Title 16 — Title 16

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. History: (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. History: (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…

Requirements; Rules and Procedures. (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 Sec…

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Educational Accountability and Intervention Act of 2013. History: (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…

by State Board of Education. 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 u…

The State Superintendent of Education may develop and issue regulations to implement the requirements of this chapter. History: (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. History: (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…

Facilities and Land. (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 po…

(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…

Commission; Registration Requirements; Powers and Duties of Authorizers. (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 tha…

Charters; Contracts. (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…

Closure and Dissolution; Reporting. (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 t…

(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. History: (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…

Systems. (a) The State Superintendent of Education shall convene a standing Literacy Task Force by December 1, 2019, to provide recommendations for comprehensive core reading and reading intervention programs, a state continuum of teacher development for approved science of readi…

Reading Specialists. (a) Funds appropriated by the Legislature in support of the Alabama Reading Initiative shall be allocated to support and implement, in accordance with this chapter, the following: (1) Local education agencies to support local reading specialists. (2) The Alab…

Plan; Summer Reading Camps; Alabama Summer Achievement Program; Retention of Students; Reporting Requirements. (a) Commencing with the 2022-2023 school year, to ensure that public school students are able to read at or above grade level by the end of third grade, each local educa…

Preparation Programs; Licensure and Certification of Teachers; Professional Learning. (a) The State Superintendent of Education shall develop, and the State Board of Education shall approve, a dyslexia therapist certification endorsement on or before December 31, 2019. (1) K-12 a…

(a) The State Superintendent of Education shall establish the Alabama Committee on Grade Level Reading. The committee shall consist of four members appointed from each State Board of Education district. The Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the House of Representa…

The State Superintendent of Education shall provide technical assistance to local education agencies in complying with this chapter. The State Board of Education shall adopt rules as necessary to implement and enforce this chapter. History: (Act 2019-523, §8.)

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Alabama Numeracy Act. History: (Act 2022-249, §1.)

Alabama Multi-Tiered System of Support Framework. Beginning August 1, 2022, the State Superintendent of Education shall provide training to full support and limited support schools relating to the Alabama Multi- Tiered System of Support framework. The framework shall outline the …

The department, through the Office of School Improvement, shall do all of the following: (1) Add educators experienced in the implementation of teaching elementary mathematics through problem solving to the Office of School Improvement. (2) Add highly qualified staff with experie…

School Improvement Teams; School Turnaround Options; Progress Reports. (a) Beginning January 1, 2024, the department, through the Office of School Improvement, the Office of Mathematics Improvement, any other sections within the department, and regional and national experts in sc…

Preparation Programs; Initial Licensure Requirements for Prospective Teachers; Review and Report. (a) Beginning August 1, 2022, the State Superintendent of Education, through the Office of Mathematics Improvement, shall convene and oversee a Postsecondary Mathematics Task Force t…

(a) On or before June 30, 2024, the State Superintendent of Education shall develop and submit to the State Board of Education for approval, recommendations for the creation of a K-5 mathematics coach endorsement for teachers who hold a valid Alabama professional educator certifi…

(a) Beginning October 1, 2022, the State Superintendent of Education shall convene a working group to create the Alabama Instructional Leadership Framework, applicable to all K-5 administrators. The State Superintendent of Education shall utilize an external partner to facilitate…