(1) School districts shall give first spending priority of funds allocated under this chapter to full implementation of the defined minimum program.

(2) The State Board of Education shall audit the programmatic and fiscal aspects of this chapter, including the degree to which a school meets all prescribed standards of the defined minimum program and shall report the results in the Annual Report of the State Superintendent of Education. Schools which have been classified as ‘dropped’ by the defined minimum program accreditation procedures are not eligible for funding in the following fiscal year until an acceptable plan to eliminate the deficiencies is submitted and approved by the State Board of Education.

(3) Each school district board of trustees shall cause the district and each school in the district to develop comprehensive five-year plans with annual updates to outline the District and School Improvement Plans. Districts which have not begun a strategic planning cycle must do so and develop a plan no later than the 1994-95 school year. Districts which have undertaken such a planning process may continue in their planning cycle as long as the process meets the intent of this section and the long-range plans developed or under development can be amended to encompass the requirements of this section. For school year 1993-94, districts may submit either the improvement plan consistent with State Department guidelines or their five-year comprehensive plan.

The State Board of Education shall recommend a format for the plans which will be flexible and adaptable to local planning needs while encompassing certain state mandates, including the early childhood and academic assistance initiative plans pursuant to § 59-139-10. All district and school plans must be reviewed and approved by the board of trustees. The District Plan should integrate the needs, goals, objectives, strategies, and evaluation methods outlined in the School Plans. Measures of effectiveness must include outcome and process indicators of improvement and must provide data regarding what difference the strategies have made. Staff professional development must be a priority in the development and implementation of the plans and must be based on an assessment of needs. Long and short-range goals, objectives, strategies, and time lines need to be included.

(4) Each plan shall provide for an Innovation Initiative, designed to encourage innovative and comprehensive approaches based on strategies identified in the research literature to be effective. The Innovation Initiative must be utilized by school districts to implement innovative approaches designed to improve student learning and accelerate the performance of all students. Funds may be expended on strategies in one or more of the following four categories:

(a) new approaches to what and how students learn by changing schooling in ways that provide a creative, flexible, and challenging education for all students, especially for those at risk. Performance-based outcomes which support a pedagogy of thinking and active approaches for learning must be supported;

(b) applying different teaching methods permitting professional educators at every level to focus on educational success for all students and on critical thinking skills and providing the necessary support for educational successes are encouraged;

(c) redefining how schools operate resulting in the decentralization of authority to the school site and allowing those closest to the students the flexibility to design the most appropriate education location and practice;

(d) creating appropriate relationships between schools and other social service agencies by improving relationships between the school and community agencies (health, social, mental health), parents and the business community, and by establishing procedures that cooperatively focus the resources of the greater community upon barriers to success in school, particularly in the areas of early childhood and parenting programs, after-school programs, and adolescent services.

Funds for the Innovation Initiative must be allocated to districts based upon a fifty percent average daily membership and fifty percent pursuant to the Education Finance Act formula. At least seventy percent of the funds must be allocated on a per school basis for school based innovation in accord with the District-School Improvement Plan. Up to thirty percent may be spent for district-wide projects with direct services to schools. District and school administrators must work together to determine the allocation of funds.

For 1993-94, districts and schools may use these funds for designing their Innovation Initiatives to be submitted to the peer review process established in § 59-139-10 prior to implementation of the innovations in 1994-95. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, districts may carry over all unexpended funds in 1993-94, and up to twenty-five percent of allocated funds each year thereafter in order to build funds for an approved program initiative.

(5) An annual district programmatic report to the parents and constituents of the school district must be developed by the local school board. Each report shall include the goals and objectives of the school district, the strategies implemented to meet the goals and objectives, and an evaluation of the outcomes. An annual school report to the parents and constituents of the school must be developed by the School Improvement Council and shall provide information on the school’s progress on meeting the school and district goals and objectives. These reports shall be provided by November fifteenth of each year.

