To be successful, the strategic planning process and a district's approach to educational restructuring must be based upon a broad consensus among various interests within the public school system. A district's plan should reflect the goals and aspirations of its own school and community. Once a plan is completed, it must be available for public inspection for at least 30 days prior to its approval by the school board. Approximately one-third of the 501 school districts in the state must submit their plans to the Department of Education by September 30, 1994. Another third of the plans must be submitted in 1995, and the final third in 1996.
Districts can submit plans ahead of schedule if they choose.
The strategic plan describes a district's educational program for the next six years. The year after a district presents it plan to the state, the new graduation requirements will cover its ninth-graders. The following year, the new curriculum regulations will apply to the ninth and tenth-graders, and so on until the entire high school comes under the new regulations after four years. Districts can phase in curriculum and assessment changes at other grade levels over a six-year period. The process that was used to develop the plan, and how the participants were chosen.