(1) Each local school board shall appoint or create a process for the election of a school district accountability committee that shall consist of:

• (a) At least three parents of students enrolled in the district public schools;

• (b) At least one teacher who is employed by the school district;

• (c) At least one school administrator who is employed by the school district; and

• (d) At least one person who is involved in business or industry in the community within the school district boundaries.

(2) (a) A person may not be appointed or elected to fill more than one of the member positions required in subsection (1) of this section in a single term.

• (b) If a local school board chooses to increase the number of persons on the school district accountability committee, it shall ensure that the number of parents appointed or elected to the committee pursuant to paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section exceeds the number of representatives from the group with the next highest representation.

• (c)

• (I) Except as otherwise provided in subparagraph (II) of this paragraph (c), a parent shall not be eligible to serve on a school district accountability committee if he or she is employed by, or is a relative of a person who is employed by, the school district, including being employed at a public school of the school district.

• (II) If a school district makes a good faith effort but is unable to identify a sufficient number of parents who are willing to serve on a school district accountability committee and who are not excluded from serving as provided in subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (c), one or more parents who are employed by, or are related to a person who is employed by, the school district, including being employed at a public school of the school district, may serve on the school district accountability committee.

• (III) As used in this paragraph (c), unless the context otherwise requires, "related" or "relative" means a person's spouse, son, daughter, sister, brother, mother, or father.

(3) If a local school board appoints the members of the school district accountability committee, the local school board, to the extent practicable, shall ensure that the parents who are appointed reflect the student populations that are significantly represented within the school district. Said student populations may include, but need not be limited to:

• (a) Students who are members of non-Caucasian races;

• (b) Students who are eligible for free or reduced-cost lunch through the federal "Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act", 42 U.S.C. sec. 1751 et seq.;

• (c) Students who are English language learners, as defined in section 22-24-103 (4);

• (d) Students who are migrant children, as defined in section 22-23-103 (2);

• (e) Students who are identified as children with disabilities pursuant to section 22-20-108; and

• (f) Students who are identified as gifted children, as defined in section 22-20-202 (11).

(4) If a local school board appoints the members of the school district accountability committee, the local school board, to the extent practicable, shall ensure that:

• (a) At least one of the parents appointed to the committee is the parent of a student enrolled in a charter school authorized by the local school board, if the local school board has authorized any charter schools; and

• (b) At least one of the persons appointed to the committee has a demonstrated knowledge of charter schools.

(5) The members of each school district accountability committee shall select from among the parent representatives serving on the committee a member to serve as chair or co-chair of the committee. The local school board shall establish the length of term for which the committee chair or co-chair shall serve.

(1) (a) Each district public school and each institute charter school shall establish a school accountability committee. Each school accountability committee shall consist of at least seven members as follows:

• (I) The principal of the school or the principal's designee;

• (II) At least one teacher who provides instruction at the school;

• (III) At least three parents or legal guardians of students enrolled in the school;

• (IV) At least one adult member of an organization of parents, teachers, and students recognized by the school; and

• (V) At least one person who is involved in business or industry in the community.

(1) Each school accountability committee has the following powers and duties:

• (a) To recommend to the principal of its school priorities for spending school moneys. The principal shall consider the school accountability committee's recommendations regarding spending state, federal, local, or private grants and any other discretionary moneys and take them into account in formulating budget requests for presentation to the local school board, if the school is a district public school, other than a charter school, or in creating the school budget if the school is a district or institute charter school. The school accountability committee for a district public school shall send a copy of its recommended spending priorities to the school district accountability committee and to the local school board.

• (b) To advise the principal of the public school and, in the case of a district public school, the superintendent of the school district concerning the preparation of a school performance or improvement plan, if either is required pursuant to section 22-11-210, and to submit recommendations to the principal, and superintendent if applicable, concerning the contents of the performance or improvement plan;

• (c) To advise the local school board or the institute concerning the preparation of a school priority improvement or turnaround plan, if either is required pursuant to section 22-11-210, and to submit recommendations to the local school board or the institute concerning the contents of the priority improvement or turnaround plan;

• (d) To meet at least quarterly to discuss whether school leadership, personnel, and infrastructure are advancing or impeding implementation of the public school's performance, improvement, priority improvement, or turnaround plan, whichever is applicable, or other progress pertinent to the public school's accreditation contract with the local school board or the institute;

• (e) To provide input and recommendations on an advisory basis to district accountability committees and district administration concerning:

• (I) Principal development plans for their principal pursuant to section 22-9-106; and

• (II) Principal evaluations conducted pursuant to section 22-9-106.

• (f) To publicize and hold a public school accountability committee meeting pursuant to section 22-32-142 (2) or 22-30.5-520 (2) to discuss strategies to include in a public school priority improvement or turnaround plan;

• (g) To publicize a public hearing held pursuant to section 22-32-142 (2), or, if the school is an institute charter school, to publicize and hold a public hearing pursuant to section 22-30.5-520 (2), to review a written public school priority improvement or turnaround plan. A member of the school accountability committee is encouraged to attend the public hearing.

