1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to public school choice.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 12, Education Code, is
1-5 amended by adding Section 12.1011 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 12.1011. PUBLIC EDUCATION GRANT CHARTERS. (a) In
1-7 addition to the other charters authorized under this subchapter, in
1-8 accordance with this subchapter the State Board of Education may
1-9 grant:
1-10 (1) not more than 100 charters for open-enrollment
1-11 charter schools that adopt an express policy providing for the
1-12 admission of students eligible for a public education grant under
1-13 Subchapter G, Chapter 29; and
1-14 (2) additional charters for open-enrollment charter
1-15 schools for which at least 75 percent of the prospective student
1-16 population, as specified in the proposed charter, will be students
1-17 who have dropped out of school or are at risk of dropping out of
1-18 school as defined by Section 29.081.
1-19 (b) An open-enrollment charter school granted a charter
1-20 under this section may serve students who are not eligible for a
1-21 public education grant under Subchapter G, Chapter 29, but a school
1-22 granted a charter under Subsection (a)(2) must maintain, as a
1-23 condition of its charter, the required percentage of students.
1-24 SECTION 2. Sections 29.202 and 29.203, Education Code, are
2-1 amended to read as follows:
2-2 Sec. 29.202. ELIGIBILITY. (a) A student is eligible to
2-3 receive a public education grant or to attend another public school
2-4 in the district in which the student resides under this subchapter
2-5 if the student is assigned to attend a public school campus:
2-6 (1) at which 50 percent or more of the students did
2-7 not perform satisfactorily on an assessment instrument administered
2-8 under Section 39.023(a) or (b) in any two of the [in the] preceding
2-9 three years; or
2-10 (2) that was, at any time in the preceding three
2-11 years, identified as low-performing by the commissioner under
2-12 Subchapter D, Chapter 39.
2-13 (b) After a student has used a public education grant to
2-14 attend a school in a district other than the district in which the
2-15 student resides:
2-16 (1) the student does not become ineligible for the
2-17 grant if the school on which the student's initial eligibility is
2-18 based no longer meets the criteria under Subsection (a); and
2-19 (2) the student becomes ineligible for the grant if
2-20 the student is assigned to attend a school that does not meet the
2-21 criteria under Subsection (a).
2-22 Sec. 29.203. FINANCING. (a) A student [eligible under
2-23 Section 25.001 to attend school in a school district but] who under
2-24 this subchapter uses a public education grant to attend [attends] a
2-25 public school in a school [another] district other than the
2-26 district in which the student resides is included in the average
2-27 daily attendance of the district in which the student [resides.
3-1 The district in which the student] attends school [shall report
3-2 the student's attendance to the district in which the student
3-3 resides in accordance with rules adopted by the commissioner].
3-4 (b) A school district is entitled to the allotment provided
3-5 by Section 42.157 for each eligible student using a public
3-6 education grant. If the district has a wealth per student greater
3-7 than the guaranteed wealth level but less than the equalized wealth
3-8 level, a school district is entitled under rules adopted by the
3-9 commissioner to additional state aid in an amount equal to the
3-10 difference between the cost to the district of providing services
3-11 to a student using a public education grant and the sum of the
3-12 state aid received because of the allotment under Section 42.157
3-13 and money from the available school fund attributable to the
3-14 student.
3-15 (c) A school district is entitled to additional facilities
3-16 assistance under Section 42.4101 if the district agrees to:
3-17 (1) accept a number of students using public education
3-18 grants that is at least one percent of the district's average daily
3-19 attendance for the preceding school year; and
3-20 (2) provide services to each student until the student
3-21 either voluntarily decides to attend a school in a different
3-22 district or graduates from high school.
3-23 (d) [A student's public education grant is the total state
3-24 and local funding per student for the school district in which the
3-25 student resides. Total funding from state and local sources
3-26 includes special allotments under Subchapter C, Chapter 42, but
3-27 does not include small district, sparsity, and cost of education
4-1 adjustments and allotments for technology and transportation. A
4-2 student's public education grant is the entitlement of the student,
4-3 under the supervision of the student's parent, guardian, or
4-4 custodian, is not an entitlement of any school district, and is
4-5 paid to a school district solely as a means of administrative
4-6 convenience.]
4-7 [(c)] A school district chosen by a student's parent under
4-8 Section 29.201 is entitled to accept or reject the application for
4-9 the student to attend school in that district but may not use
4-10 criteria that discriminate on the basis of a student's race,
4-11 ethnicity, academic achievement, athletic abilities, language
4-12 proficiency, sex, or socioeconomic status. A school district that
4-13 has more acceptable applicants for attendance under this subchapter
4-14 than available positions must give priority to students at risk of
4-15 dropping out of school as defined by Section 29.081 and must fill
4-16 the available positions by lottery. However, to achieve continuity
4-17 in education, a school district may give preference over at-risk
4-18 students to enrolled students and to the siblings of enrolled
4-19 students residing in the same household or other children residing
4-20 in the same household as enrolled students for the convenience of
4-21 parents, guardians, or custodians of those children.
