English language proficiency act excellence award program - created - rules - legislative declaration

(1) There is created in the department the English language proficiency act excellence award program to award grants to local education providers and charter schools that achieve the highest English language and academic growth among English language learners and the highest academic achievement for English language learners who transition out of the English language proficiency program. The department shall administer the program by annually identifying, based on rules of the state board, the local education providers and charter schools that qualify for grants and distributing the moneys that the general assembly appropriates to the department for the program. The state board by rule shall set the grant amount based on the student enrollment of the local education providers and charter schools that qualify for grants and the concentration of English language learners enrolled by the local education providers and charter schools as a percentage of the total student enrollment. Subject to available appropriations, the department shall distribute the moneys in accordance with the rules to the local education providers and charter schools that qualify for the grants. (2) The state board shall promulgate rules that create the criteria or measures that the department must apply to identify the local education providers and charter schools that achieve the highest English language and academic growth among English language learners and that achieve the highest academic achievement for English language learners who transition out of the English language proficiency program. (3) (a) Each local education provider and charter school that receives a grant pursuant to this section, at the conclusion of each school year for which it receives a grant, must submit to the department: (I) A data analysis and summary of the local education provider's or charter school's English language proficiency program; and (II) A report of the local education provider's or charter school's use of the grant moneys received. (b) The department shall provide the information received pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (3) to local education providers and shall make the information available to the public through the data portal operated pursuant to section 22-11-502. (4) Repealed. (5) The general assembly finds that, for purposes of section 17 of article IX of the state constitution, the English language proficiency act excellence award program is an important component of an accountable program to meet state academic standards and, therefore, may be funded from moneys in the state education fund created in section 17 (4) of article IX of the state constitution.