Section 20-2-168. Distribution of federal funds; combined purchase of supplies and equipment; minimum school year; summer school programs; year-round operation

   (a) All federal funds received by the State Board of Education for purposes contained within this article shall be apportioned and distributed by the state board in a manner consistent with this article as additional aid to local units of administration in defraying the cost of establishing and operating approved programs subject to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the state board and in accordance with the approved state plan for such programs, where applicable.

(b) (1) The State Board of Education, through a study which includes consultation with the Department of Administrative Services, representatives of local units of administration, and such others as the state board may consult, shall determine whether an overall substantial price advantage to local units of administration may be obtained by means of a combined bid by local units through the state board and the Department of Administrative Services on standard items of school equipment, supplies, services, or other expenses designated by the state board which are ordinarily needed, procured, or incurred by local units, without a sacrifice of safety or quality. The study used to make such determination shall be performed not less than once every five years. If the state board shall determine that such a price advantage to local units may be obtained by such means on any one or more of such items or expenses, the state board shall, after consultation with such persons, establish sets of uniform standard specifications for such item or items as may reasonably be required in order to meet the various needs and requirements of the several local units of administration. Local units of administration shall, at such times as the state board shall prescribe, report the probable annual requirement of the local unit for such standard items to the state board and the requested time for future delivery of such items. The state board shall compile such requirements and submit a compilation of them to the Department of Administrative Services, together with such other information as may be needed or otherwise requested by the Department of Administrative Services for the purpose of advertising for bids for a uniform state price on such items.

   (2) The Department of Administrative Services shall advertise for bids for supply of such items in the same manner followed for state purchases; provided, however, that it shall inform prospective bidders that the bid requested is for the furnishing of such items to the designated local units of administration at the times specified on the basis of a single state price applicable to all local units, that payment for such items as may be purchased by local units shall be made by the respective local units to the bidder, that no guarantee is made that any purchases will be made from the successful bidder as a result of such bidding, and such other information as shall be appropriate under the circumstances. The Department of Administrative Services shall, upon receipt of bids, process them in the same manner followed for state purchases and promptly notify the state board of the name of the successful bidder and such other available information as may be required by the state board, which shall promptly forward such information to all local units of administration.

   (3) Local units of administration may obtain competitive bids from vendors on such standard items of school equipment, supplies, services, or other expenses based upon uniform specifications established for such items by the state board and may purchase such items from the vendor submitting the best bid to the local unit, whether or not the bid price of such vendor is greater or less than the state bid price on such items; provided, however, that whenever a local unit purchases such standard items at a price in excess of the state bid price for such items, the state board shall, when computing standard costs for allotment of state funds, disallow the excess costs paid for such items by the local unit; provided, further, that local units of administration shall implement textbook adoptions from textbook listings prescribed by the state board pursuant to Article 19 of this chapter within 18 months of the time said textbook listings are provided by the state board. The state board shall prescribe regulations necessary for implementation and enforcement of this subsection and is authorized to establish standards and uniform standard specifications and procedures for the purchase, distribution, use, and maintenance, as the case may be, of school equipment, supplies, services, and other expenses, as may be designated by the state board, whether or not state bid prices are obtained on such items.

(c) (1) Except as otherwise provided in this Code section, public elementary and secondary schools of this state receiving state aid under this article may provide each eligible student with access to no less than 180 school days of education each fiscal year, or the equivalent thereof as determined in accordance with State Board of Education guidelines. The State Board of Education shall define a school year, which shall be no less than 180 days of instruction in accordance with the provisions of this subsection, or the equivalent thereof; shall define the length of the school day, based on a 180 day school year, and equivalent lengths; and shall provide that all public elementary and secondary schools, beginning in the 2010-2011 school year, may be closed for instruction on November 11 of each year to enable students, teachers, and administrators to participate in Veterans Day programs to honor veterans of the armed forces.

   (2) Any provision of this subsection or this article to the contrary notwithstanding, when the President of the United States proclaims a national emergency or when the Governor proclaims a state of emergency or when, because of emergency, disaster, act of God, civil disturbance, or a shortage of vital and critical material, supplies, or fuel, the continued operation of the public schools according to the definitions of school year, school month, or school day is impractical or impossible, then the state board shall have the power to authorize local boards of education to depart from a strict interpretation of these definitions, and such departure need not be uniform throughout the state.

