37-1-11 - Duties of State Department and local boards as to preservation of classroom instructional time and paperwork reduction.
§ 37-1-11. Duties of State Department and local boards as to preservation of classroom instructional time and paperwork reduction.
(1) The school day shall be preserved for the purpose of teaching. It is the intent of the Legislature that every effort be made by the State Department of Education and the local school boards to protect the instructional time in the classroom and to reduce the amount of paperwork which must be completed by teachers.
(2) The State Board of Education shall adopt rules that provide for simplifying and reducing the number and length of written reports and other written documents that the State Department of Education requires from school districts and school district employees. The board shall conduct a comprehensive review of its rules to simplify and to reduce the number and length of reports required from school districts and school district employees. The State Department of Education shall provide non-mandatory models to school districts of lesson plans, curriculum guides and other required reports that comply with department reporting requirements.
(3) As part of its annual report to the Legislature, the State Board of Education shall include a statement of the total number and length of reports that it requires school districts and school district employees to prepare and of its efforts to reduce overall reporting requirements. The board shall identify for the Legislature those reports required by federal law or rule, those reports specifically required by state law and those reports required by department rule.
(4) The State Board of Education and the school board of each school district shall adopt policies to limit and reduce the number and length of written reports that classroom teachers are required to prepare.
Sources: Laws, 1987, ch. 375, eff from and after passage (approved March 19, 1987).