Lebanon schools briefed on recent state attendance law, teacher-evaluation changes and federal Title funding uncertainties

The Lebanon Community School Corporation received an update on July 15 about recent state K–12 policy changes and uncertainty around federal education funding that administrators say will affect staffing, training and program spending this coming school year.

Superintendent provided the summary so families and staff can expect clarifying communications before school starts. She said state changes separate the definitions of “chronically absent” and “habitually truant,” change some staff-training requirements, remove a state template for school improvement plans, and return more control over local teacher-evaluation systems to districts.

The changes to the attendance law, the superintendent said, make a student who misses more than 5% of enrolled days “chronically absent”; schools must hold conferences at statutory thresholds but will not proceed toward truancy enforcement where parents and students are engaged with the school. The superintendent emphasized the practical guidance for families: notify the school and explain absences so staff can work directly with the family.

She said the recent legislation reduced some mandatory staff training and shifted initial training responsibility for teacher licensure to teacher-preparation programs. The school district has removed a previous volunteer requirement for bullying training that the law eliminated.

The state also removed the requirement that school improvement plans use a state template; the superintendent said Lebanon will continue local improvement planning aligned to the district’s four key systems and ongoing partnerships, including work with consultant John Tanner and Brave Ed. The law also removed the statewide labels used in teacher-appraisal ratings (“highly effective,” “effective,” etc.); the district will keep its current appraisal system for the coming year while it works with teachers and administrators to design a locally controlled system that is published on the district website as required.

On accountability, the superintendent said the state reinstated school grading and will weigh standardized tests and attendance heavily; a chronically absent designation (greater than 5% missed days) will affect grades. She said the role of new diploma “seals” is still being finalized and could be weighted differently in the accountability model pending state guidance.

On federal funding, the superintendent said multiple federal grant streams remain unsettled and, at the time of the meeting, were “frozen.” She listed the common program buckets by name as in federal guidance: Title I, Title II, Title III, Title IV and Title I–D. The district received its Title I allocation the prior week and recorded an $82,000 reduction from last year (a 19.3333% drop). She said the district will use 100% of available Title I allocation for staffing and will not be able to fund many of the additional supplies and professional-development items previously paid for with Title I.

Why this matters: the funding and statutory changes affect how the district staffs services for English-language learners and students eligible for Title programs, how volunteers and staff complete training, and how the district will report measures that feed into state accountability ratings. The superintendent said she will send a “welcome back” message to families to explain the attendance law changes and planned communications about other items.

The board did not take new formal action on these items at the meeting; the update was informational and the superintendent encouraged questions and public comment ahead of the new school year.