(1) The general assembly hereby finds
that:
(a) The constitutional provisions regarding the public education system
direct the general assembly to establish a thorough and uniform statewide system
of public education, but they also recognize the importance of preserving local
flexibility by granting to each school district board of education the control of
instruction in the schools of the school district;
(b) The constitution's requirement that each school district board of
education is responsible for controlling the instruction in its schools is based on the
belief that the delivery of educational services must be tailored to the specific
population of students they are intended to serve and that the parents of those
students should have great opportunity for input regarding the educational services
their children receive;
(c) In tailoring the delivery of educational services, it is also important that
the persons delivering those services, the principal of the public school and the
faculty employed at that school, have the maximum degree of flexibility possible to
determine the most effective and efficient manner in which to meet their students'
needs;
(d) To further the goals of high-quality public education throughout the
state, therefore, each school district board of education should have the authority
to grant public schools of the school district the maximum degree of flexibility
possible to meet the needs of individual students and the communities in which
they live; and
(e) While the ultimate responsibility for controlling the instruction in public
schools continues to lie with the school district board of education of each public
school, each school district board of education is strongly encouraged to delegate
to each public school a high degree of autonomy in implementing curriculum,
making personnel decisions, organizing the school day, determining the most
effective use of resources, and generally organizing the delivery of high-quality
educational services, thereby empowering each public school to tailor its services
most effectively and efficiently to meet the needs of the population of students it
serves.
(2) The general assembly therefore finds that it is in the best interests of the
people of Colorado to enact the Innovation Schools Act of 2008 to achieve the
following purposes:
(a) To grant to Colorado's school districts and public schools greater ability
to meet the educational needs of a diverse and constantly changing student
population;
(b) To encourage intentionally diverse approaches to learning and education
within individual school districts;
(c) To improve educational performance through greater individual school
autonomy and managerial flexibility;
(d) To encourage school districts, where appropriate, to create and manage a
portfolio of schools that meet a variety of education needs, including identifying
elementary, middle or junior high, and high schools to collectively operate as a
vertically integrated innovation zone of schools;
(e) To encourage innovation in education by providing local school
communities and principals with greater control over levels of staffing, personnel
selection and evaluation, scheduling, and educational programming with the goal of
achieving improved student achievement;
(f) To encourage school districts and public schools to find new ways to
allocate resources, including through implementation of specialized school
budgets, for the benefit of the students they serve; and
(g) To hold public schools that receive greater autonomy under this article
accountable for student academic achievement, as measured by the Colorado
student assessment program, other more specifically tailored accountability
measures, and the federal requirements of adequate yearly progress.
(3) The general assembly further declares that:
(a) Since the Innovation Schools Act of 2008 was passed, innovations have
been used to leverage outcomes for students and support creative school models
to meet the needs of students, educators, and families;
(b) The cornerstone of innovation work is empowering educators and families
to be part of the design process, helping to develop an innovation plan, and voting
to approve the school's plan and any revisions to the innovation plan;
(c) The Innovation Schools Act of 2008 identifies areas of innovation that
schools are encouraged to explore, including innovations in governance;
(d) Local school boards and innovation school zones have implemented
alternative governance models for innovation school zones and schools within the
innovation school zones, including delegation of some management activities from
a local school board to a nonprofit organization affiliated with an innovation school
zone;
(e) Innovation schools were designed as an opportunity for schools that
operate within their school district to exercise autonomy and flexibility to adapt to
meet the needs of schools and students whom innovation schools serve;
(f) If disputes arise between an innovation school zone as a whole, or a
school within the innovation school zone, and the local school board that oversees
the innovation school zone regarding the administration of an innovation plan, a fair
and consistent resolution process is needed to address the dispute; and
(g) The dispute resolution process described in this article 32.5 is modeled
from existing statutory dispute resolution processes and intends to support both
parties, encourage innovation school zones to practice innovative governance, and
allow the local school board to reach solutions with innovation school zones with
alternative governance.