(a) LEAs are authorized to offer elective credits or credits in the technical prep high school curriculum through cooperative agreements with nonprofit organizations under the following terms and conditions:

(1) The local board of education must approve all cooperative agreements, which must be in writing and must include, but not be limited to:

(A) The name of the course;

(B) The minimum number of student contact hours;

(C) Whether the course is offered as an elective or as part of the technical prep high school curriculum;

(D) The qualifications of the instructor; and

(E) Any funding provided to the nonprofit organization by the local board of education;

(2) Only courses for which no state board of education approved teaching endorsement exists may be approved for credit under this section;

(3) Local boards of education may enter into such agreements only with nonprofit organizations that are located in the geographical area served by the LEA and whose primary purpose is to promote educational programs with an emphasis on state-of-the-art technology;

(4) Any course offered under this section must have prior approval of the department of education acting in accordance with the state board of education policy on special courses; and

(5) Any funding provided to a nonprofit organization under this section shall not exceed, on a per pupil basis, the regular tuition charged other attendees for the same or similar classes.

(b) It is the intention and purpose of the general assembly that LEAs be authorized and encouraged to work with local nonprofit educational organizations to offer classes for high school credit in areas where no teaching endorsement is recognized. Further, it is the intention and purpose of the general assembly that the primary emphasis of courses offered under this section be technology-based courses, including, but not limited to, industry recognized certifications in areas such as software engineering, computer programming, computer graphics and design and computer-aided design.

(c) The local board of education shall not enter into agreements under this section if the agreements directly result in the elimination of an existing course offering of the local board of education.