§ 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. 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.