SB 681

This bill adopts the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for

Military Children, an interstate compact that has been adopted, as of March 22,

2010, by 28 states. The compact addresses school transition issues encountered by

children of military families, such as their eligibility, enrollment, placement, and

graduation. For example:

1. The compact requires a school district to accept the unofficial records of a

school district in another member state for the purposes of enrolling and placing a

child of a military family until the official records may be obtained.

2. The compact allows a pupil to request additional excused absences to visit

with his or her deployed parent or guardian.

3. The compact allows school districts to waive graduation requirements if

similar requirements have been completed in a school district in another state.

The compact requires each member state to establish a state council and to

appoint a state military education liaison to assist military families and the state in

facilitating the implementation of the compact. Each state must also appoint a state

commissioner, who is the state's member on the Interstate Commission on

Educational Opportunity for Military Children.

Under the bill, this state's council consists of the state superintendent of public

instruction; the superintendent of a school district with a high concentration of

children of military families, a representative from a military installation, and the

compact commissioner, all of whom are appointed by the state superintendent; a

member of the senate; a member of the assembly; and the military family education

liaison, who is appointed by the other council members.

This bill makes several changes to the compact, including the following:

1. The compact authorizes the interstate commission to promulgate rules to

achieve the purposes of the compact. This bill provides that a rule promulgated by

the interstate commission is effective in a member state only if it is approved by the

legislature of the member state or the state superintendent of education of the

member state.

2. The compact authorizes the interstate commission to levy and collect from

each member state an annual assessment to cover the costs of the commission's

operations and activities. This bill provides that this state's annual assessment is

the lesser of $1,000 or the amount calculated by multiplying $1 by the number of

children of military families enrolled in public schools in the state.

3. The compact provides that a member state may withdraw from the compact

by repealing the statute that enacted the compact. This bill provides that a member

state may also withdraw by enacting a law withdrawing from the compact.