(6) Each school board of trustees shall establish an improvement council at each school in the district and this council is to be involved in improvement and innovation efforts at the school. The council shall be composed of at least two parents, elected by the parents of the children enrolled in the school; at least two teachers, elected by the faculty; at least two students in schools with grades nine and above elected by the students; other representatives of the community and persons appointed by the principal. The elected members of the council shall comprise at least a two-thirds majority of the elected and appointed membership of the council. The council should also include ex-officio members such as the principal and others holding positions of leadership in the school or school organizations, such as parent-teacher groups, booster clubs, and federal program advisory groups. Each council shall assist in the preparation of the five-year plan and annual updates required in this section, assist with the development and monitoring of school improvement and innovation, provide advice on the use of school incentive grant awards, and provide assistance as the principal may request as well as carrying out any other duties prescribed by the local school board. The local school board shall make provisions to allow any council to file a separate report to the local school board if the council considers it necessary. However, no council has any of the powers and duties reserved by law or regulation to the local school board. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this subsection, an area vocational center’s school improvement council must be composed as defined exclusively by federal law. The council shall perform all duties and responsibilities provided for in any state or federal law which applies to these councils.

In order to provide additional accountability for funds expended under statutory requirements, the elected members of the school improvement council shall serve a minimum term of two years. Parents of students or students in their last year of enrollment at an individual school may serve terms of one year only. The terms must be staggered and initially determined by lot. Elections of members to school improvement councils shall occur no later than October fifteenth of the school year. The elections must be organized to ensure that every parent and faculty member has an opportunity to vote each year. Within thirty days following the election, the names, addresses, terms of service, and status of all council members as a parent, teacher, student, or representative of the community must be provided to the School Improvement Council Assistance at the University of South Carolina for the purpose of sharing information. The district board of trustees shall include in its annual district report a summary of the training opportunities provided or to be provided for school improvement council members and professional educators in regard to council-related tasks and a summary of programs and activities involving parents and citizens in the school.

(7) Each school district board of trustees shall:

(a) review each school improvement plan and the annual updates for integration with district plans and objectives and school progress in meeting those goals and objectives;

(b) cause to be prepared an annual written report to account for funds expended in each pupil classification as prescribed by the State Board of Education;

(c) participate in the statewide testing program as prescribed by the State Board of Education;

(d) maintain an ongoing systematic evaluation of the educational program needs in the district and shall develop a comprehensive annual and long-range plan for meeting these program needs. These plans shall include an assessment of needs. At minimum, the process of assessing needs and establishing goals and objectives must be carried out for each of the program classifications specified in § 59-20-40(1)(c). Each school district board of trustees shall develop and execute a method of evaluating the extent to which the goals and objectives specified in its comprehensive plan are being achieved and shall annually report the results of its evaluation to the people of the school district and to the State Board of Education.

(e) provide a program for staff development for all educational personnel. A portion of the funds in the foundation program must be used for this staff development that may include, but not be limited to:

(1) college courses in education, subject area of certification or management;

(2) teaching center offerings;

(3) State Department of Education workshops; and

(4) district-wide or in-school training for the purpose of fostering professional growth or improving the competency of all educational personnel.

(f) in accordance with the format approved by the State Board of Education, annually submit to the State Board of Education and to the people of the district that district’s fiscal report.

(8) The State Department of Education shall:

(a) develop, by September, 1993, a plan for offering help to districts and schools in designing and implementing the district and school comprehensive improvement plan;

(b) develop, by December, 1993, with approval by the State Board of Education, criteria for monitoring the district and school plans;

(c) review each district’s annual fiscal report;

(d) provide assistance to school districts in improving the programs, correcting the deficiencies, and in carrying out its staff development program;

(e) develop or select and field test a competency-based student assessment program;

(f) prepare an annual fiscal and programmatic report to the Governor and the General Assembly each year to assess compliance with this chapter and to make recommendations concerning necessary changes in this chapter;

(g) in compliance with the intent of the chapter, waive the prescribed reporting practices if considered necessary by the State Board of Education and authorize the substitution of alternate reporting practices which accomplish the objectives implied in this section. This waiver may not be utilized to avoid full accountability and implementation of this chapter.

(9) The Legislative Audit Council shall audit to assess compliance with this chapter as requested by the General Assembly. On the basis of these audits, the Legislative Audit Council shall make recommendations to the General Assembly concerning necessary changes in this chapter.

(10) A twelve-member Education Finance Review Committee must be established to advise the General Assembly and review its implementation of this chapter. This advice and review may include, but not be limited to:

(a) the cost of the defined minimum program;

(b) provisions included in the defined minimum program;

(c) the pupil classification weights in § 59-20-40;

(d) the formula for computing required local effort;

(e) the ongoing evaluation of the education program needs of the school districts.

The committee must be made up of three representatives from each of the following committees of the General Assembly – Senate Education, Senate Finance, House Education and Public Works, and House Ways and Means – appointed by each respective chairman. The committee shall seek the advice of professional educators and all other interested persons when formulating its recommendations.