Updates provisions relating to dignity for all students including establishing the student suicide prevention act which includes curriculum and teacher training requirements designed to prevent student suicide with a focus on LGBTQ students; makes an appropriation therefor.
Clarifies the application of standardized testing requirements to the general education development exam by explicitly including it in the definition of "standardized test" and "test".
Prohibits the use of corporal punishment in an educational setting; defines corporal punishment as an act of physical force upon a pupil for the purpose of punishing the pupil.
Creates a computer science course requirement for graduation from high school; directs the department of education to design and implement such program.
Modifies the date for kindergarten enrollment from when a minor who becomes five or six years of age on or before the first of December to the first of September.
Requires annual screenings for depression of students in grades seven through twelve; requires the department of education and the department of health to review data pertaining to the results of such screenings for local and statewide trends concerning teenage depression.
Enacts the "freedom to read act"; requires the commissioner of education and school library systems to develop policies to ensure that school libraries and library staff are empowered to curate and develop collections that provide students with access to the widest array of developmentally appropriate materials available.
Establishes the first of April as the annual reporting deadline for the basic educational data system (BEDS); imposes some additional requirements for calculating and reporting a school's student population.
Requires that parents of students at student orientations, back to school nights, or other beginning of year events, at schools that participate in the national school lunch program or school breakfast program, receive notification of eligibility, and access to application, for free or reduced price meals for students.
Requires that nominating petitions for small city school district elections be submitted no later than thirty days prior to the election; provides for a ten-day period for objecting to any nominating petitions; outlines the duties of the clerk of the board of education in finalizing the ballot after the ten-day objection period; provides that certain provisions concerning the date of the drawing for the names on the ballot do not apply to small city school districts.
Requires school districts to establish a language assistance program for limited English proficient parents of students; requires record keeping and annual reporting; permits districts to jointly establish such programs.