‘Sec. 4. Rulemaking. The Commissioner of Education shall amend the Department of Education’s Rules Chapter 131, the Maine Federal, State, and Local Accountability Standards, and Rules Chapter 132, Learning Results: Parameters for Essential Instruction, to include in the statewide system of learning results and assessment a core of science standards for kindergarten to grade 12 that are, to the extent practicable, identical to the science standards adopted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 2006. Those standards must be aligned to the interactive components, including the hands-on applications, experiments and laboratories, of the Next Generation Science Standards developed by a collaborative, state-led process involving the National Research Council of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the National Science Teachers Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and others and released in April 2013.

The 2 rules chapters to be amended by the Commissioner of Education in accordance with this section are major substantive rules pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 253, subsection 9 and section 6211. In order to implement the science standards as part of the State's system of learning results and assessment beginning with the 2020-2021 school year, the Department of Education shall provisionally adopt these amended rules on or before December 31, 2018 and shall submit the provisionally adopted rules to the Executive Director of the Legislative Council by the deadline established for the legislative rule acceptance period in 2019 in accordance with Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.

Sec. 5. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and allocations are made.

EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF

Learning Systems Team Z081

Initiative: Provides funds for rule-making, professional development and technical assistance costs associated with implementing a core of science standards for kindergarten to grade 12 in the statewide system of learning results that are consistent with the science standards adopted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 2006 beginning with the 2020-2021 school year.

GENERAL FUND	2017-18	2018-19
All Other	$10,000	$10,000
GENERAL FUND TOTAL	$10,000	$10,000

Learning Systems Team Z081

Initiative: Provides funds for the costs to develop and adopt a new assessment for a core of science standards for kindergarten to grade 12 that are consistent with the science standards adopted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 2006 beginning with the 2020-2021 school year.

GENERAL FUND	2017-18	2018-19
All Other	$0	$1,000,000
GENERAL FUND TOTAL	$0	$1,000,000

EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF
DEPARTMENT TOTALS	2017-18	2018-19
GENERAL FUND	$10,000	$1,010,000
DEPARTMENT TOTAL - ALL FUNDS	$10,000	$1,010,000

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