HB 1896

Present law prohibits the state board of education from requiring, for purposes of operating as an approved Category III nonpublic school, a private school that provides a fully online, self-paced educational program; that is accredited by the Distance Ed ucation Accreditation Commission; and that is regionally accredited by one of the Category III regional accrediting agencies identified in the policies of the state board to: (1) Comply with the class size requirements; (2) Maintain an operating schedule that includes the minimum number of instructional days or minimum number of instructional hours per school day required of public schools; or (3) Comply with requirements that students be vaccinated against disease. This bill additionally prohibits the state board from requiring that a private school a dminister a nationally standardized achievement test that covers the subject areas of English language arts and mathematics to each student each school year in order to operate as an approved Class III nonpublic school . This bill also requires that, i n order to operate in this state as an approved Category III nonpublic school, the state board of education shall require a private school described above that serves students in any of the grades 9-12 to administer a nationally standardized achievement test that covers the subject areas of English language arts and mathematics to each student who is 1 8 years of age or younger and has completed 50% of the high school program and to each student who is 18 years of age or young er and has completed 90% of the high school program, unless the student who is 18 years of age or younger completes the entire high school program within a 12 -month period in which case such student is only required to a take a nationally standardized achievement test once.