Section 612. Liberty partnerships

1.  The commissioner shall award grants
  for the purpose of providing support services to  students  enrolled  in
  public  and  non-public schools who are identified as having a high risk
  of dropping out of school. Such awards shall be made  on  a  competitive
  basis  to  degree-granting institutions of higher education or consortia
  of degree-granting higher education  institutions  in  cooperation  with
  school  districts  and  not-for-profit community-based organizations. In
  addition, in areas of the state where no degree-granting institution  or
  consortium  of  degree-granting  institutions  of  higher  education can
  provide appropriate services to students,  the  commissioner  may  award
  grants  to  not-for-profit  community-based organizations in cooperation
  with school districts.
    a.  All  grant  applications  shall  contain  the  following   program
  elements:
    (1) a program for identifying students who are at-risk of dropping out
  as  measured  by  academic performance, attendance, discipline problems,
  and other factors affecting school performance including but not limited
  to teenage pregnancy or parenting, residence in a  homeless  shelter  or
  temporary  living  arrangement, substance abuse, child abuse or neglect,
  or limited English proficiency;
    (2) a program for encouraging the use of volunteers  and  facilitating
  parent  involvement  where possible and involvement of current or former
  liberty scholarship recipients as peer or mentor counselors in programs;
  and
    (3) a program to provide  for  continuity  of  services  throughout  a
  student's progression through secondary school.
    b.  In  awarding  such grants, the commissioner shall give priority to
  applications that:
    (1) provide services to school districts  receiving  an  apportionment
  under  subdivision twenty-five of section thirty-six hundred two of this
  chapter;
    (2) provide services to schools identified by the commissioner  as  in
  need of assistance pursuant to the comprehensive assessment report;
    (3) provide services to rural schools with students at risk;
    (4)  replicate model programs of demonstrated effectiveness, including
  models that provide for small group partnerships with low  student-staff
  ratios.  The  commissioner  shall  identify  model  programs with proven
  effectiveness and shall make such models available to grant applicants;
    (5) demonstrate a high level of institutional commitment  to  programs
  in  fields  relevant  to  counseling  and  mentoring,  including but not
  limited to education, social work,  psychology  and  sociology  and  the
  extent  to  which  such  institution  shall  involve faculty members and
  graduate/professional students from such degree programs;
    (6) the need for such services in the area the institution proposes to
  serve; and
    (7) the degree to which the institution  proposes  to  cooperate  with
  school  districts  and  not-for-profit  community based organizations to
  provide services and insure  continuity  of  such  services  until  such
  students  graduate from high school or receive a high school equivalency
  diploma.
    c. Services for non-public school students shall be provided at  sites
  other than sectarian non-public schools.
    2.  Services.  Funds  available  under  this section shall be used for
  compensatory and support services to  students  who  are  identified  as
  being  at  risk of dropping out of school. Services to be provided under
  this section may  include  skills  assessment,  tutoring,  academic  and
  personal   counseling,   family   counseling   and  home  visits,  staff

  development activities for personnel with direct responsibility for such
  students and mentoring programs.
    3.  Allowable costs. Allowable costs under this program shall include,
  but not be limited to: salaries of program personnel, including graduate
  student  stipends;  transportation  costs  for  students   and   program
  personnel;  instructional  materials;  reimbursement to school districts
  for release  time  granted  to  employees  while  participating  in  the
  planning  and development of activities funded pursuant to this section;
  training  of  program  personnel;  costs  related  directly  to  program
  provisions,  including summer and weekend activities; and administrative
  costs directly attributable to the program.
    4. a. For school years commencing in  nineteen  hundred  eighty-nine--
  ninety  and  thereafter,  the  amount  that  shall be made available for
  funding liberty partnership grants shall be equal to four percent of the
  base year enrollment of children in public and non-public schools in New
  York state in grades seven through twelve,  as  computed  in  accordance
  with  regulations of the commissioner, multiplied by seven hundred fifty
  dollars, provided, however,  that  notwithstanding  the  foregoing,  the
  amount  that  shall  be  made  available for funding liberty partnership
  grants for the nineteen hundred  eighty-nine--ninety,  nineteen  hundred
  ninety--ninety-one  and  nineteen  hundred ninety-one--ninety-two school
  years shall be twenty-five  percent,  fifty  percent,  and  seventy-five
  percent,  respectively,  of  the  amount to be provided pursuant to this
  subdivision.
    b. A grant to a recipient of an award under  this  section  shall  not
  exceed  the amount of three hundred thousand dollars for any grant year,
  provided that a recipient may receive a grant in excess of  such  amount
  at  the rate of twelve hundred fifty dollars for each student, in excess
  of two hundred forty students, who is provided compensatory and  support
  services by the recipient during such grant year.
    c. The grant recipients shall provide students at public and nonpublic
  schools  the opportunity to receive compensatory and support services in
  an equitable manner consistent with the number and need of the  children
  in such schools.
    5.  Regulations.  The  commissioner  shall  adopt  regulations for the
  implementation of this section.
    6. Annual report. The commissioner  shall  prepare  an  annual  report
  evaluating  the  programs  funded  under this section and under sections
  sixty-four hundred fifty-four and sixty-four hundred fifty-five of  this
  chapter  and  making  appropriate  recommendations.  The report shall be
  submitted on or before December first, to the  governor,  the  temporary
  president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly.