S.B. No. 313
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to the essential knowledge and skills of the required
  public school curriculum, the administration of and reports
  relating to assessment instruments administered to public school
  students, the instructional materials allotment, and proclamations
  for the production of instructional materials.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 28, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 28.0025 to read as follows:
         Sec. 28.0025.  REVIEW AND MODIFICATION OF ESSENTIAL
  KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS. (a)  The State Board of Education shall:
               (1)  conduct a review of the essential knowledge and
  skills of each foundation curriculum subject under Section
  28.002(a)(1) that were most recently revised by the board with an
  effective date before September 1, 2012; and
               (2)  modify the essential knowledge and skills of each
  foundation curriculum subject reviewed under Subdivision (1) to
  narrow the content and scope of standards and skills for the subject
  at each grade level in accordance with this section.
         (b)  In complying with this section, the State Board of
  Education shall consider:
               (1)  at each grade level for each subject reviewed
  under this section, the time:
                     (A)  a teacher would require to provide
  comprehensive instruction on a particular standard or skill; and
                     (B)  a typical student would require to master a
  particular standard or skill;
               (2)  whether, in light of the consideration required by
  Subdivision (1), each essential knowledge and skill of a subject
  reviewed under this section can be comprehensively taught within
  the number of school days required under Section 25.081, not
  including the number of days required for testing;
               (3)  the college and career readiness standards, and
  whether inclusion of part of those standards in the essential
  knowledge and skills of a subject reviewed under this section is
  possible; and
               (4)  whether an assessment instrument administered
  under Section 39.023 adequately assesses a particular standard or
  skill.
         (c)  In establishing or following an established timeline
  for reviewing and modifying the essential knowledge and skills as
  required under this section, the State Board of Education shall
  ensure that the timeline reflects a priority to first review and
  modify a subject for which an end-of-course assessment instrument
  under Section 39.023(c) is administered before a subject for which
  an assessment instrument under Section 39.023(a) is administered.  
  The board shall complete the review and modification of the
  essential knowledge and skills at each grade level for each
  applicable subject as required under this section not later than
  September 1, 2018.
         (d)  The review and modification of the essential knowledge
  and skills for the foundation curriculum conducted by the State
  Board of Education under this section may not result in a need for
  the adoption of new instructional materials in any subject other
  than English language arts.
         (e)  Until the review and modification under this section is
  complete, the State Board of Education may not add to or modify the
  content and scope of standards and skills for any subject in the
  foundation curriculum under Section 28.002(a)(1) reviewed under
  this section unless modifications are made in accordance with this
  section.
         (f)  This section expires September 1, 2018.
         SECTION 2.  Section 28.008(d), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (d)  The State Board of Education shall incorporate college
  readiness standards and expectations approved by the commissioner
  of education and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
  under Subsection (b) into the essential knowledge and skills
  identified by the board under Section 28.002(c). The State Board of
  Education shall develop a chart that clearly indicates the
  alignment of the college readiness standards and expectations with
  the essential knowledge and skills identified by the board under
  Section 28.002(c).
         SECTION 3.  Section 31.002, Education Code, is amended by
  adding Subdivision (1-b) to read as follows:
               (1-b)  "Proclamation" means a request for production of
  instructional materials issued by the State Board of Education.
         SECTION 4.  Sections 31.0211(a) and (d), Education Code, are
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  A school district is entitled to an [annual] allotment
  each biennium from the state instructional materials fund for each
  student enrolled in the district on a date during the last year of
  the preceding biennium [school year] specified by the
  commissioner.  The commissioner shall determine the amount of the
  allotment per student each biennium [year] on the basis of the
  amount of money available in the state instructional materials fund
  to fund the allotment.  An allotment under this section shall be
  transferred from the state instructional materials fund to the
  credit of the district's instructional materials account as
  provided by Section 31.0212.
         (d)  Each biennium [year] a school district shall use the
  district's allotment under this section to purchase, in the
  following order:
               (1)  instructional materials necessary to permit the
  district to certify that the district has instructional materials
  that cover all elements of the essential knowledge and skills of the
  required curriculum, other than physical education, for each grade
  level as required by Section 28.002; and
               (2)  any other instructional materials or
  technological equipment as determined by the district.
         SECTION 5.  Section 31.0212(a), Education Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (a)  The commissioner shall maintain an instructional
  materials account for each school district. In the first year of
  each biennium [Each school year], the commissioner shall deposit in
  the account for each district the amount of the district's
  instructional materials allotment under Section 31.0211.
         SECTION 6.  Sections 31.0215(a) and (b), Education Code, are
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  The commissioner shall, as early as practicable during
  each biennium [fiscal year], notify each school district and
  open-enrollment charter school of the estimated amount to which the
  district or charter school will be entitled under Section 31.0211
  during the next fiscal biennium [year].
         (b)  The commissioner may allow a school district or
  open-enrollment charter school to place an order for instructional
  materials before the beginning of a fiscal biennium [year] and to
  receive instructional materials before payment.  The commissioner
  shall limit the cost of an order placed under this section to 80
  percent of the estimated amount to which a school district or
  open-enrollment charter school is estimated to be entitled as
  provided by Subsection (a) and shall first credit any balance in a
  district or charter school instructional materials account to pay
