BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 81

By: Rodriguez

Public Education

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Under the community schools model, families, educators, and the community partner together to address the unique needs of a school and its community. It has been suggested that this model has been shown to be a successful strategy for improving school performance. H.B. 81 seeks to expand access to this model by providing for a public school election under a campus turnaround plan to operate as a community school.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 81 amends the Education Code to authorize a campus turnaround plan to permit a public school campus to operate as a community school. The bill requires a plan for operation as a community school to include, in addition to the other requirements for campus turnaround plans, strategies and programs to coordinate academic, social, and health services and reduce barriers to learning through partnerships and service coordination. The bill sets out the programs and services that may be offered by a campus operating as a community school under a campus turnaround plan.

H.B. 81 requires a campus that elects to operate as a community school under a campus turnaround plan to do the following:

· establish a school community partnership team, as specified by the bill, to coordinate with the campus intervention team for the campus;

· establish a partnership with a lead organization that has experience in developing and implementing a community school plan;

· designate a school district employee or an employee of an organization with experience in developing and implementing a community school plan as the campus community school coordinator, whose duties must include the recruitment and coordination of services from community partners;

· develop a community school plan that satisfies the requirements for a campus improvement plan under applicable state law; and

· obtain approval for the community school plan from at least 75 percent of campus faculty and staff and 75 percent of parents of students enrolled at the campus and from the board of trustees of the school district in which the campus is located.

H.B. 81 prohibits the commissioner of education from ordering the closure of a campus under provisions relating to public school accountability interventions and sanctions without giving the campus the opportunity to operate as a community school under a campus turnaround plan as provided by the bill's provisions and without giving the campus at least two years to implement the campus's community school plan.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2021.