(2) Pilot projects must meet the following criteria:
(A) Address the needs of at-risk students who meet two or more of the criteria in the definition of the at-risk student as approved by the State Board of Education;
(B) Develop a plan for such a pilot project using an interdisciplinary committee composed of students, parents, educators, and representatives from business, the community, the Department of
Human Services, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, and others as appropriate;
(C) Ensure that the plan for the pilot project becomes a component of the local strategic plan;
(D) Provide for a program evaluation that specifies the goals of the program, the means to achieve those goals, the reasons for any decategorization or combining of program earnings to carry out those means, and objective and other criteria to be met which will determine the success or failure of the new programs;
(E) No funds may be expended for any program or service explicitly excluded from the full-time equivalent count in subsection (a) of Code Section 20-2-160, except that such funds will be expended in conformity with the requirements for expenditures of direct instructional costs under Code Section 20-2-167. Any local plan approved by the board to combine program earnings for the purpose of providing programs for at-risk students under this subsection must also conform with the expenditure controls under Code Section 20-2-167 as modified by the new program categories described in the local system’s proposal to the board. In no event will the aggregate funds expended for direct instructional costs be a lower amount than would have been required under the original formula calculations and expenditure requirements; and
(F) No funds may be expended for transitional programs, such as transitional kindergarten or first grade.
(3) The state board shall give priority to proposed pilot projects that focus on interagency cooperation and the joint provision of services.
(4) All pilot projects shall be reviewed annually by the state board to ensure that they are meeting the goals and objectives outlined in their plan. Pilot projects that are no longer achieving their goals and objectives shall be discontinued by the state board.
(5) The pilot projects shall report annually to the Appropriations Committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the House Education Committee, and the Senate Education and Youth Committee.