SB 667

This bill requires the Department of Public Instruction to award four-year grants to school boards that enter into a whole grade sharing agreement. Under the bill, DPI annually pays a grant recipient an amount equal to $500 per pupil enrolled in a grade included in the whole grade sharing agreement in the applicable school year. The bill also prohibits DPI from awarding a grant unless DPI determines that the amount appropriated for this purpose is sufficient to pay the total amount of all the grants that were awarded prior to that grant. In other words, DPI must determine that there is enough money to fully pay out existing grants before awarding a new grant. Under the bill, DPI must submit an annual report to the Joint Committee on Finance that includes which school boards received grants and how the money was used in the previous school year.

Under current law, two or more school boards may enter into a whole grade sharing agreement, under which all or a substantial portion of the pupils enrolled in a specified grade in the participating school districts attend the specified grade in one of the participating school districts.