(b) A district requesting a variance from one or more provisions of this Subpart and their approved evaluation plan must submit such request for approval on a form and in a timeframe prescribed by the commissioner. The commissioner shall approve or reject the variance application. The variance application shall include, but not be limited to:

1. (1) a description of one or more specific provisions of this Subpart for which the district is seeking a variance;
2. (2) a rationale for each provision for which a variance is sought;
3. (3) a description of the standards and procedures that will be used in lieu of those described in this Subpart and their approved evaluation plan for each specific provision for which a variance is sought;
4. (4) a description of how the district will ensure that evaluations are rigorous and enable strong and equitable inferences about the effectiveness of the district’s educators;
5. (5) a description of how the district will use the information collected through the evaluation system, including the assigned effectiveness ratings, to provide personalized professional learning opportunities for teachers and principals;

6. (6) a description of how the district will assess the effectiveness of the implementation of the variance.

   (c) Conditions.

   Variance approvals are subject to the following conditions:

7. (1) the provisions of the variance shall remain in compliance with all requirements of Education Law section 3012-d as amended by chapter 59 of the Laws of 2019;
8. (2) a district may only seek a variance from provisions of this Subpart and their approved evaluation plan for which Education Law section 3012-d delegates responsibility to the commissioner to establish the standards and procedures;
9. (3) upon approval of a variance, the district shall implement such variance along with all other remaining provisions of the district’s approved evaluation plan consistent with the requirements of this Subpart;
10. (4) a district with an approved variance shall provide to the department, upon its request, any documentation related to the implementation and efficacy of the approach proposed in the variance, including but not limited to: reports on the correlation in assigned ratings for different measures of the district’s evaluation system and differentiation among educators within each subcomponent and category of the evaluation system;
11. (5) a district with an approved variance may amend its variance application prior to the end of the approval period for purposes of seeking a variance from additional provisions of this Subpart and their approved evaluation plan and/or to end implementation of one or more previously approved variance provisions;
12. (6) where required pursuant to article 14 of the Civil Service Law, the district must collectively bargain the terms and procedures of the variance request that is submitted to the department. The district and its collective bargaining representatives shall assure that the district will fully implement the variance and all other provisions of the approved evaluation plan during the effective term of the variance and that any collective bargaining agreements related to the evaluation plan shall be made consistent with such variance and evaluation plan;

13. (7) prior to or with the submission of a variance application, the district must submit and receive approval of an evaluation plan that complies with all requirements of Education Law section 3012-d and Subpart 30-3 of this Subpart provided, however, that a district may, subject to collective bargaining to the extent required under article 14 of the Civil Service Law, notify the department in its variance application that it intends to carry forward its currently approved APPR plan in lieu of submitting a new evaluation plan to the department.

    (d) Implementation timeframe.

14. (1) A variance application approved after December 1st of any school year shall be implemented in the following school year.
15. (2) A variance application approved prior to December 1st of any school year may be implemented either for such school year or in the following school year, as indicated by the district in its variance application.
16. (3) Variances shall be approved for up to a three school year period, subject to renewal by the district.

17. (4) Notwithstanding the timeframes contained in paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subdivision, upon a finding by the commissioner of extraordinary circumstances, variance applications approved after December 1st of a school year may be implemented in that school year.

    (e) Revocation and non-renewal of variance.

18. (1) Revocation. The commissioner may revoke a variance at any time for good cause, including but not limited to: a finding that the district has not implemented the variance and all other provisions of its evaluation plan in good faith; a finding that the evaluation system does not differentiate teacher and principal performance at each of the four HEDI performance levels; a failure by the district to provide the department any requested documentation related to the implementation of the variance.
19. (2) Non-renewal. Prior to the expiration of the variance term, the district shall determine whether to renew its variance and shall submit to the commissioner, on a form and in a timeframe prescribed by the commissioner, a request for renewal. A district may choose not to renew its variance application.
20. (3) Upon a revocation or non-renewal of a variance application, the district shall implement its approved evaluation plan, consistent with all requirements of this Subpart and absent any terms of the variance.