A. Upon approval of an empowerment plan for a school, zone, or district, the State Board of Education shall waive any statutes or rules specified in the approved empowerment plan as they pertain to the empowered school, zone, or district; except that the State Board shall not waive requirements for the following:

1. School district employee participation in the Teachers’ Retirement System of Oklahoma;

2. The Oklahoma School Testing Program Act;

3. The requirement for students enrolled in the school district to demonstrate mastery of the state academic content standards as set forth in Section 1210.523 of Title 70 of the Oklahoma Statutes;

4. The accountability system as set forth in Section 1210.541 of Title 70 of the Oklahoma Statutes; and

5. The federal “No Child Left Behind Act of 2001”, 20 U.S.C., Section 6301 et seq.

B. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the State Board of Education shall not waive any statute or rules specified in the approved empowerment plan for an empowered school, zone or district if the statute or rule relates to the implementation of or requirements for any program or grant for which the school district is receiving funds appropriated for the support of public school activities. The State Board of Education may waive any statute or rule that relates to the implementation of or requirements for any program or grant only if the funding for the program or grant is no longer allocated to the school district.

C. Designation as an empowered school, zone, or district shall not affect the allocation of State Aid funding for the school district as calculated pursuant to Section 18-200.1 of Title 70 of the Oklahoma Statutes.

D. 1. If the school district board of education for an empowered school, zone, or district revises an empowerment plan as provided in Section 9 of this act, the school district board of education may request, and the State Board shall grant, additional waivers or changes to existing waivers as necessary to accommodate the revisions to the empowerment plan unless the State Board concludes that the waivers or changes to existing waivers would:

a.be likely to result in a decrease in academic achievement in the empowered school, zone, or district, or

b.not be fiscally feasible.

In requesting a new waiver or a change to an existing waiver, the school district board of education shall demonstrate the consent of a majority of the teachers and a majority of the administrators employed at each school that is affected by the new or changed waiver.

2. Except as otherwise provided in paragraph 1 of this subsection, a waiver that is granted pursuant to this section shall continue to apply to a school, zone, or district as long as the school, zone, or district continues to be designated as an empowered school, zone, or district.

Added by Laws 2010, c. 353, § 7.