(a)The State Board of Education shall provide grants to qualified local units of administration for the purpose of improving the effectiveness of an educational program or service within a school, a cluster of schools, system wide, or regionally, subject to appropriation by the General Assembly. The state board shall appoint a review panel to evaluate all submitted proposals and submit appropriate recommendations to the state board for funding based upon criteria specified within this Code section. The criteria for awarding such a grant shall include the potential for widespread adoption of such improvement by other public schools or local units of administration in the state, the potential to which the project is likely to result in the proposed improvement, the quality of the proposed p
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(a) The State Board of Education shall provide grants to qualified local units of administration for the purpose of improving the effectiveness of an educational program or service within a school, a cluster of schools, system wide, or regionally, subject to appropriation by the General Assembly. The state board shall appoint a review panel to evaluate all submitted proposals and submit appropriate recommendations to the state board for funding based upon criteria specified within this Code section. The criteria for awarding such a grant shall include the potential for widespread adoption of such improvement by other public schools or local units of administration in the state, the potential to which the project is likely to result in the proposed improvement, the quality of the proposed project design, the reasonableness of the costs involved in conducting the project, and such other criteria which the state board may deem appropriate and necessary. The state board shall have the authority to establish a list of educational programs and services for which project proposals will be considered or the state board shall have the authority to consider unsolicited project proposals concerning any educational program or service needing improvement, or both. Local units of administration shall be required to expend local funds for a portion of the costs of projects authorized under this subsection. The amount of such local funds shall be based upon the ability of a local unit to pay a share of the cost relative to the ability of other local units in the state to pay their shares of such cost. Such local funds shall be in excess of the local funds required for the local five mill share pursuant to Code Section 20-2-164 and in excess of the local funds required as a portion of the costs for other grant programs authorized under this article. The state board is further authorized to reduce the amount of a local grant request through negotiation with a local governing board and award the difference to an additional local unit of administration which has submitted an unfunded, qualified project. (b) The State Board of Education shall provide grants to qualified local units of administration for the purpose of assisting other local units in their efforts to adopt an effective improvement of an educational program or service, subject to appropriation by the General Assembly. Only those local units of administration which have completed innovation programs under the process defined in subsection (a) of this Code section, regardless of fund source, and such innovation programs have been sufficiently validated to demonstrate program effectiveness, may be considered for funding on a priority basis. The criteria for awarding such a grant shall be that the local unit of administration was previously instrumental in the development or adoption of such effective improvement, that the improvement has the potential for widespread adoption by other local units or schools in other local units, that the improvement contributes to the increased effectiveness or efficiency of an educational program or service sufficiently to warrant the proposed project costs, and such other criteria which the state board may deem appropriate and necessary. Such a grant shall not require that any portion of such project's cost be paid by the qualified local unit of administration receiving such grant. (c) The State Board of Education shall provide grants to qualified local units of administration for the purpose of adopting effective improvements of educational programs or services, subject to appropriation by the General Assembly. The criteria for awarding such a grant shall be that the proposed improvement of an educational program or service has been proven to be effective elsewhere, the proposed improvement contributes to the increased effectiveness or efficiency of an educational program or service sufficiently to warrant the proposed project's cost, and such other criteria which the state board may deem appropriate and necessary. All funds for such adoption projects shall be for costs in excess of costs for which funds have been otherwise provided by the provisions of this article. Local units of administration shall be required to expend local funds for a portion of the cost of projects authorized under this subsection. The amount of such local funds shall be based upon the ability of a local unit to pay a share of the cost relative to the ability of other local units in the state to pay their share of such cost. Such local funds shall be in excess of the local funds required for the local five mill share pursuant to Code Section 20-2-164 and in excess of the local funds required as a portion of the costs for other grant programs authorized under this article. (d) (1) In order to better address the needs of students at risk of failing to complete their education, the State Board of Education shall approve pilot projects that allow schools, clusters of schools, or school systems to decategorize funds received under Code Section 20-2-161 . The state board shall appoint an interdisciplinary review panel consisting of students, parents, educators, and representatives from business, the community, the Department of Human Services, and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to evaluate all submitted proposals and to submit appropriate recommendations to the state board. (2) Pilot projects must meet the following criteria: (A) Address the needs of at-risk students who meet two or more of the criteria in the definition of the at-risk student as approved by the State Board of Education; (B) Develop a plan for such a pilot project using an interdisciplinary committee composed of students, parents, educators, and representatives from business, the community, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, and others as appropriate; (C) Ensure that the plan for the pilot project becomes a component of the local strategic plan; (D) Provide for a program evaluation that specifies the goals of the program, the means to achieve those goals, the reasons for any decategorization or combining of program earnings to carry out those means, and objective and other criteria to be met which will determine the success or failure of the new programs; (E) No funds may be expended for any program or service explicitly excluded from the full-time equivalent count in subsection (a) of Code Section 20-2-160 , except that such funds will be expended in conformity with the requirements for expenditures of direct instructional costs under Code Section 20-2-167 . Any local plan approved by the board to combine program earnings for the purpose of providing programs for at-risk students under this subsection must also conform with the expenditure controls under Code Section 20-2-167 as modified by the new program categories described in the local system's proposal to the board. In no event will the aggregate funds expended for direct instructional costs be a lower amount than would have been required under the original formula calculations and expenditure requirements; and (F) No funds may be expended for transitional programs, such as transitional kindergarten or first grade. (3) The state board shall give priority to proposed pilot projects that focus on interagency cooperation and the joint provision of services. (4) All pilot projects shall be reviewed annually by the state board to ensure that they are meeting the goals and objectives outlined in their plan. Pilot projects that are no longer achieving their goals and objectives shall be discontinued by the state board. (5) The pilot projects shall report annually to the Appropriations Committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the House Education Committee, and the Senate Education and Youth Committee.