Specifications include, but are not limited to: The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) seeks a vendor to conduct a study of the cost of implementing the state and district requirements associated with the new student discipline law. ESE is seeking a bidder to conduct the cost study required by the state legislature. The study should examine the marginal (not total) cost of implementing all aspects of this law, including all requirements for districts/schools and the state. Since the law does not go into effect until July 1, 2014, the bidder will not have the opportunity to compare the actual costs incurred before and after the policy change. Instead, the bidder, with ESE guidance, will need to identify districts that are already meeting the requirements of the law and then analyze the marginal cost of those programs. We expect that the largest source of new implementation costs will be the new requirement that suspended or expelled students must have the opportunity to make academic progress and that principals must establish a school-wide education service plan for those students suspended or expelled for more than 10 days (items a and b under districts and school committees, above). The options for meeting the education service plan requirement are broad, including tutoring, alternative programs, Saturday school, and online or distance learning, among others. Bidders must propose to examine at least three different program models to demonstrate the options available that meet this part of the new requirements. Our aspiration is that the deliverable of this project will both fulfill the state mandate for the implementation cost study and serve as a guide to districts of options for meeting the new requirements of this law. Thus, we seek a deliverable that describes program parameters in sufficient detail to help districts understand how to implement these models, and in clear language oriented toward practitioners. To summarize, the cost study must: Examine the marginal cost of implementing all aspects of the law for both districts and the state. Focus in particular on the cost of education service delivery to students suspended or expelled for more than 10 days in a school year, in districts already meeting the requirements of the new state law. Exclude the cost of services to special education students and students committed to the Department of Youth Services. Identify and compare at least three different program models that meet the new state requirements, to demonstrate the options available to districts and measure associated program costs. Include sufficient detail on program parameters to guide districts seeking to replicate the models, and be written in clear, practitioner-oriented language.
