The State Board of Education may reserve a sum of money, to be recommended by the commission and approved by the State Board of Education, to support demonstration and experimental projects designed to develop new methods of allocating personnel, equipment, and facilities to solve educational problems associated with educational management. Such projects may include, but need not be limited to, the development of new and potentially more economical staffing, arrangements for administration and for classroom instruction, a modification of class size in schools, the utilization of classroom aides, flexible class scheduling, and the use of instructional television and audiovisual equipment so as to more effectively utilize local resources. Also included may be projects for educational problems associated with general curriculum development, community relations, urbanization, and work-study programs. The standards for such demonstrational and experimental projects shall be recommended by the commission and approved by the State Board of Education, based upon the best interests of the students involved, except that a project shall be approved only if it can be shown that, if successful, the cost effectiveness of the project will be such so as to be adaptable within the budgets of other similar school districts throughout the state.
(Enacted by Stats. 1976, Ch. 1010.)