The Senate Education Committee has approved a bill that would modify primary and secondary school terms.
The bill, SB 242, requires that the instructional term for students begin no earlier than August 10, and end no later than June 10, except for schools operating on a balanced calendar.
The bill also increases number of two-hour blocks for faculty senate meetings from four to six and permits accrued minutes to be used for lost instructional days.
The committee also considered SB 18, which would require ACT and ACT Aspire to be used as the comprehensive statewide student assessment, but voted to postpone any decision on the bill until the next meeting.
Members raised concerns that the bill would approve a business monopoly in school testing for ACT and eliminate the choice for students to take the SAT, which is still accepted by many schools across the country.
SB 200 and SB 273 were referred to the Education sub-comittee on School Choice for more research.
