Title 16

(a) The Legislature finds that the people of Alabama desire two basic things from their public schools: (1) High achievement for students. (2) A safe and orderly environment in which to learn. (b) The Legislature encourages the State Board of Education to assist local boards of e…

(a) Foundation Program. It is the intent of the Legislature to see that funds allocated for classroom instructional support actually reach the classroom. To that end, the State Department of Education shall monitor the flow of funds appropriated for various instructional purposes…

(a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the Alabama Teacher Paperwork Streamlining Act. (b) The purpose of this section is to accomplish all of the following: (1) Streamline and reduce the paperwork burdens placed on Alabama teachers related to the required documentat…

All laws or parts of laws which conflict with this chapter are hereby repealed and specifically Sections 16-3-15, 16-3-17.2, 16-3-18.2, 16-3-18.4 and 16-13-15 are hereby repealed. Notwithstanding the repeal of the foregoing sections, the State Board of Education shall review and …

Every Alabama student shall be given instruction in grades kindergarten through twelve to prepare him or her to enter the world of work and/or to complete course work at the postsecondary level. In addition to a comprehensive core curriculum of academics, each local board of educ…

(a) The Legislature finds that the State Board of Education, in the fall of 2013, voted to rescind the Memorandum of Agreement that involved the State of Alabama in adopting the Common Core State Standards, which ceded control of Alabama’s standards to entities other than the sta…

(a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the Alabama Workforce Pathways Act. (b)(1) The purpose of this section is to provide enhanced academic and skilled trades opportunities for Alabama students, and to facilitate the development of a career pathways diploma at the …

(a) Student strategy. The superintendent of the local board of education along with the staff of each school shall develop an assistance program at each school for at-risk students performing below the standards set by the State Board of Education. The standards shall include the…

Following the analysis of the financial integrity of each local board of education as provided in subsection (a) or (b) of Section 16-13A-2, if a local board of education is determined to have submitted fiscally unsound financial reports, the State Department of Education shall p…

In addition to providing quality instruction in classrooms and fiscal soundness, all local boards of education shall be accountable for compliance with statutes and regulations regarding school safety and discipline. The State Department of Education shall send to all local board…

Management of a school or local board of education occasioned by state intervention based on student achievement or financial instability shall continue until such time as either condition improves to an acceptable level. The local board of education may petition the State Board …

(a) The local board of education shall prepare an annual accountability report for each school and area vocational/technical center under its jurisdiction, and for itself, to be provided to the public under regulations promulgated by the State Board of Education. Such accountabil…

(a) In order for a local board of education to participate in the state Foundation Program certain conditions shall be met. The teacher salary schedule of the local board of education shall be at least 100 percent of the amount specified within the State Minimum Salary Schedule d…

No funds shall be transferred by any board of education from salary allocations to any other expenditure or for any other purpose. In times of proration, salaries shall not be subject to proration. (Acts 1995, No. 95-313, p. 620, §9.)

(a) Just as there is value in assigning grades that reflect the performance of public school students in Alabama, the Legislature finds that there is also value in assigning grades that reflect the performance of the public schools attended by public school students in Alabama. T…

(a) In addition to any other labels or designations assigned to public schools and public school districts pursuant to a federal, state, school, district, or other assessment or accountability system, the State Superintendent of Education, consistent with this chapter, shall deve…

(a) The Legislative School Performance Recognition Program is created within the State Department of Education to reward public schools that either: (1) Demonstrate high performance by being ranked in the top 25 percent of public schools, as ranked in the school grading system cr…

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Alabama Accountability Act of 2013. (Act 2013-64, p. 112, §1.)

(a) Innovative schools and school systems may be established in Alabama in accordance with this chapter. (b) The purpose of this chapter is to advance the benefits of local school and school system autonomy in innovation and creativity by allowing flexibility from state laws, reg…

(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (1) To further the goals of public education throughout the state, each school system should be able to have maximum possible flexibility to meet the needs of students and the communities within its jurisdiction. (2) Th…

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (1) ACADEMIC YEAR. The 12-month period beginning on July 1 and ending on the following June 30. (2) DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE. The Alabama Department of Revenue. (3) EDUCATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP. A gr…

(a) Pursuant to this chapter, to be considered as an innovative school system, a local school system shall successfully comply with the requirements and procedures set forth by the State Department of Education regarding school flexibility contracts, which include, but are not li…

