Sen. Rotz presents changes to bill on foster-care placement and literacy accountability

Senator Rotz presented Senate Bill 199 to the Senate Rules and Legislative Procedure Committee, outlining several updates that affect school districts’ employee benefits and literacy accountability. The bill adds review language about placing a child in foster care with a district employee to determine whether paid leave applies, directs the secretary of education to review district employee benefits, and creates a three-year rolling average standard for literacy test passage set at 75%.

The changes, Rotz said, are intended to ensure districts are “continuing to do a good job” on literacy and to create triggers for intervention where performance declines. Under the proposal, if a school’s three-year rolling average falls below the 75% threshold it would be required to procure an assessment and could be required to participate in specified literacy remediation activities.

Committee members had no recorded substantive questions during the presentation. A motion to report the bill to the next stage passed on a roll call vote; the clerk recorded several named 'aye' votes and the chair announced the motion 'passes eleven-zero.' The committee did not record amendments to the text during the hearing.

The committee’s action sends SB 199 forward for further consideration in the legislative process; no effective or implementation dates were specified during the committee discussion.