La. Admin. Code tit. 28 § CXV-344

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section CXV-344 - Red Tape Reduction Waiver and Local Empowerment Program

A. General Provisions

1. Purpose

a. The purpose of this policy is to provide schools and school districts with the ability to seek waivers from rules and regulations that may hinder academic progress and replace those policies with protocols designed to improve teaching effectiveness and student academic achievement.

2. Waivers

a. A waiver allows a public school to be exempt from one or more provisions of title 17 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, or any rules, regulations or policies of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) that are applicable to public schools, school officers or school employees. A waiver may be granted to exempt a school from laws, rules, and/or policies that affect such activities as, but are not limited to, instructional time, curriculum, funding, personnel, student-to-personnel ratios, and student support.

b. Waivers from the following shall not be granted pursuant to this Chapter:

i. provisions governing school nutrition programs (R.S. 17:191 et seq.);

ii. providing free transportation to any student attending a public school (R.S. 17:158);

iii. providing alternative educational programs for any student suspended or expelled from school (R.S. 17:416.2);

iv. evaluation of teachers or administrators pursuant to R.S. 17:3902;

v. the exemptions authorized for Charter Schools pursuant to R.S. 17:3996; or

vi. any limitations or restrictions on outsourcing food, clerical, custodial or paraprofessional services.

B. Request for Waivers

1. Governing Authority

a. For purposes of this Chapter, governing authority means the governing authority of any public elementary or secondary school, including any local or parish school board or a charter school board.

b. The governing authority may request a waiver from any statute, rule, regulation or BESE policy, as permitted by law, for any school, or any combination of schools, or all schools under its jurisdiction provided that the such waiver shall be designed to improve the quality of instruction and student academic achievement.

C. Waiver Procedure

1. The governing authority shall submit a written request for a waiver to BESE. The governing authority may use a waiver request form designed by the department. Alternatively, a written request from the governing authority shall be considered valid provided it contains all the requisite information. The waiver request shall contain the following information:

a. identification of the specific laws, rules, regulations and/or policies from which a waiver is being sought;

b. identification of the school or schools for which the waiver will cover;

c. description of the policies and procedures that will be instituted as a substitute for the waived provisions;

d. description of how the proposed waiver will:

i. increase the quality of instruction for students;

ii. improve the academic achievement of students; and

iii. improve teaching effectiveness within the school for which the waiver is sought;

e. description of the specific, measurable educational goals, growth targets, performance targets and the methods to be used to measure progress in meeting the goals for each year. The educational goals should be, at a minimum, measured using state-administered, standardized assessment data. For purposes of this Chapter, growth targets shall mean the number of school performance score (SPS) points, as established by the statewide school and district accountability system, required and determined annually for the school to make sufficient progress toward the statewide school performance goal:

i. all schools receiving a waiver must meet their growth targets annually. Failure to meet its growth target may result in a termination of the waiver upon review by BESE;

ii. a school is deemed to have met its growth target if the school achieves its yearly growth target for each year for which the school received a waiver (e.g., if a school receives a waiver for four years, that school is deemed to have met its growth targets if it meets its yearly growth target in each year of the four year waiver period);

2. the governing authority shall certify that a majority of classroom teachers employed at the school or schools affected by the waiver voted in favor of the requested waiver.

D. Teacher Voting Procedure

1. A majority of the classroom teachers employed in the school or schools seeking the waiver must vote in favor of the proposed waiver request.

2. Voting by the classroom teachers shall be by secret ballot and shall be conducted as follows.

a. Teachers shall be given no less than five business days notice of the waiver request prior to the date of the vote. Notice shall include a copy of the waiver request and the date(s) of the vote. Notice shall be considered sufficient when it is distributed in a manner reasonably designed to provide each teacher a copy of the proposed waiver. Acceptable means of notice include, but are not limited to, placing a copy of such notice in each teacher's mail box, by posting it on the wall of a common area such as a teacher's resource room or in the school office, or sending the notice via email.

b. Voting may be conducted through on-line voting, provided that such on-line voting takes place only on the designated date(s) for said vote.

c. The vote shall be tallied by the school principal or his designee and a teacher representative employed at the school seeking the waiver. A majority of votes shall determine the outcome of the waiver request.

3. The Department of Education may provide an optional sample ballot that may be used in the voting process.

E. Low-Performing Schools

1. For purposes of this Chapter, a low-performing school shall be a school that is defined as in academically unacceptable school (AUS) status as determined by BESE.

2. A low-performing school may be granted a waiver provided it meets the terms and conditions, as determined by BESE that are aimed at improving:

a. teacher effectiveness pursuant to R.S. 17:3881 et seq.;

b. the quality of instruction; and

c. student academic achievement.

