts rural school districts (fewer than 1,000 K-12 students, determined by Department of Education based on geographic size and distance from urbanized areas) from various accountability and reporting requirements including parent engagement policies, accountability committee requirements, and school-site level financial reporting.

• Allows rural school districts to use electronic mail for special board meeting notices instead of mailed notice, and permits boards of cooperative services with rural members to similarly use email for meeting notices.

• Appropriates $10 million from the state education fund for the 2015-16 fiscal year to distribute to small rural districts and eligible institute charter schools for nonrecurring expenses including education reform, technology, class size reduction, student safety, preschool/kindergarten expansion, teacher incentives, and building construction.

• Increases the allowable additional local property tax revenue limit for small rural districts from 20% to 30% of total program funding, plus allowance for amounts that could have been generated from a November 2001 voter-approved tax measure.

• Allows employees in multiple roles (such as principal-administrator) to receive a single performance evaluation covering all responsibilities, and permits combined district and school accountability committees in rural districts with fewer than 500 enrolled students.