   (3) A local board of education may, without the necessity of authorization from the state board, elect not to complete, as make-up days, up to four additional days otherwise needed which are the result of days when school was closed due to emergency, disaster, act of God, civil disturbance, or shortage of vital or critical material, supplies, or fuel. In any such case, the school year applicable to that local board of education may terminate, in the discretion of the local board, at the end of the last school day originally designated by the local board as the end of the school year, regardless of the day of the week on which the school calendar was scheduled to end. The provisions of this paragraph shall not limit the authority of the state board under paragraph (2) of this subsection.

   (4) Each fiscal year shall begin on July 1 and end on June 30 of the following year.

   (5) For purposes of this subsection, the term:

      (A) "Disaster" means any happening that causes great harm or damage.

      (B) "Emergency" means a sudden, generally unexpected occurrence or set of circumstances demanding immediate action.

(d) The governing board of any local unit of administration may provide for continued operation of one or more educational programs of the local unit for a period of time beyond the normal school year provided for in subsection (c) of this Code section for the purpose of providing summer school education programs, including: the continuation of one or more instructional programs provided for in Part 3 of this article, enrichment of prescribed school programs, accelerated school programs, special programs of education enumerated by or coming within the scope of this article, and such other education programs as may be approved by the State Board of Education. All summer school programs shall meet and be offered in accordance with standards, requirements, and criteria prescribed by the state board. Teachers and other certificated professional personnel employed full time or part time during such period shall be paid additional salaries based on the state minimum monthly salary schedule in proportion to the time and services rendered by such personnel. No additional state funds shall be allotted to local units in support of such programs unless the General Assembly authorizes funds for this purpose. The state board is authorized to allot such state funds to local units in support of all or any one or more of such summer school education programs. The extent to which these state funds may be allotted to local units of administration in support of any one or more of such programs shall be determined by the state board but shall not in any event exceed the ratio of state funds to local funds made available to the local unit during the preceding school year in support of the calculated cost of providing the Quality Basic Education Program in the local unit during that school year. The state board is authorized to determine the relative need for establishment of any one or more of the various summer school education programs enumerated in this subsection, to establish priorities for implementation of such programs, and to allot funds appropriated for this purpose to local units of administration in support of those programs.

(e) (1) It is declared to be the policy of this state that every effort be made to utilize currently available educational facilities and equipment on a year-round basis. The State Board of Education shall certify that a local school system has a year-round operation for one or more grade levels for any instructional program as provided in Part 3 of this article which meets the following criteria:

      (A) That the operation of the program is for 232 official attendance days or more, constituting four quarters or any plan for year-round operation approved by the state board;

      (B) That for a student's first 176 or more days, constituting three quarters or an equivalent plan approved by the state board, attendance shall be on a tuition-free basis; and

      (C) That the program is offered for all official attendance days in accordance with such standards, requirements, and criteria as may be prescribed by the state board.

   (2) For all instructional programs of a local school system approved by the state board for year-round operation pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection, whether the year-round operation is approved system wide or for only a portion of the local school system, the state board shall make the following modifications concerning the calculation of the full-time equivalent counts used in the allotment provisions under this article, specifically the provisions of Code Sections 20-2-161, 20-2-162, and 20-2-165:

      (A) The state board shall require a full-time equivalent count to be done each year for the instructional programs approved for year-round operation between June 15 and August 15 in a manner and on a date specified by the state board; provided, however, that such counts shall be done in a manner consistent with the provisions of Code Section 20-2-160;

      (B) The state board shall average the summer full-time equivalent count with the other full-time equivalent counts for the instructional programs approved for year-round operation that are specified in the appropriate allotment provisions of this article; and

      (C) The state board shall multiply the averages which result from subparagraph (B) of this paragraph by one and one-third and use this full-time equivalent count in all allotment calculations for these instructional programs.

A similar process shall be applied to all other instructional programs approved by the state board for year-round operation which are required by this article or by state board policy to use student counts in determining the allotment of funds to local school systems.

   (3) The state board shall have the authority to prescribe requirements and standards for the distribution, use, and expenditure of funds allotted under this subsection.

Code 1981, § 20-2-168, enacted by Ga. L. 1985, p. 1657, § 1; Ga. L. 1987, p. 1169, § 1; Ga. L. 1988, p. 9, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1269, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 6, § 20; Ga. L. 1994, p. 1315, § 3; Ga. L. 1996, p. 6, § 20; Ga. L. 2000, p. 792, § 2; Ga. L. 2008, p. 521, § 1/HB 1300; Ga. L. 2009, p. 8, § 20/SB 46; Ga. L. 2009, p. 638, § 2/HB 193; Ga. L. 2012, p. 358, § 8/HB 706.