4-22 (e) [(d)] A school district chosen by a student's parent
4-23 under Section 29.201 may not charge the student tuition [in
4-24 addition to the public education grant or charge tuition that is
4-25 greater than the district's average expenditure per student. The
4-26 school district in which the student resides is entitled to the
4-27 remainder, if any, of the student's public education grant funds].
5-1 (f) [(e)] The school district in which a student resides
5-2 shall provide each student attending a school in another district
5-3 under this subchapter transportation free of charge to and from the
5-4 school the student would otherwise attend.
5-5 (g) In this section:
5-6 (1) "Equalized wealth level" has the meaning assigned
5-7 by Section 41.001.
5-8 (2) "Guaranteed wealth level" means a wealth per
5-9 student equal to the dollar amount guaranteed level of state and
5-10 local funds per weighted student per cent of tax effort, as
5-11 provided by Section 42.302, multiplied by 10,000.
5-12 (3) "Wealth per student" has the meaning assigned by
5-13 Section 41.001.
5-14 SECTION 3. Subchapter G, Chapter 29, Education Code, is
5-15 amended by adding Section 29.204 to read as follows:
5-16 Sec. 29.204. NOTIFICATION. (a) Not later than January 1 of
5-17 each year the commissioner shall, based on the most recent
5-18 information available, provide notice to each school district in
5-19 which a campus described by Section 29.202 is located that:
5-20 (1) identifies each campus in the district that meets
5-21 the description in Section 29.202; and
5-22 (2) informs the district that the district must comply
5-23 with Subsection (b).
5-24 (b) Not later than February 1 of each year, a school
5-25 district shall notify the parent of each student in the district
5-26 assigned to attend a campus described by Section 29.202 that the
5-27 student is eligible for a public education grant. The notice must
6-1 contain a clear, concise explanation of the public education grant
6-2 program and of the manner in which the parent may obtain further
6-3 information about the program.
6-4 SECTION 4. Subchapter G, Chapter 29, Education Code, is
6-5 amended by adding Section 29.205 to read as follows:
6-6 Sec. 29.205. CONTRACT AUTHORITY. The board of trustees of a
6-7 school district may contract under Section 11.157 for the provision
6-8 of educational services to a district student eligible to receive a
6-9 public education grant under Section 29.202.
6-10 SECTION 5. Subchapter C, Chapter 42, Education Code, is
6-11 amended by adding Section 42.157 to read as follows:
6-12 Sec. 42.157. PUBLIC EDUCATION GRANT ALLOTMENT. (a) Except
6-13 as provided by Subsection (b), for each student in average daily
6-14 attendance who is using a public education grant under Subchapter
6-15 G, Chapter 29, to attend school in a district other than the
6-16 district in which the student resides, the district in which the
6-17 student attends school is entitled to an annual allotment equal to
6-18 the adjusted basic allotment multiplied by a weight of 0.1.
6-19 (b) The total number of allotments under this section to
6-20 which a district is entitled may not exceed the number by which the
6-21 number of students using public education grants to attend school
6-22 in the district exceeds the number of students who reside in the
6-23 district and use public education grants to attend school in
6-24 another district.
6-25 SECTION 6. Subchapter H, Chapter 42, Education Code, is
6-26 amended by adding Section 42.4101 to read as follows:
6-27 Sec. 42.4101. ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR DISTRICTS WITH
7-1 STUDENTS USING PUBLIC EDUCATION GRANTS. (a) A district is
7-2 entitled to additional assistance under this section as provided by
7-3 Section 29.203(c).
7-4 (b) The amount of additional assistance under this section
7-5 is computed by subtracting the number of students residing in the
7-6 district and using public education grants to attend school in
7-7 another district for the year in which the assistance is granted
7-8 from the number of students using public education grants to attend
7-9 school in the district for that year and multiplying the difference
7-10 by $266.
7-11 (c) If a district to which this section applies is entitled
7-12 to the maximum amount of assistance under Section 42.406, the
7-13 maximum is increased by the amount of additional assistance to
7-14 which the district is entitled under this section.
7-15 SECTION 7. This Act applies beginning with the 1997-1998
7-16 school year.
7-17 SECTION 8. The importance of this legislation and the
7-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
7-22 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
7-23 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 318 was passed by the House on May 8,
1997, by the following vote: Yeas 125, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting; that the House refused to concur in Senate amendments to
H.B. No. 318 on May 28, 1997, and requested the appointment of a
conference committee to consider the differences between the two
houses; and that the House adopted the conference committee report
on H.B. No. 318 on May 31, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 98,
Nays 42, 1 present, not voting.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 318 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 26, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0; at the request of the House, the Senate appointed a conference
committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and
that the Senate adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No.
318 on May 31, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 22, Nays 7.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor