Bill Text: NC H839 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

North Carolina House Bill 839 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Public School Reporting Reform

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 12-6)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2013-05-06 - Ref To Com On Education/Higher Education [H839 Detail]

Download: North_Carolina-2013-H839-Amended.html

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2013

H 3

HOUSE BILL 839

Committee Substitute Favorable 5/1/13
Third Edition Engrossed 5/2/13

Short Title: Public School Reporting Reform.		(Public)
Sponsors:
Referred to:

April 11, 2013

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT to reduce reporting requirements for Public schools.

Whereas, the General Assembly recognizes that local school administrative units have become overburdened with paperwork; and

Whereas, local school administrative units are also overburdened with reporting requirements by the Department of Public Instruction and other various State and federal agencies; and

Whereas, in some cases much of this paperwork is duplicative and nonessential to educational outcomes for our students; and

Whereas, the General Assembly desires to remedy this with input from those closest to the issues; and

Whereas, school superintendents from across North Carolina were asked to work together in regional groups to review 153 current rules and regulations with which they must comply; and

Whereas, the school superintendents working group(s) have reported back recommendations on whether to keep, revise, study, or delete any of these 153 current rules and regulations; and

Whereas, the useful information and data that may have been supplied in these reports will continue to be available through the PowerSchool application coming online in 2013; and

Whereas, a reduction in reporting and/or paperwork will not result in a lack of informed decision making but will allow local school administrative units to operate more efficiently; Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a) The Department of Public Instruction shall simplify and minimize data entry requirements of local school administrative units to achieve the least burdensome administrative data entry workload possible, particularly as it relates to the implementation of the PowerSchool application and any other component of the Instructional Improvement System.

SECTION 1.(b) The Department of Public Instruction shall comply with G.S. 115C‑12(19)(i) and not require as a separate submission at least all of the following reports to reduce unnecessary reporting requirements for local school administrative units:

(1) The Principal's Monthly Report (PMR) Final, required by the 30th of each month.

(2) The Teacher Vacancy Report, required by October 20th each year.

(3) The Professional Personnel Activity Report (PPAR), required annually.

(4) The Pupils in Membership by Race and Sex, required annually by October 31st.

(5) The Report of School Sales of Textbooks and Used Books, required annually by October 31st.

(6) The School Activity Report (SAR), required annually.

SECTION 1.(c) The Department of Public Instruction may collect any information contained in the reports eliminated in accordance with subsection (a) of this section that is necessary for compliance with State or federal law through the implementation of the PowerSchool application or any other component of the Instructional Improvement System.

SECTION 1.(d) Local school administrative units shall continue to be responsible for required data entry into the PowerSchool application or any other component of the Instructional Improvement System.

SECTION 2. G.S. 115C‑12(18) reads as rewritten:

"(18) Duty to Develop and Implement a Uniform Education Reporting System, Which Shall Include Standards and Procedures for Collecting Fiscal and Personnel Information. �

a. The State Board of Education shall adopt standards and procedures for local school administrative units to provide timely, accurate, and complete fiscal and personnel information, including payroll information, on all school personnel. ~~All local school administrative units shall comply with these standards and procedures by the beginning of the 1987‑88 school year.~~

b. The State Board of Education shall develop and implement a Uniform Education Reporting System that shall include requirements for collecting, processing, and reporting fiscal, personnel, and student data, by means of electronic transfer of data files from local computers to the State Computer Center through the State Communications Network. ~~All local school administrative units shall comply with the requirements of the Uniform Education Reporting System by the beginning of the 1989‑90 school year.~~

c. The State Board of Education shall comply with the provisions of G.S. 116‑11(10a) to plan and implement an exchange of information between the public schools and the institutions of higher education in the State. The State Board of Education shall require local boards of education to provide to the parents of children at a school all information except for confidential information received about that school from institutions of higher education pursuant to G.S. 116‑11(10a) and to make that information available to the general public.

d. The State Board of Education shall modify the Uniform Education Reporting System to provide clear, accurate, and standard information on the use of funds at the unit and school level. The plan shall provide information that will enable the General Assembly to determine State, local, and federal expenditures for personnel at the unit and school level. The plan also shall allow the tracking of expenditures for textbooks, educational supplies and equipment, capital outlay, at‑risk students, and other purposes. ~~The revised Uniform Education Reporting System shall be implemented beginning with the 1999‑2000 school year.~~

e. When practicable, reporting requirements developed by the State Board of Education as part of the Uniform Education Reporting System under this subdivision shall be incorporated into the PowerSchool application or any other component of the Instructional Improvement System to minimize duplicative reporting by local school administrative units."

SECTION 3.(a) G.S. 115C‑12(19) reads as rewritten:

"§ 115C‑12. Powers and duties of the Board generally.

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(19) Duty to Identify Required Reports and to Eliminate Unnecessary Reports and Paperwork. � Prior to the beginning of each school year, the State Board of Education shall identify all reports that are required at the State level for the school year.

The State Board of Education shall adopt policies to ensure that local school administrative units are not required by the State Board of Education, the State Superintendent, or the Department of Public Instruction staff to (i) provide information that is already available on the student information management system or housed within the Department of Public Instruction; (ii) provide the same written information more than once during a school year unless the information has changed during the ensuing period; or (iii) complete forms, for children with disabilities, that are not necessary to ensure compliance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ~~(IDEA).~~(IDEA); or (iv) provide information that is unnecessary to comply with State or federal law and not relevant to student outcomes and the efficient operation of the public schools. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the State Board may require information available on its student information management system or require the same information twice if the State Board can demonstrate a compelling need and can demonstrate there is not a more expeditious manner of getting the information.

The State Board shall permit schools and local school administrative units to submit all reports to the Department of Public Instruction electronically.

The State Board of Education, in collaboration with the education roundtables within the Department of Public Instruction, shall consolidate all plans that affect the school community, including school improvement plans. The consolidated plan shall be posted on each school's Web site for easy access by the public and by school personnel.

The State Board shall report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee by November 15 of each year on the reports identified that are required at the State level, the evaluation and determination for continuing individual reports, including the consideration of whether those reports exceed what is required by State and federal law, and any reports that it has consolidated or eliminated for the upcoming school year.

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SECTION 3.(b) It is the priority of the General Assembly to ensure the availability of valid data in order to make informed decisions about all educational issues. At the same time, it is also the priority of the General Assembly to ensure that local school administrative units, local schools, and local school personnel do not have to take more time than necessary away from educating the students of North Carolina in order to enter data into statewide databases. To implement these priorities, the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee shall study (i) the elimination of reporting requirements, (ii) reduction or changes in the data entry workload for local school administrative units, including classroom instruction time reduction due to data entry requirements, and (iii) the availability of evaluable performance and outcome data and information, as a result of the implementation of the PowerSchool application or any other component of the Instructional Improvement System. The Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee shall report to the 2014 Regular Session of the 2013 General Assembly regarding the impact of the implementation of the PowerSchool application or any other component of the Instructional Improvement System, including recommendations for obtaining useful and valid data without increasing the data entry workload of local school administrative units.

SECTION 4. Sections 1 and 2 of this act are effective upon the implementation of the PowerSchool application or any other component of the Instructional Improvement System by the Department of Public Instruction. The remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2013‑2014 school year.