(1) There is established in the department the local accountability system grant program. A local education provider or group of local education providers may establish and seek funding through the grant program to support a local accountability system that supplements the state accountability system. A district charter school may choose, but is not required, to participate with the authorizing school district in an application pursuant to this section. In determining student success, a local accountability system may supplement the statewide performance indicators by using additional measures of achievement of the statewide performance indicators and by using additional indicators of student success. Additional indicators may include nonacademic student outcomes, which may reflect changes in student engagement, attitudes, and mindsets. A local accountability system is supplemental to the state accountability system and may be designed to: (a) Fairly and accurately evaluate student success using multiple measures to develop a more comprehensive understanding of each student's success including additional performance indicators or measures, which may include nonacademic student outcomes such as student engagement, attitudes, and dispositions toward learning; (b) Evaluate the capacity of the public school systems operated by the local education provider to support student success; and (c) Use the results obtained from measuring student success and system support for student success as part of a cycle of continuous improvement. (2) A local education provider that chooses to establish a local accountability system may apply to the department to receive grant money through the program to use in developing and implementing the local accountability system. The local education provider may work with one or more accountability system partners to: (a) Establish and implement the local accountability system; (b) Identify and develop appropriate measures for the local accountability system; (c) Evaluate and provide evidence of the quality of the local accountability system measures; (d) Design alternative templates and tools for reporting data concerning performance; (e) Analyze data; and (f) Assist with stakeholder communications. (3) To participate in the grant program, a local education provider shall submit to the department an application that includes: (a) The goals of the local accountability system that the local education provider plans to implement or is implementing; (b) The name of any accountability system partner that the local education provider intends to work with or is working with in designing and implementing the local accountability system; (c) If a group of local education providers is submitting the application, identification of each of the local education providers that has voluntarily chosen to participate in the application; (d) A description of the individuals and entities within the local education provider and within the local education provider's community, including families, that the local education provider is working with to design and implement the local accountability system; (e) The local education provider's expected timeline for designing and implementing the local accountability system; (f) A statement concerning whether the local accountability system will include a supplemental report of public school and school district performance, as described in section 22- 11-704 (1), as a supplement to the school and school district performance reports described in section 22-11-503; and (g) A statement concerning whether the local accountability system will include using an alternative format, as described in section 22-11-704 (2), for the types of plans that the local education provider, and the public schools operated by the local education provider, are required to implement and how the local education provider expects to share key planning elements, including priority performance challenges, root causes, and major improvement strategies, with the department for statewide public reporting on improvement planning efforts. (4) (a) The department shall review each application received to ensure that it includes the items specified in subsection (3) of this section. The department shall review the services proposed to be provided by each accountability system partner and determine: (I) Whether the accountability system partner has a demonstrated history of providing effective support to local education providers; and (II) If the accountability system partner is developing or evaluating local accountability system measures, whether it has expertise in measurement. (b) If the department determines that an application is not complete or that a named accountability system partner does not meet the minimum requirements specified in subsection (4)(a) of this section, or if the department identifies an opportunity for additional partnerships among the grant applicants, the department shall notify the applying local education provider and allow the local education provider to resubmit the application. (5) (a) Based on the review of the applications, the department shall recommend to the state board the applicants that may receive grants through the program and the amount of each grant. Taking into consideration the department's recommendations, and subject to available appropriations, the state board shall select the local education providers that receive grants through the program and the amount of each grant awarded. (b) (I) The amount of a grant awarded pursuant to this section must be at least twenty- five thousand dollars per budget year but must not exceed fifty thousand dollars per budget year for a grant awarded to a single local education provider and must not exceed seventy-five thousand dollars per budget year for a grant awarded to a group of local education providers. The department shall distribute the amount of each grant over three budget years. (II) Repealed. (c) If the number of applications exceeds the amount appropriated for the grant program pursuant to subsection (6) of this section, the department in making recommendations and the state board in selecting recipients shall: (I) Ensure that at least one recipient is a local education provider or group of local education providers that are rural school districts, as defined in section 22-7-1211, boards of cooperative services that consist of rural school districts, or charter schools that are located within rural school districts; (II) Prioritize applicants that demonstrate a previous commitment of staff and resources toward development of a local accountability system; (III) Recommend and select the grant recipients so as to distribute funding to a broad scope of projects located throughout the state; and (IV) When appropriate, encourage applicants to work together toward shared goals. (6) The general assembly may annually appropriate money to the department to implement the grant program, including money for grants and for the direct administrative costs incurred by the department. Any unexpended and unencumbered money from an appropriation made for the purposes of this section remains available for expenditure by the department for the purposes of this section in the following fiscal year without further appropriation. In addition, the department may accept gifts, grants, or donations from private or public sources for the purposes of this section; except that the department may not accept a gift, grant, or donation that is subject to conditions that are inconsistent with this section or any other law of the state. This section does not require the department to solicit money for implementation of this section.
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