Enrolled Bill Summary

House Bill 2237	House Author:  Eissler et al.
Effective:  See below	Senate Sponsor:  Shapiro

            House Bill 2237 amends the Education Code to implement various measures to address dropout prevention, high school success, and college workforce readiness in public schools. 

            The bill establishes the High School Completion and Success Initiative Council to identify strategic priorities and make recommendations to improve effectiveness, coordination, and alignment of high school completion and college and workforce readiness efforts and requires it to adopt a plan to: (1) specify strategies to identify, support, and expand programs to improve high school completion rates and college and workforce readiness; (2) establish specific goals with which to measure the strategies' success in achieving those aims; (3) identify strategies for aligning and coordinating federal and other funding sources that may be pursued for high school reform, dropout prevention, and preparation of students for college or for work; and (4) identify key objectives for appropriate research and program evaluation.  The council also must make recommendations based on the strategic plan to the commissioner of education or the commissioner of higher education for the use of federal and state funds appropriated or received for high school reform, college readiness, and dropout prevention.  Under the initiative, a school district or campus is eligible to participate in certain newly created programs if it exhibited during each of the three preceding school years characteristics that strongly correlate with high dropout rates.  The bill requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to allocate $8.75 million each year to establish mathematics, science, and technology teacher preparation academies and implement an intensive summer program in accordance with the initiative's goals and the goals in the state's master plan for higher education.

            The bill requires or authorizes the commissioner to establish several programs, setting forth, as applicable, funding levels, caps, and sources; eligibility criteria for individuals, campuses, districts, or other program applicants or participants; restrictions on uses of program funds,  and program evaluation and other requirements.  These programs are as follows:

·         a science laboratory grant program to provide competitive grants to school districts for the construction or renovation of high school science laboratories

·         a teacher and administrator professional development grant program to provide funds to districts, regional education service centers, nonprofit organizations, and colleges and universities to provide technical assistance and professional development activities in the staff development training of public school teachers and administrators

·         a mathematics instructional coaches pilot program to provide districts and campuses grants to help develop the content knowledge and instructional expertise of teachers who teach mathematics in middle school, junior high school, or high school 

·         reading academies required for teachers who teach reading, mathematics, science, or social studies in the sixth, seventh, or eighth grade at a campus rated academically unacceptable on the basis of its students' performance on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) reading test

·         a student club grant program to provide state grant money for school districts to fund student club activities at a district high school for students at risk of dropping out of school

·         a collaborative dropout reduction grant program to provide funds for districts and charter schools to implement local collaborative programs that coordinate services and programs among local entities to reduce dropout rates in the community and increase the job skills, job opportunities, and continuing education opportunities of at-risk students

·         an intensive technology-based academic intervention pilot program to award matching grants to campuses to provide intensive technology-based supplementary instruction in English, mathematics, science, or social studies to at-risk high school students

·         higher education and workforce readiness programs supported by grants awarded to organizations that provide volunteers to teach classroom or after-school programs to enhance college readiness, workforce readiness, dropout prevention, or personal financial literacy

·         a technology-based supplemental instruction pilot program to provide grants to finance technology-based supplemental instruction at certain campuses in districts with fewer than 5,000 students and located outside of a standard metropolitan statistical area

·         a high school innovation grant program to help high school campuses and districts: (1) implement innovative high school improvement programs based on the best available research on high school reform, dropout prevention, and preparing students for college coursework or employment; (2) enhance education practices that have been demonstrated by significant evidence of effectiveness; and (3) align grants and programs to the High School Completion and Success Initiative Council's strategic plan

            The bill also provides for the establishment of the following programs:

·         mathematics, science, and technology teacher preparation academies established by THECB at colleges and universities to improve the teaching skills of certified teachers and to train teacher preparation program students in mathematics, science, and technology instruction

·         an intensive summer program pilot project established by the commissioner of education and the commissioner of higher education to award matching grants to participating campuses to provide intensive academic instruction during the summer semester to promote college and workforce readiness to students at risk of dropping out of school or college

            Provisions of the bill require a school district or charter school with a high dropout rate to submit a plan to the commissioner of education describing how it intends to use its compensatory education allotment or high school allotment for developing and implementing research-based dropout prevention strategies, prohibit the district or school from spending more than 25 percent of that allotment without commissioner approval of its plan, and establish deadlines for the plan's submission and initial commissioner review.  The bill requires each district and charter school offering certain grade levels to designate a week of the school year as "Education: Go Get It" Week and requires each middle school, junior high school, and high school to provide students with information about higher education options available to students, standard college admission requirements, automatic college admission programs, and financial aid availability and requirements.

            Beginning with the 2008-2009 school year, the bill requires the State Board of Education (SBOE) to incorporate college readiness standards and expectations into the essential knowledge and skills of the foundation curriculum courses in which high school students generally enroll.

            The bill requires the Texas Education Agency to set minimum standards for a personal graduation plan and encourages each district to establish for each student entering grade nine a personal graduation plan that identifies a course of study that promotes college and workforce readiness and facilitates the student's high school to college transition.

            The bill also amends both the Education Code and the Family Code to allow a law enforcement officer with probable cause to believe that a child is in violation of the compulsory school attendance law to take the child into custody and return the child to the child's campus.

            House Bill 2237 takes effect June 15, 2007, except for the Education Code and Family Code provisions pertaining to a law enforcement officer's authority to take a suspected truant into custody, which take effect September 1, 2007.