SECTION 65. Carnegie school grant awards; application; approval; deposit of funds

The board may award planning and implementation grants to individual public schools which apply for approval as Carnegie schools. In order to be eligible for approval as a Carnegie school an individual public school, subject to the approval of the school committees having jurisdiction over the public school, shall submit an application to the board, developed by a school-based planning team consisting of the building principal, at least five teachers elected by their peers and two other professionals employed at the school, two parents of children attending the school, chosen in elections held by the local parent-teacher organization under the direction of the principal of such school or, if none exists, chosen by the school committee; for school buildings containing any of the grades nine to twelve, inclusive, on secondary student attending said school building elected annually by the students of said grades, and one community representative.

Each application shall set forth the plan for the proposed Carnegie school, and shall include a detailed description of how the school governance will be restructured; how increased student learning will be achieved; the school's goals, including a description of the process to be followed in obtaining necessary approvals from the school committee and waivers from the appropriate organizations; and the objectives to be accomplished in each of the three years covered by the plan. The application may also include the following: a description of the proposed means for restructuring the school's governance, educational climate and environment, a description of the impact that the restructuring will have on the professional lives of teachers and other professional staff, the impact on student learning, a description of the current school organization, a statement of program objectives, and procedures for evaluation of the program. In addition, the application shall include the names of the individuals comprising a development team which shall be responsible for implementation of the approved Carnegie school plan. Said team may include, but shall not be limited to school building teachers, administrators and other professionals, parents of children attending the school, representatives of the community, and school committee members. Once the plan is developed, the staff of the school shall be given the opportunity to sign the plan to indicate their support.

An individual school whose Carnegie school plan has received initial approval by the board shall receive a one year planning grant for the purpose of assisting the school-based planning team in completing the planning necessary for full implementation of the Carnegie school plan.

At the end of the period covered by the planning grant, the school shall submit its Carnegie school implementation plan to the board for final approval. Subject to the attainment of stated goals, the board may annually award grants for not more than three successive years for implementation and administration of Carnegie school plans. In each such year award of the implementation grant shall be subject to a determination by the board that the goals and objectives set forth in the approved Carnegie school plan have been achieved. No Carnegie school plan may be submitted for final approval by the board for implementation unless it is approved by majority vote of the school committee having jurisdiction over the individual public school.

The department of education shall provide technical assistance to schools whose Carnegie school plans have received initial approval by the board.

Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, a school committee may approve the restructuring of school governance pursuant to a Carnegie school plan. Said approval shall be subject to obtaining the appropriate waivers.

Grants awarded under this section shall be deposited with the town, city, collaborative, or regional district treasurer in a separate account to be expended without further appropriation by the Carnegie school development team pursuant to this section for the purposes authorized by the Carnegie school planning or implementation grants.

This account may also be credited with funds received from any corporation, whether public or private; private individual; or from any government.

No public school shall receive funds through the Carnegie school grant program if, (1) said school is within a city, town, or regional school district in which the share of local expenditures allocated to the support of the public schools has declined since fiscal year nineteen hundred and eighty-six, or (2) any schools receiving Carnegie school grants have received average per pupil support less than that received on average by other schools of the same classification and grade level in the district, or (3) the absolute level of financial support for the public schools in the city, town, or regional school district has decreased. In the case of a school district which fails to meet the aforementioned criteria, the board of education may also consider eligible those schools in which the per pupil educational portion of local expenditures, adjusted for inflation and other externalities, has not decreased in any year since fiscal year nineteen hundred and eighty-six.