Providing for supplementary weighting for school districts that share school and career specialists

This bill provides that school and career specialists are eligible for shared operational functions for purposes of supplementary weighting. Under current law, school districts that share certain operational functions with another political subdivision are assigned a supplementary weighting for each shared operational function in order to provide additional funding to increase student opportunities and redirect more resources to student programming. The bill adds school and career specialist to the list of positions that qualify for supplementary weighting when shared between a school district and another political subdivision for at least twenty percent of the school year. The bill provides that a school district that shares the operational function of a school and career specialist will receive a supplementary weighting of two pupils. The bill defines “school and career specialist” as an individual employed by a state-based national nonprofit organization that works with students at risk of dropping out of school or failing to transition into postsecondary education, the workforce, or military service by providing direct services to students to support success in school and the workplace, including life skills instruction, academic and career development programming, postsecondary transition assistance, leadership training, and employer engagement.