SB517 Alabama 2012 Session

This bill establishes the Flexible School Calendar Act of 2012

Under existing law, to receive the maximum benefits from the Foundation Program Fund, local boards of education are required to provide a minimum school term of at least 180 days

This bill would require each local board of education to establish a local calendar providing 180 full instructional days, or the hourly equivalent thereof, per school year for the computation of Foundation Program Fund benefits, and would establish parameters for when academic instruction may begin and end in the public elementary and secondary schools of the state

Amendment 621 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, now appearing as Section 111.05 of the Official Recompilation of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended, prohibits a general law whose purpose or effect would be to require a new or increased expenditure of local funds from becoming effective with regard to a local governmental entity without enactment by a 2/3 vote unless: it comes within one of a number of specified exceptions; it is approved by the affected entity; or the Legislature appropriates funds, or provides a local source of revenue, to the entity for the purpose

The purpose or effect of this bill would be to require a new or increased expenditure of local funds within the meaning of the amendment. However, the bill does not require approval of a local governmental entity or enactment by a 2/3 vote to become effective because it comes within one of the specified exceptions contained in the amendment

To establish the Flexible School Calendar Act of 2012; to amend Section 16-13-231, Code of Alabama 1975, as amended by Act 2011-235, 2011 Regular Session (Acts 2011, p. **), relating to the public education Foundation Program Fund; to require each local board of education to establish a local calendar providing 180 full instructional days, or the hourly equivalent thereof, per school year for the computation of Foundation Program Fund benefits; to establish parameters for when academic instruction for students may begin and end in the public elementary and secondary schools of the state; and in connection therewith to have as its purpose or effect the requirement of a new or increased expenditure of local funds; and in connection therewith would have as its purpose or effect the requirement of a new or increased expenditure of local funds within the meaning of Amendment 621 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, now appearing as Section 111.05 of the Official Recompilation of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended.