HB 960 Summary

• Establishes "Curriculum Implementation Plans" as a new local control framework, requiring each local school board to develop comprehensive plans every five years addressing mission statements, curriculum, instruction, assessment, resources, community communications, economic impact, and reflections on student performance.

• Shifts educational governance from state-mandated standardized approaches toward local flexibility by repealing numerous state-level curriculum requirements, textbook adoption processes, and detailed operational mandates while maintaining basic state oversight through plan approval.

• Requires local school administrative units to administer nationally accepted tests in grades 3 and 5, Pre-ACT in grades 8, 10, and 11, and ACT in high school to enable state and national performance comparisons while allowing local flexibility in other assessments.

• Transfers significant hiring and personnel management authority from local boards to superintendents, including authority to employ teachers, principals, and support staff directly rather than through board election processes.

• Eliminates or substantially reduces state-level reporting requirements, textbook approval mandates, and prescriptive curriculum standards, allowing local school administrative units greater autonomy in educational decision-making subject to State Board approval of their curriculum implementation plans.