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An Act To Encourage Parental Involvement in Education
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA §255, sub-§6  is enacted to read:
 
6.  Parental involvement plans; post.     Beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, the commissioner shall post on the department's publicly accessible website the parental involvement plans submitted by school administrative units pursuant to section 1001, subsection 19. The commissioner shall post on the department's publicly accessible website the names of all schools that do not comply with the requirements of section 1001, subsection 19.
Sec. 2.  20-A MRSA §1001, sub-§19  is enacted to read:
 
19.  Parental involvement plan.     Beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, a school board shall annually approve a parental involvement plan for the school administrative unit. A school board shall develop the parental involvement plan in consultation with parents, teachers and administrators. The parental involvement plan must promote the involvement of parents, guardians and legal guardians of children enrolled in the school administrative unit in order to improve student achievement. The parental involvement plan approved by the school board under this subsection must include but is not limited to:
 
A.  Procedures to improve parental participation in the schools and parent, teacher and administrator cooperation in areas in which parental involvement has been shown to improve student achievement and foster student success, such as academic engagement, homework, attendance and student conduct;
 
B.  Procedures by which parents may learn about the school curriculum, courses of study and other instructional programs, including placement in gifted and talented programs, special education programs, career and technical education programs or online learning programs, that are available for their children;
 
C.  Procedures by which parents may learn about school policies and practices related to student attendance, student assessment, student report cards, requirements for student promotion and requirements for high school graduation;
 
D.  Procedures by which parents may be informed about the nature and purpose of clubs and activities that are part of the school curriculum as well as the cocurricular and extracurricular clubs and activities that have been approved by the school;
 
E.  Procedures by which parents may access and review instructional materials and other educational resources that are used by teachers and administrators in promoting the educational performance or development of students;
 
F.  Procedures that promote communication between the schools and parents concerning school programs and the academic progress of the parents' children;
 
G.  Strategic initiatives and school-based programs that encourage and enable parents to participate actively in their children's education and that promote opportunities for parents to participate in and support classroom instruction and cocurricular and extracurricular activities at the school; and
 
H.  Strategic initiatives and school-based programs that support, with appropriate training, parental involvement in school board decision making and that encourage parent membership on school advisory councils.
 
A school board shall annually submit the parental involvement plan approved pursuant to this subsection by August 31st to the commissioner. Beginning with the 2014-2015 school year, a school board shall annually consult with parents, teachers and administrators to review the school administrative unit's performance in implementing the parental involvement plan.
Sec. 3.  20-A MRSA §2403, sub-§8  is enacted to read:
 
8.  Parental involvement plans; post.     Beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, the commissioner shall post on the department's publicly accessible website the parental involvement plans submitted by public charter schools pursuant to section 2415, subsection 4. The commissioner shall post on the department's publicly accessible website the names of all public charter schools that do not comply with the requirements of section 2415, subsection 4.
Sec. 4.  20-A MRSA §2415, sub-§4  is enacted to read:
 
4.  Parental involvement plan.     Beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, a governing board shall annually approve a parental involvement plan for the public charter school. A governing board shall develop the parental involvement plan in consultation with parents, teachers and administrators. The parental involvement plan must promote the involvement of parents, guardians and legal guardians of children enrolled in the public charter school in order to improve student achievement. The parental involvement plan approved by the governing board under this subsection must include but is not limited to:
 
A.  Procedures to improve parental participation in the public charter school and parent, teacher and administrator cooperation in areas in which parental involvement has been shown to improve student achievement and foster student success, such as academic engagement, homework, attendance and student conduct;
 
B.  Procedures by which parents may learn about the public charter school curriculum, courses of study and other instructional programs, including placement in gifted and talented programs, special education programs, career and technical education programs or online learning programs, that are available for their children;
 
C.  Procedures by which parents may learn about public charter school policies and practices related to student attendance, student assessment, student report cards, requirements for student promotion and requirements for high school graduation;
 
D.  Procedures by which parents may be informed about the nature and purpose of clubs and activities that are part of the public charter school curriculum as well as the cocurricular and extracurricular clubs and activities that have been approved by the public charter school;
 
E.  Procedures by which parents may access and review instructional materials and other educational resources that are used by teachers and administrators in promoting the educational performance or development of students;
 
F.  Procedures that promote communication between the public charter school and parents concerning public charter school programs and the academic progress of the parents' children;
 
G.  Strategic initiatives and public charter school-based programs that encourage and enable parents to participate actively in their children's education and that promote opportunities for parents to participate in and support classroom instruction and cocurricular and extracurricular activities at the public charter school; and
 
H.  Strategic initiatives and public charter school-based programs that support, with appropriate training, parental involvement in governing board decision making and that encourage parent membership on public charter school advisory councils.
 
A governing board shall annually submit the parental involvement plan approved pursuant to this subsection by August 31st to the commissioner. Beginning with the 2014-2015 school year, a governing board shall annually consult with parents, teachers and administrators to review the public charter school's performance in implementing the parental involvement plan.
 
SUMMARY
This bill requires school administrative units and public charter schools, in consultation with parents, teachers and administrators, to develop a parental involvement plan that promotes student achievement. Each school board and governing board is required to annually approve a parental involvement plan for the school administrative unit and the public charter school and to submit the plan to the Commissioner of Education. The bill also requires the Commissioner of Education to post on the Department of Education's publicly accessible website the names of all schools and public charter schools that do not develop a parental involvement plan.