• (h) To increase the level of parent engagement in the school, especially the engagement of parents of students in the populations described in section 22-11-401 (1)(d). The committee's activities to increase parent engagement must include, but need not be limited to:

• (I) Publicizing opportunities to serve and soliciting parents to serve on the school accountability committee. In soliciting parents to serve on the school accountability committee, the school accountability committee shall direct the outreach efforts to help ensure that the parents who serve on the school accountability committee reflect the student populations that are significantly represented within the school, as provided in section 22-11-401 (1)(d).

• (II) Assisting the school district in implementing at the school the parent engagement policy adopted by the local school board pursuant to section 22-32-142; and

• (III) Assisting school personnel to increase parents' engagement with teachers, including but not limited to parents' engagement in creating students' READ plans pursuant to part 12 of article 7 of this title, in creating individual career and academic plans pursuant to section 22-32-109 (1)(oo) or 22-30.5-525, and in creating plans to address habitual truancy pursuant to section 22-33-107 (3).

(2) Notwithstanding any provision of subsection (1) of this section to the contrary, the school accountability committee for a public school is not required to implement the requirements specified in paragraph (h) of subsection (1) of this section if the department determines that the public school's school district is rural, based on the geographic size of the school district and the distance of the school district from the nearest large, urbanized area, and the school district enrolls fewer than one thousand students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.

(1) (a) If the state board, pursuant to section 22-11-210, directs a district public school to adopt an improvement plan, the school principal and the school district superintendent, or his or her designee, in accordance with time frames specified in state board rules, shall adopt a school improvement plan, as described in subsection (3) of this section, for the district public school. (b) The school accountability committee for the district public school shall advise the principal concerning preparation of the school improvement plan and shall make recommendations to the principal concerning the contents of the school improvement plan. The principal, with the approval of the superintendent or his or her designee, shall create and adopt the school improvement plan, taking into account the advice and recommendations of the school accountability committee. (c) The school district accountability committee shall include the adopted school improvement plan in the compilation prepared pursuant to section 22-11-302 (1), and the local school board shall consider the adopted school improvement plan in developing the budget required by section 22-44-108. The principal and the superintendent, or his or her designee, shall ensure that the school improvement plan is in effect for the district public school within the time frames established in state board rules. (2) (a) If the state board, pursuant to section 22-11-210, directs an institute charter school to adopt an improvement plan, the school principal, in accordance with time frames specified in state board rules, shall adopt a school improvement plan, as described in subsection (3) of this section, for the institute charter school. (b) The school accountability committee for the institute charter school shall advise the principal concerning preparation of the school improvement plan and shall make recommendations to the principal concerning the contents of the school improvement plan. The principal shall create and adopt the school improvement plan, taking into account the advice and recommendations of the school accountability committee. (c) The institute shall include the adopted school improvement plan in the compilation prepared pursuant to section 22-11-303 (2)(b). The principal shall ensure that the school improvement plan is in effect for the institute charter school within the time frames established in state board rules. (3) A school improvement plan shall be designed to raise the academic performance of students enrolled in the public school and to ensure that the public school, following the next annual performance review, attains a higher accreditation category. At a minimum, each school improvement plan shall: (a) Set or revise, as appropriate, ambitious but attainable targets that the public school shall attain on the performance indicators. The principal and school district superintendent, or his or her designee, shall ensure that the targets are aligned with the statewide targets set by the state board pursuant to section 22-11-201. (a.5) If the public school serves students in kindergarten and first, second, and third grades, identify the strategies to be used in addressing the needs of students enrolled in kindergarten and first, second, and third grade who are identified pursuant to section 22-7-1205 as having significant reading deficiencies and set or revise, as appropriate, ambitious but attainable targets that the public school shall attain in reducing the number of students who have significant reading deficiencies and in ensuring that each student achieves grade level expectations in reading; (b) Identify positive and negative trends in the levels of attainment by the public school on the performance indicators; (c) Assess and prioritize the issues and needs at the public school that must be addressed to raise the levels of attainment on the performance indicators by the public school and to improve school readiness, if the public school serves students in preschool or kindergarten; (d) Identify specific, research-based strategies that are appropriate in scope, intensity, and type to address the needs and issues identified pursuant to paragraph (c) of this subsection (3); (e) Identify the local, state, and federal resources that the public school will use to implement the identified strategies with fidelity; and (f) Address any other issues required by rule of the state board or raised by the department through the performance review pursuant to section 22-11-210. (4) The local school board, on behalf of a district public school, or the institute, on behalf of an institute charter school, shall submit the school improvement plan to the department for publication on the data portal. The public school shall make copies of the school improvement plan available to members of the public upon request.

"Encourage local school systems to establish parent involvement advisory groups to advise their local boards of education on parent involvement concerns, practices, and research."