(a) The innovation plan of a local school system shall include, at a minimum, all of the following: (1) The school year that the local school system expects the school flexibility contract to begin. (2) The list of state laws, rules, and policies, including rules and policies ado…

The State Board of Education and the State Department of Education shall ensure equal opportunity for all school systems that apply for programmatic flexibility or budgetary flexibility, or both, as delineated in this chapter, and in no way shall one local school system be favore…

(a) To provide educational flexibility and state accountability for students in priority schools: (1) For tax years beginning on and after January 1, 2013, an Alabama income tax credit is made available to the parent of a student enrolled in or assigned to attend a priority schoo…

(a)(1) An individual taxpayer who files a state income tax return and is not claimed as a dependent of another taxpayer, a taxpayer subject to the corporate income tax levied by Chapter 18 of Title 40, an Alabama S corporation as defined in Section 40-18-160, or a Subchapter K en…

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Educational Accountability and Intervention Act of 2013. (Act 2013-310, p. 1053, §1.)

The purposes of this chapter include all of the following: (1) To clarify and confirm the authority of the State Superintendent of Education to assume and exercise direct and comprehensive control over the decision making and operational functions of city and county boards of edu…

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (1) ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE and ACADEMIC CONDITIONS. As used in subdivision (1) of Section 16-6E-4, may include, but not be limited to, definitions of the same or similar terms and related crite…

The State Board of Education may intervene in the educational operations of a city or county board of education and thereby assume general and direct control over all decision making and operational functions of the city or county board of education under and subject to the follo…

The State Superintendent of Education may develop and issue regulations to implement the requirements of this chapter. (Act 2013-310, p. 1053, §5.)

This chapter shall be construed to do all of the following: (1) Provide the State Superintendent of Education or the chief administrative officer with broad discretion and complete authority to make, direct, implement, and enforce decisions, actions, and measures which, in his or…

Any city or county board of education which, on May 24, 2013, is operating under any form of intervention by virtue of a statute that is repealed or superseded by this chapter shall remain subject to the terms and provisions of the statute and the authority conferred thereby on t…

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Alabama School Choice and Student Opportunity Act. (Act 2015-3, §1.)

(a) Enrollment. Each public charter school shall report enrollment, attendance, and other counts of students to the department in the manner required by the department. (b) Operational funding. (1) The following provisions govern operational funding: a.1. In their initial year, a…

(a) Access to Alabama Public School and College Authority (PSCA) funds. (1) Public charter schools shall have the same rights and access to PSCA funding opportunities as non-charter public schools. (2) The PSCA and the department shall adopt and maintain a policy to ensure that p…

(a) Public charter schools may be established in Alabama in accordance with this chapter. All public charter schools in the state established under this chapter are public schools and are part of the public education system of the state. (b) This chapter shall be interpreted to s…

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (1) It is in the best interests of the people of Alabama to provide all children with access to high quality public schools. (2) It is necessary to continue to search for ways to strengthen the academic performance of eleme…

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (1) APPLICANT. Any group with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status or that has submitted an application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status that develops and submits an application for a public charter sc…

(a) Open enrollment. (1) A public charter school shall be open to any student residing in the state. (2) A school system shall not require any student enrolled in the school system to attend a start-up public charter school. (3) A public charter school shall not limit admission b…

(a) Eligible authorizing entities. (1) A public charter school shall not be established in this state unless its establishment is authorized by this section. No governmental entity or other entity, other than an entity expressly granted chartering authority as set forth in this s…

(a) Request for proposals. (1) To solicit, encourage, and guide the development of quality public charter school applications, every local school board, in its role as public charter school authorizer, shall issue and broadly publicize a request for proposals for public charter s…

(a) Performance framework. (1) The performance provisions within the charter contract shall be based on a performance framework that clearly sets forth the academic and operational performance indicators, measures, and metrics that will guide the authorizer’s evaluations of each …

(a) Legal status of a public charter school. (1) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, to the extent that any provision of this chapter is inconsistent with any other state or local law, rule, or regulation, the provisions of this chapter shall govern and be contr…

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Alabama Literacy Act. (Act 2019-523, §1.)

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings: (1) ALPHABETIC PRINCIPLE. The ability to accurately apply knowledge of the relationship between letters and sounds during the acts of encoding and decoding. (2) COMPREHENSION. The ability to read a…