  for an order placed under this section.
         SECTION 7.  Section 31.022, Education Code, is amended by
  adding Subsections (b-1), (b-2), and (b-3) and amending Subsection
  (f) to read as follows:
         (b-1)  For any state fiscal biennium, the board may only
  issue proclamations for instructional materials in which the total
  projected cost of instructional materials under the proclamations
  does not exceed 75 percent of the total amount used to fund the
  instructional materials allotment under Section 31.0211 for that
  biennium.
         (b-2)  Following the adoption of revised essential knowledge
  and skills for any subject, the board shall determine whether
  issuance of a proclamation is necessary based on the significance
  of the changes to the essential knowledge and skills. If the board
  determines a proclamation is necessary, the board shall issue:
               (1)  a full call for instructional materials aligned to
  all of the essential knowledge and skills for the subject and grade
  level;
               (2)  a supplemental call for instructional materials
  aligned to new or expanded essential knowledge and skills for the
  subject and grade level;
               (3)  a call for new information demonstrating alignment
  of current instructional materials to the revised essential
  knowledge and skills; or
               (4)  any combination of the calls described by
  Subdivisions (1), (2), and (3).
         (b-3)  In determining the disbursement of money to the
  available school fund and the amount of that disbursement that will
  be used, in accordance with Section 43.001(d), to fund the
  instructional materials allotment under Section 31.0211, the board
  must consider the cost of all instructional materials and
  technology requirements for that state fiscal biennium.
         (f)  The board shall amend any proclamation [request for
  production] issued for the purchase of instructional materials to
  conform to the instructional materials funding levels provided by
  the General Appropriations Act for the year of implementation and
  to comply with Subsection (b-1).
         SECTION 8.  Subchapter B, Chapter 39, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 39.0239 to read as follows:
         Sec. 39.0239.  REQUIRED REPORT FOR CERTAIN ASSESSMENTS.
  (a)  Following the administration of an assessment instrument
  adopted or developed under Section 39.023(a), the agency shall
  provide a detailed report of a student's performance on the
  assessment instrument to:
               (1)  the student;
               (2)  the student's parent or other person standing in
  parental relationship; and
               (3)  the student's teachers.
         (b)  The report provided under Subsection (a) must include an
  analysis of a student's performance on each assessed standard or
  skill in the essential knowledge and skills of the subject for which
  the assessment instrument was administered.  The analysis must
  indicate whether the student mastered each standard or skill
  assessed in the assessment instrument.
         (c)  The analysis under Subsection (b) must demonstrate both
  individual assessment results and assessment results aggregated
  across classes, campuses, and districts.
         (d)  If the commissioner contracts with a third party for the
  development or adoption of an assessment instrument under Section
  39.023(a), the contract must require the third party to fulfill the
  requirements of this section.
         SECTION 9.  Section 43.001(d), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (d)  Each biennium [year] the State Board of Education shall
  set aside an amount equal to 50 percent of the [annual] distribution
  for that biennium [year] from the permanent school fund to the
  available school fund as provided by Section 5(a), Article VII,
  Texas Constitution, to be placed, subject to the General
  Appropriations Act, in the state instructional materials fund
  established under Section 31.021.
         SECTION 10.  Section 403.093(d), Government Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (d)  The comptroller shall transfer from the general revenue
  fund to the foundation school fund an amount of money necessary to
  fund the foundation school program as provided by Chapter 42,
  Education Code. The comptroller shall make the transfers in
  installments as necessary to comply with Section 42.259, Education
  Code, and permit the Texas Education Agency, to the extent
  authorized by the General Appropriations Act, to make temporary
  transfers from the foundation school fund for payment of the
  instructional materials allotment under Section 31.0211, Education
  Code. Unless an earlier date is necessary for purposes of temporary
  transfers for payment of the instructional materials allotment, an
  [An] installment must be made not earlier than two days before the
  date an installment to school districts is required by Section
  42.259, Education Code, and must not exceed the amount necessary
  for that payment and any temporary transfers for payment of the
  instructional materials allotment.
         SECTION 11.  Sections 31.101(d) and (e), Education Code, are
  repealed.
         SECTION 12.  Not later than January 1, 2016, the State Board
  of Education shall develop a chart as prescribed by Section
  28.008(d), Education Code, as amended by this Act.
         SECTION 13.  The change in law made by Section 39.0239(d),
  Education Code, as added by this Act, applies only to a contract
  entered into, amended, or renewed on or after the effective date of
  this Act.  A contract entered into, amended, or renewed before the
  effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it existed
  immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is
  continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 14.  This Act applies beginning with the 2015-2016
  school year.
         SECTION 15.  This Act takes effect immediately if it
  receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each
  house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  
  If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate
  effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
 
 
 
 
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 313 passed the Senate on
  May 5, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0;
  May 28, 2015, Senate refused to concur in House amendments and
  requested appointment of Conference Committee; May 29, 2015, House
  granted request of the Senate; May 31, 2015, Senate adopted
  Conference Committee Report by the following vote:  Yeas 27,
  Nays 4.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate    
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 313 passed the House, with
  amendments, on May 26, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 125,
  Nays 19, two present not voting; May 29, 2015, House granted
  request of the Senate for appointment of Conference Committee;
  May 31, 2015, House adopted Conference Committee Report by the
  following vote:  Yeas 86, Nays 50, two present not voting.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
 
  Approved:
 
  ______________________________ 
             Date
 
 
  ______________________________ 
            Governor