87R11838 BDP-F

By: Talarico H.B. No. 4391

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the implementation of student and family engagement plans by school districts.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 29, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 29.926 to read as follows:

Sec. 29.926. STUDENT AND FAMILY ENGAGEMENT PLANS. (a) Each school district shall develop and implement a student and family engagement plan for students in each grade level from prekindergarten through grade 12 to assist the district in:

(1) achieving and maintaining high levels of family involvement and positive family attitudes toward education;

(2) strengthening relationships between students, families, and teachers;

(3) creating positive outcomes by increasing positive student engagement and developing the student's sense of connection to the student's learning environment, including by ensuring that the student is:

(A) actively involved in the student's academic achievement; and

(B) positively motivated to attend school regularly and graduate;

(4) creating opportunities for parents to engage with and be directly involved in their child's education; and

(5) creating a communal campus environment that includes students, families, teachers, district staff, and community-based organizations that provide resources to students for social-emotional and academic development.

(b) The student and family engagement plans must be based on student and parent engagement strategies that:

(1) are based on empirical research;

(2) establish a system of communication, updated annually based on a district assessment of parent and communication needs, between students, families, and school districts that includes mailed, electronic, and virtual communications, such as phone calls, text messaging, and e-mail;

(3) provide support for students who are attending school in-person or virtually through counselors, teachers, and district staff;

(4) use diagnostic tools to evaluate the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive engagement of students and communicate the results to the family of the student;

(5) include regular meetings with interested persons, including community-based organizations, throughout the school year regarding the development and implementation of the engagement plans;

(6) are proven to demonstrate significant positive short-term and long-term outcomes for early childhood, elementary, middle school, and high school education;

(7) include programs and interventions that engage a family in supporting a student's learning at home;

(8) include programming that is accessible by students who are bilingual and students of limited English proficiency;

(9) are proven to demonstrate solutions that build long-lasting generational relationships between school districts and families; and

(10) support virtual or remote learning by promoting digital communication and literacy and by ensuring that students have access to devices and broadband Internet throughout the duration of a disaster declared by the president of the United States under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. Section 5121 et seq.) or by the governor under Chapter 418, Government Code.

(c) Each school district shall ensure that student and family engagement plans are consistent with the public education mission and objectives described by Section 4.001 and accessible to students who are educationally disadvantaged.

(d) In developing student and family engagement plans, a school district must collaborate with campus leaders, educators, teachers, families, and students at all grade levels to include in the student and family engagement plans the strategies described by Subsection (b). A school district must provide for a student at the middle or high school level to be directly involved in developing student engagement plans.

(e) The agency shall offer administrative support and resources to assist school districts with developing and implementing student and family engagement plans as provided by this section.

(f) Not later than the 30th instructional day following the first day of school, each school district shall post the student and family engagement plans on the district's Internet website.

(g) The agency shall collaborate with other state agencies, including the Health and Human Services Commission, that provide services for children to establish prioritized family engagement strategies to be included in a school district's family engagement plan.

(h) A parent-teacher organization, community group, or faith-based institution may submit to the agency recommendations regarding the establishment of family engagement strategies, and the agency, in establishing the family engagement strategies, shall consider any submitted recommendations.

(i) Each school district shall review the student and family engagement plans annually and update the plans at least once every five years.

SECTION 2. Section 29.168, Education Code, is repealed.

SECTION 3. 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, 2021.