(1) On or before December 15, 2011, each local education provider shall review the curricula provided by the public high schools operated by the local education provider in the subject matter areas included in postsecondary and workforce readiness. The local education provider shall revise its curricula, or adopt new curricula, as necessary to ensure that the curricula content for said subject matter areas are aligned with postsecondary and workforce readiness such that a student who successfully completes the curricula will be prepared to demonstrate postsecondary and workforce readiness prior to or upon attaining a high school diploma. (2) (a) The revised or newly adopted curricula described in subsection (1) of this section shall constitute the postsecondary and workforce readiness program for each public high school operated by the local education provider. In revising or adopting the postsecondary and workforce readiness program, a local education provider is not required to base its courses or means of awarding course credits on Carnegie units. A local education provider may choose to base the awarding of course credits on a student's demonstration of attainment of the standards addressed by the course. (b) A local education provider may accommodate the range of student interests and aspirations by adopting multiple curricula that, combined, create multiple postsecondary and workforce readiness programs within a school district or within a high school that are designed to prepare a student for differing post-graduation goals, including but not limited to immediate entry into the workforce or matriculation into career and technical education or higher education. The local education provider shall ensure, however, that every postsecondary and workforce readiness program adopted by the local education provider: (I) Is aligned with postsecondary and workforce readiness such that a student who successfully completes the program will be prepared to demonstrate postsecondary and workforce readiness prior to or upon attaining a high school diploma; and (II) Includes courses in visual arts and performing arts. (c) For purposes of this section, a district charter high school shall be deemed to be operated by the chartering local school board; except that the chartering local school board, by charter contract, may allow the district charter high school to adopt its own postsecondary and workforce readiness program, separate from that adopted by the local school board. Each district charter high school that adopts its own postsecondary and workforce readiness program shall ensure that the program is aligned with postsecondary and workforce readiness such that a student who successfully completes the postsecondary and workforce readiness program will be prepared to demonstrate postsecondary and workforce readiness prior to or upon attaining a high school diploma. (3) (a) It is the intent of the general assembly that, on or before December 15, 2013, each student who enrolls in a public high school operated by a local education provider shall enroll in and successfully complete a postsecondary and workforce readiness program. Each local education provider shall require each high school student, beginning in ninth grade and continuing through twelfth grade, to enroll in the local education provider's postsecondary and workforce readiness program. (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection (3), a local education provider may allow a student who is receiving special education services to demonstrate attainment of postsecondary and workforce readiness through a differentiated plan for purposes of the postsecondary and workforce readiness program, if required in the student's individualized education program. (4) The department of education, the department of higher education, and the state institutions of higher education, upon request, shall provide support to local education providers in implementing postsecondary and workforce readiness. Beginning with the 2009-10 budget year, the department of education and the department of higher education may include in their annual budget requests an amount necessary to offset the costs incurred in complying with this section. Support may include, but need not be limited to: (a) Assisting the local education provider in reviewing and revising curriculum; (b) Communicating with educators, local school board members, board of cooperative services board members, charter school governing board members, school district and school administrators, parents, and members of the business community; (c) Providing professional development for educators; (d) Collecting and making available a resource bank of examples of best practices in national, state, school district, school, and classroom reform efforts consistent with the intent of this part 10; (e) Establishing support through regional postsecondary and workforce readiness coordinators for training that aligns with financial aid, financial literacy, and supports for student federal financial aid application and student state financial aid application completion; (f) (I) Supporting the number of regional individual career and academic plan coordinators in the state and updating the resources available to the coordinators to support financial aid information and applications; (II) Requiring the regional individual career and academic plan coordinators to provide additional training and outreach to schools and coordinate with the outreach team in the department of higher education created pursuant to section 23-1-119 (6). (g) Repealed. (5) (a) For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the general assembly shall appropriate to the department twenty-five thousand dollars from the general fund for the programs described in subsection (4)(f) of this section. Any unexpended money remaining at the end of the 2022-23 state fiscal year from this appropriation: (I) Does not revert to the general fund or any other fund; (II) May be used by the department in the 2023-24 or 2024-25 state fiscal year without further appropriation; and (III) Must not be used for any other purpose other than the purposes set forth in subsection (4)(f) of this section. (b) This subsection (5) is repealed, effective July 1, 2026.
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