ON APRIL 15, 2025, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #2 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1273, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #2 rewrites the bill to, instead, make the following revisions to present law: PRIORITY SCHOOLS  Removes certain interventions, as determined by the commissioner of education ("commissioner"), for priority schools.  Requires, by October 1 of the year prior to the public identification of priority schools, the commissioner to notify a school and its LEA if the school is among the bottom 10% of schools in overall achievement as determined by the performance standards and other criteria set by the state board.  Requires, beginning with the list of priority schools generated in the 2025-2026 school year, the LEA to develop and implement a comprehensive support and improvement plan for each school in the LEA identified as a priority school to improve student outcomes. A comprehensive support and improvement plan must, at a minimum, (i) be based on a school-level needs assessment; (ii) identify the evidence-based intervention option being implemented by the LEA at the priority school; (iii) include a plan for notifying the parents of students enrolled in the school of the school's priority status and a plan for stakeholder engagement; (iv) include a review of LEA and school-level resources; (v) be developed by the priority school and the LEA and approved by the department of education ("department"); and (vi) be monitored and evaluated annually by the department.  Provides that schools identified as priority schools are subject to a progressive tiered intervention system operated in compliance with rules promulgated by the department in accordance with the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act.  Requires the progressive tiered intervention system to include the following three tiers of intervention, with tier three containing the state's most intensive school interventions: TIER 1  Tier one includes the following intervention options: (i) the LEA implements an LEA-led, evidence-based, school turnaround intervention approved by the department; (ii) the LEA contracts with an independent school turnaround expert approved by the department; or (iii) the LEA implements one of the intervention options from tier two or tier three approved by the department. TIER 2  Tier two includes the following intervention options:  The LEA implements at the priority school an intervention program approved by the department and includes, at a minimum: (i) an intervention committee for the priority school that is made up of school board members, school employees, and parents of students attending the school; (ii) a contract between the local board of education and an independent school turnaround expert, approved by the department; and (iii) a written intervention plan developed by the independent school turnaround expert with which the local board is contracting, in collaboration with the appointed intervention committee, that is approved by the department prior to its implementation.  The LEA rebuilds the priority school's support structure by replacing some or all of the school's leadership and by replacing specific instructional staff as identified by the LEA as part of a turnaround strategy approved by the department.  The LEA transfers the operation of the priority school to a public institution of higher education approved by the department pursuant to a contract between the LEA and the public institution of higher education approved by the department.  The LEA converts the priority school to a public charter school to be operated by an entity authorized to operate a public charter school that has documented success in improving student outcomes and that is selected and authorized by the LEA and approved by the department.  The LEA implements one of the intervention options in tier three approved by the department. TIER 3  Tier three includes the following intervention options: (i) the LEA closes the priority school and develops a plan approved by the department to reassign all students enrolled the priority school to a higher performing school; or (ii) in communities for which school closure is not feasible, the LEA rebuilds the priority school's support structure by replacing some or all of the school's leadership and by replacing specific instructional staff as determined by the department in consultation with the LEA.  Requires an LEA to comply with present law provisions relative to revocation of a charter for any public charter school authorized by the LEA that is identified as a priority school.  Requires a school identified as a priority school for the first time to be assigned by the department to tier one of the progressive tiered intervention system.  Authorizes a school that has appeared on multiple priority school lists to be assigned by the department to tier two or tier three of the progressive tiered intervention system.  Requires, after the department assigns a priority school to tier one or tier two of the progressive tiered intervention system, the LEA to choose which intervention option within the assigned tier to implement in accordance with this amendment.  Requires a priority school assigned to tier two of the progressive tiered intervention system to report data concerning the progress and efficacy of the intervention option being implemented at the school to the department monthly.  Requires the department to select the intervention option for a priority school assigned to tier three of the progressive tiered intervention system and such priority school must implement the intervention option selected by the department.  Requires, within 30 days of the department assigning a priority school to a tier of the progressive tiered intervention system, the priority school's LEA to develop a written implementation procedure. The implementation procedure must be approved by the department and must include a process for the LEA to solicit stakeholder feedback for consideration in selecting the intervention option, a timeline for the selected intervention option to be implemented, and any revisions to the priority school's comprehensive support and improvement plan required in this amendment. The department may provide a sample implementation procedure template for LEAs.  Requires the department to annually review the performance of each priority school in the progressive intervention system to evaluate and determine the impact of the intervention option being implemented at the priority school for its assigned tier and must direct each priority school's LEA to take one of the following actions for the school:  The priority school must continue to implement the current intervention option for its assigned tier with specific revisions, if necessary, to the school's comprehensive support and improvement plan required in this amendment.  The priority school must implement a different intervention option for its assigned tier, as determined by the department.  The priority school must progress to the next, more intensive tier of the progressive tiered intervention system and submit a new written implementation procedure in accordance with this amendment.  The school is no longer a priority school and may exit the progressive tiered intervention system.  Requires the department, when publishing the list of priority schools, to (i) list all public schools in the state in order of success rate, from the highest performing to the lowest performing; and (ii) list all public schools in each county and in each LEA in order of success rate, from the highest performing to the lowest performing.  Authorizes LEAs to use federal funds, as appropriate, to implement this amendment.PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS  Requires the department to implement a transition plan to close the achievement school district ("ASD") and to release all schools currently assigned to the ASD before the start of the 2026-2027 school year. The commissioner must waive the timelines for the public charter school application process, including the requirement for a letter of intent, upon the request of the public charter school sponsor of an ASD school to ensure that the sponsor may file a public charter school application with the LEA.  Removes the ASD as an authorizer of public charter schools  Removes the provision requiring, if a sponsor seeks to convert an existing public school to a public charter school, the sponsor to apply to the local board of education.  Requires, if the application for conversion of an existing public school to a public charter school is approved as an intervention option for a priority school in the progressive tiered intervention system, the initial charter agreement must be for a term of five years.  Provides that a charter agreement for a public school that is converted to a public charter school as an intervention option for a priority school in the progressive tiered intervention system expires five academic years after the first day of instruction. A public school that is converted to a public charter school as an intervention option for a priority school in the progressive tiered intervention system may open the academic year immediately following its conversion.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 49-6-3703(e), 49-6-3703