Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 396 amends the Education Code to allow the Texas Education Agency to establish a three-year technology immersion pilot project to provide students in participating schools with wireless mobile computing devices and to implement the use of software, on-line courses, and other learning technologies known to improve academic achievement and other performance measures. The bill establishes administrative requirements and allows the agency to solicit, accept, and use funds from any source for the project's implementation, provided the funds are used solely to purchase the individual students' computing devices and related equipment, hire technical support staff, and purchase technology-based learning materials and resources; it also allows the agency to implement the project only if sufficient funds are available for that purpose.

            The bill allows a school district to apply for a district-wide project or for a project limited to a school or group of schools, and it sets forth criteria for the agency's selection of districts and schools for project participation. Each participating district's board of trustees must submit a detailed annual progress report to the agency not later than August 1 of each year that it participates in the project, including specific student performance data and other effects, and the agency must review the project after it expires based on the annual reports it receives from each participating district's board of trustees.