By:  Combs                                            H.B. No. 1303
       73R5168 ESH-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to performance reports for school districts.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subchapter H, Chapter 21, Education Code, is
    1-5  amended by adding Section 21.259 to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 21.259.  DISTRICT REPORT CARD.  (a)  Not later than
    1-7  December 1 of each year, the Central Education Agency shall prepare
    1-8  and distribute to each school district a district report card.  A
    1-9  district report card must:
   1-10              (1)  be based on the previous school year;
   1-11              (2)  for each performance indicator listed in
   1-12  Subsection (b) of this section, compare the district to three other
   1-13  school districts randomly chosen by the agency that:
   1-14                    (A)  have a similar ratio of taxable property per
   1-15  student;
   1-16                    (B)  have a similar number of students, with
   1-17  substantially similar demographics; and
   1-18                    (C)  are classified the same as the district as
   1-19  either urban, suburban, or rural; and
   1-20              (3)  be clearly and concisely written and without
   1-21  extraneous information.
   1-22        (b)  The performance indicators must compare school districts
   1-23  at the 4th, 8th, and 10th grades based on:
   1-24              (1)  student performance on a criterion-referenced
    2-1  assessment instrument;
    2-2              (2)  student performance on a norm-referenced
    2-3  assessment instrument;
    2-4              (3)  dropout rates;
    2-5              (4)  student/teacher ratios; and
    2-6              (5)  administrative and instructional costs per
    2-7  student.
    2-8        (c)  The commissioner of education shall adopt rules for:
    2-9              (1)  classifying districts as urban, suburban, or rural
   2-10  for purposes of this section; and
   2-11              (2)  implementing an objective comparison of the
   2-12  performance indicators listed in Subsection (b) of this section,
   2-13  including the uniform computation of dropout rates and
   2-14  administrative and instructional costs.
   2-15        (d)  Not later than the last day of the school year, a school
   2-16  district shall deliver a copy of the district's report card to the
   2-17  parent of or person standing in parental relation to each student
   2-18  in the district with the student's grade notice under Section
   2-19  21.722 of this code.
   2-20        SECTION 2.  Section 21.258, Education Code, is repealed.
   2-21        SECTION 3.  The commissioner of education shall adopt rules
   2-22  under Section 21.259, Education Code, as added by this Act, not
   2-23  later than January 1, 1994.  The first district report card under
   2-24  Section 21.259, Education Code, as added by this Act, is due on or
   2-25  before December 1, 1994.
   2-26        SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-27        SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-1  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-2  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-3  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-4  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.