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.
Provides grants to nonprofit organizations that provide eligible home reading programs that provide independent reading level books that are individually mailed to the residences of kindergarten through fifth grade students on a weekly basis.
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.
Provides that elections to fill an increased number of seats on a school board will be conducted at the first annual meeting after the meeting during which number of seats was increased.
Relates to the date of school district annual organizational meetings; allows boards of education to meet on any date on or before the Monday after July 20th for their annual organizational meeting.
Provides an annual tax levy limit allowing for expenditures directly or indirectly related to school safety, including improving district wide emergency response plans, training staff and/or students on school safety and/or conflict mediation, installing and maintaining safety technology and software in school buildings, hiring school resource officers, acquiring emergency medical equipment, installing fencing around the perimeter of school grounds, installing bulletproof doors and windows, acquiring and maintaining technology for expedited notification of local law enforcement during an emergency.
Requires school districts, public libraries, boards of cooperative educational services, county vocational education and extension boards, charter schools, and non-public elementary and secondary schools to provide and maintain on-site opioid antagonists.
Empowers the commissioner of education to declare a disaster has substantially impacted an annual meeting and election and to allow school boards to set an additional day for voting if less than eight percent of registered voters cast ballots as a direct consequence of a disaster.
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.