HB 986 Summary

• State Board of Education must report annually by March 30 on local school compliance with cursive writing instruction and multiplication table memorization requirements, including percentages of compliant units and instructional strategies used.

• Local boards of education shall offer advanced mathematics courses in grades 3 and higher when practicable, and must enroll students scoring level 5 on end-of-grade/course tests in advanced courses for the next level without removal unless parents provide written consent.

• State Board must create annual educator preparation program (EPP) report cards with user-friendly public access and comparison capabilities between EPPs, published online by December 15, 2019.

• State Superintendent shall study ways to reduce non-required testing in K-12 schools and report findings and recommendations to legislative leadership by January 15, 2019.

• Department of Public Instruction must develop mental health training standards covering youth mental health, suicide prevention, substance use, sexual abuse prevention, and sex trafficking prevention, and create a model suicide risk referral protocol.

• Qualifying local school administrative unit with most restart model schools, low-wealth supplemental funding, and over 10,000 students may implement a renewal school system plan for operational flexibility while remaining subject to specific state statutes, accountability standards, and reporting requirements; plan subject to State Board review and termination if performance goals not met.