(1) The general assembly hereby finds that:
The constitutional provisions regarding the public education system direct the general assembly to establish a thorough and uniform statewide system of public education, but they also recognize the importance of preserving local flexibility by granting to each school district board of education the control of instruction in the schools of the school district;
The constitution's requirement that each school district board of education is responsible for controlling the instruction in its schools is based on the belief that the delivery of educational services must be tailored to the specific population of students they are intended to serve and that the parents of those students should have great opportunity for input regarding the educational services their children receive;
In tailoring the delivery of educational services, it is also important that the personsdelivering those services, the principal of the public school and the faculty employed at that school, have the maximum degree of flexibility possible to determine the most effective and efficient manner in which to meet their students' needs;
To further the goals of high-quality public education throughout the state, therefore,each school district board of education should have the authority to grant public schools of the school district the maximum degree of flexibility possible to meet the needs of individual students and the communities in which they live; and
While the ultimate responsibility for controlling the instruction in public schools continues to lie with the school district board of education of each public school, each school district board of education is strongly encouraged to delegate to each public school a high degree of autonomy in implementing curriculum, making personnel decisions, organizing the school day, determining the most effective use of resources, and generally organizing the delivery of high-quality educational services, thereby empowering each public school to tailor its services most effectively and efficiently to meet the needs of the population of students it serves.
(2) The general assembly therefore finds that it is in the best interests of the people of Colorado to enact the "Innovation Schools Act of 2008" to achieve the following purposes:
To grant to Colorado's school districts and public schools greater ability to meet theeducational needs of a diverse and constantly changing student population;
To encourage intentionally diverse approaches to learning and education within individual school districts;
To improve educational performance through greater individual school autonomy and managerial flexibility;
To encourage school districts, where appropriate, to create and manage a portfolio ofschools that meet a variety of education needs, including identifying elementary, middle or junior high, and high schools to collectively operate as a vertically integrated innovation zone of schools;
To encourage innovation in education by providing local school communities andprincipals with greater control over levels of staffing, personnel selection and evaluation, scheduling, and educational programming with the goal of achieving improved student achievement;
To encourage school districts and public schools to find new ways to allocate resources, including through implementation of specialized school budgets, for the benefit of the students they serve; and
To hold public schools that receive greater autonomy under this article accountablefor student academic achievement, as measured by the Colorado student assessment program, other more specifically tailored accountability measures, and the federal requirements of adequate yearly progress.
Source: L. 2008: Entire article added, p. 1420, § 1, effective May 28.