HB 18-1355 Summary

• Establishes a "performance watch" system for school districts and public schools that perform below acceptable levels, allowing them up to 5 years to improve before the state board removes accreditation or requires significant action.

• Requires school districts and the institute to provide reconsideration requests for initial accreditation assignments and plan recommendations, with the state board considering factors including time unable to meet targets, improvements implemented, and supplemental data.

• Mandates parent and community meetings in the third year (or optionally second year) when districts or public schools are on performance watch to discuss accreditation status, improvement options, and potential state actions.

• Expands the school transformation grant program to support educator professional development, instruction transformation, and rigorous school redesign strategies including charter conversion, innovation school status, operator replacement, third-party management, or school closure.

• Modifies performance indicators and growth measures to emphasize student academic progress toward state standards, with disaggregated data by student group, and adds specific credit for schools serving students with significant reading deficiencies.