3. The governing authority of a low-performing school that is granted a waiver shall:

a. ensure the improvement of the school's teachers in accordance with R.S. 17:3881 et seq.;

b. ensure the improvement of quality of instruction and student achievement by implementing one of the following intervention options:

i. turnaround - put in place new leadership and a majority of new staff, new governance, and improved instructional programs, and provide the school with sufficient operational flexibility such as the ability to select staff, control its budget as approved by the school's governing authority, and increase learning time;

ii. restart - convert the school to a charter school. However, every teacher employed in such school prior to its conversation to a charter school, who has been determined to be effective in accordance with the provisions of part II of chapter 39 of title 17 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, shall be given the option to remain at the school or to be reassigned by the governing authority to another school under its jurisdiction;

iii. school closure - close the school and place its students in a high- performing school within the district;

iv. transformation - hire new school leadership and implement a suite of best practices including comprehensive instructional management reform and measures of effective teaching. A waiver shall not be granted to a district that proposes to utilize this option for more than 50 percent of its low-performing schools covered by the waiver;

c. a district that has implemented one or more of the interventions described above for its low-performing schools in the two academic years immediately preceding the waiver application is not eligible to receive a waiver unless both of the following apply:

i. the school has met its statewide accountability growth target or surpassed the statewide growth average, calculated by examining whether the school's growth exceeded the average statewide growth for that year, for each year during such period of implementation; and

ii. the district agrees to implement any remaining conditions of school intervention by the beginning of the following school year;

d. a school implementing any of the intervention options described in Subparagraph 3.b, above, shall not be subject to transfer to the recovery school district for the duration of the waiver period;

e. upon expiration of the waiver, a school's status shall be determined by identifying the school's previous AUS status and identifying whether the school's current school performance score (SPS) surpasses the AUS bar as determined by BESE. If the school's score is not above AUS, the school shall advance one year in AUS (e.g., if a school enters into a waiver as an AUS 2 school and upon expiration of the waiver the school does not earn a SPS above AUS status, then the school shall be labeled as AUS 3);

f. in the event the school has neither met its growth targets, as described in Subparagraph C.1.e above, nor surpassed an acceptable level of academic performance as determined by BESE, and BESE terminates its waiver in accordance with Subsection G below, the school shall be either:

i. governed under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the governing authority of the school and the RSD, which shall govern the operation of the school; or

ii. based on the recommendation of the state superintendent, transferred directly to the jurisdiction of the recovery school district;

g. a school that entered into an MOU with the RSD prior to the receipt of a waiver, and which upon the expiration of the MOU or termination of the waiver, has not met its growth targets, shall be transferred to the jurisdiction of the RSD.

4. RSD Accountability

a. A school that has been under the jurisdiction of the RSD that has not met its growth targets at the expiration of the waiver period shall:

i. if the school is a direct-run RSD school, be converted to a charter school; or

ii. if the school is a charter school, the RSD will recommend to BESE that the charter school's charter authority be terminated. The RSD may enter into a contract with another chartering organization for the operation of the school; or

iii. the school shall be closed and its students will be transferred to a higher-performing school within the jurisdiction of the RSD.

F. Grant, Denial or Extension of Waiver

1. Only BESE has the authority to grant waivers. A waiver may be approved as requested or may be subject to modifications as determined by BESE. The department shall make a recommendation to BESE on each waiver request, and such recommendation shall identify any special modifications that may be required. A waiver shall be effective for a period of up to four years unless terminated earlier upon a determination by BESE. A school may seek termination of a waiver upon application to BESE; however, in the case of a low-performing school, nothing shall preclude BESE from taking any action permitted by law to impose conditions upon said school to ensure that performance expectations are met.

2. Upon approval by BESE, the terms and conditions shall be in writing and shall be signed by the superintendent and the governing authority. BESE will authorize an electronic signature of the waiver agreement.

3. Upon a request by the governing authority, and a recommendation by the department, BESE may extend the waiver period upon a determination that the waiver has been effective in enabling the school to carry out the activities for which the waiver was granted and upon a demonstration that the waiver has contributed to the improved quality of instruction and student academic achievement.

4. A waiver extension shall not prevent a school otherwise eligible from being subject to transfer to the recovery school district.

G. Termination of Waivers

1. If BESE determines that the performance of the school has been insufficient to justify a continuation of a waiver, or if the waiver is no longer necessary to achieve its original intent, BESE may terminate a waiver, either in full or with respect to individual schools.

2. BESE shall terminate a waiver granted to a low-performing school if the school fails to implement the requirements of R.S. 17:4044 within two school years from the issuance of the waiver.

3. BESE may terminate a waiver granted to a low-performing school if the school has not met its statewide accountability growth targets within two years of the granting of the waiver or has not met other requirements or benchmarks.

H. Reporting Requirements

1. The governing authority of a school that receives a waiver shall provide reports on an annual basis to BESE which shall provide information on the effectiveness of the waiver or waivers granted. Such annual report shall be submitted to the Department of Education, Superintendent's Office, no later than December 1 of each year and shall include, but not be limited to, a description of whether or not policies implemented to replace the procedures waived are:

a. increasing the quality of instruction to students;

b. improving the academic achievement of the students; and

c. improving teacher effectiveness.

La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § CXV-344

Promulgated by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, LR 37:3206 (November 2011).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 17:7, R.S. 17:4031-4039.