By: Nelson, Zaffirini, Shapiro S.B. No. 993
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to community education and community education development
1-2 projects.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subsection (c), Section 11.201, Education Code,
1-5 is amended to read as follows:
1-6 (c) For purposes of this section, "community education"
1-7 means the process by which the citizens in a school district, using
1-8 the resources and facilities of the district, organize to support
1-9 each other and to solve their mutual educational problems and meet
1-10 their mutual lifelong needs. Community education may include:
1-11 (1) educational programs, including occupational and
1-12 technological skills training, retraining for displaced workers,
1-13 cultural awareness, parenting skills education and parental
1-14 involvement in school programs, and multi-level adult education and
1-15 personal growth programs;
1-16 (2) community involvement programs, including programs
1-17 for community economic development, school volunteers, partnerships
1-18 between schools and businesses, coordination with community
1-19 agencies, school-age child care, family and workplace literacy, and
1-20 community use of facilities; and
1-21 (3) programs for youth enrolled in schools, including
1-22 dropout prevention and recovery programs, drug-free school
1-23 programs, school-age parenting programs, and academic enhancement
2-1 <community education services are defined in accordance with the
2-2 definition contained in Subdivision (3) of Subsection (a) of
2-3 Section 11.18 of this code>.
2-4 SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 11, Education Code, is
2-5 amended by adding Section 11.2011 to read as follows:
2-6 Sec. 11.2011. COMMUNITY EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS.
2-7 (a) The legislature shall appropriate funds from the Foundation
2-8 School Fund to the Central Education Agency for the purpose of
2-9 developing and implementing community education projects. The
2-10 Foundation School Fund Budget Committee shall consider the cost of
2-11 community education development projects in estimating the funds
2-12 needed for Foundation School Fund purposes. The agency shall
2-13 actively seek federal grants or funds established under this
2-14 section to operate and expand the programs.
2-15 (b) Subject to legislative appropriation and except as
2-16 provided by Subsection (f) of this section, a school district to
2-17 which the Central Education Agency awards funds for a community
2-18 education development project is entitled to receive funds for
2-19 three years. After the third year, a project must be funded wholly
2-20 from local sources. State funding under this section may not
2-21 exceed:
2-22 (1) $50,000 for the first year of a project;
2-23 (2) $35,000 for the second year of a project; or
2-24 (3) $20,000 for the third year of a project.
2-25 (c) The State Board of Education by rule shall establish
3-1 procedures for distributing community education development funds
3-2 to school districts. The procedures must include a statewide
3-3 competitive process by which the Central Education Agency, in
3-4 accordance with procedures adopted by board rule, evaluates
3-5 applications for community education development funds and awards
3-6 funds to the districts whose projects the agency determines have
3-7 the most merit. The determination to award funds to a school
3-8 district is a final decision as to which a district may not obtain
3-9 administrative or judicial review except in accordance with an
3-10 administrative review process established by board rule.
3-11 (d) An application for funding under this section must
3-12 include:
3-13 (1) a resolution adopted by the board of trustees of
3-14 the school district adopting a particular community education
3-15 project plan;
3-16 (2) in accordance with rules adopted by the State
3-17 Board of Education, a description of:
3-18 (A) the objectives of the proposed project,
3-19 including, if appropriate, quantitative targets for the objectives;
3-20 and
3-21 (B) the particular means by which the objectives
3-22 will be achieved;
3-23 (3) the estimated funding requirements and the data or
3-24 analysis used to prepare the estimate;
3-25 (4) a statement outlining the manner in which the
4-1 proposed project achieves goals for community education and
4-2 complies with the requirements of this section;
4-3 (5) a statement of the manner in which the project
4-4 will be funded after the third year;
4-5 (6) a provision for a survey of community education
4-6 needs in the district that:
4-7 (A) incorporates the objectives of community
4-8 education;
4-9 (B) is completed and analyzed by the district in
4-10 the first year of the project; and
4-11 (C) adheres to statistical techniques recognized
4-12 as valid by professional statisticians;
4-13 (7) a provision for the maximum efficient use of
4-14 existing school facilities in the first year of the project;
4-15 (8) a provision for the establishment of an advisory
4-16 committee of at least 15 members:
4-17 (A) selected without regard to race or gender;
4-18 (B) selected to reflect persons from the local
4-19 business community, governmental agencies, public and private
4-20 nonprofit educational interests, parents, and the general public;
4-21 and
4-22 (C) who serve without compensation; and
4-23 (9) a designation of a district community education
4-24 administrator whose primary responsibility will be the
4-25 implementation and supervision of the community education program.
5-1 (e) The Central Education Agency shall monitor each project
5-2 awarded funds under this section in accordance with rules adopted
5-3 by the State Board of Education. The agency shall evaluate whether
5-4 the project has satisfactorily carried out the district's
5-5 objectives as set out in the community education project plan. The
5-6 board by rule may provide a process for amending the plan.
5-7 (f) A school district is not entitled to funding for any
5-8 year of a project for which:
5-9 (1) the district did not apply for funding; or
5-10 (2) the Central Education Agency suspends the funding
5-11 based on the agency's determination that the district has failed to
5-12 satisfactorily implement the project's objectives.
5-13 (g) The State Board of Education by rule shall provide for
5-14 an administrative process for the suspension of funding under
5-15 Subsection (f)(2) of this section. The rules must be consistent
5-16 with the Administrative Procedure and Texas Register Act (Article
5-17 6252-13a, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
5-18 (h) The State Board of Education may adopt rules necessary
5-19 to implement and enforce this section, including rules relating to
5-20 financial audits of districts that receive funds under this
5-21 section. Rules adopted under this section by the State Board of
5-22 Education or the Central Education Agency may not permit the board
5-23 or agency to waive any provision of this section.
5-24 (i) The Central Education Agency may not use more than five
5-25 percent of the funds appropriated for the projects under this
6-1 section for the agency's administration of this section.
6-2 (j) In this section, "community education" has the meaning
6-3 assigned by Section 11.201 of this code.
6-4 SECTION 3. Subsection (e), Section 11.18, Education Code, is
6-5 amended to read as follows:
6-6 (e) Funds shall be appropriated to implement statewide adult
6-7 basic education, adult bilingual education, high school
6-8 equivalency, and high school credit programs to eliminate
6-9 illiteracy in Texas and to implement and support a statewide
6-10 program to meet the total range of adult needs for adult education
6-11 and<,> related skill training<, and pilot programs to demonstrate
6-12 the effectiveness of the community education concept>. An
6-13 additional sum of money may be appropriated to the Texas Department
6-14 of Commerce for the purpose of skill training in direct support of
6-15 industrial expansion and start-up, and those locations, industries,
6-16 and occupations designated by the Texas Department of Commerce,
6-17 when such training is also in support of the basic purposes of this
6-18 section. To fulfill the basic purposes of this section, an
6-19 additional sum of money may be appropriated for skill training that
6-20 is conducted to support the expansion of civilian employment
6-21 opportunities on United States military reservations. The Central
6-22 Education Agency, in conjunction with the Texas Department of
6-23 Commerce, may adopt rules to administer such skill training
6-24 programs for which the Central Education Agency is responsible, and
6-25 the Texas Department of Commerce may adopt rules to administer such
7-1 skill training programs for which it is responsible.
7-2 SECTION 4. Subdivision (3), Subsection (a), Section 11.18,
7-3 Education Code, is repealed.
7-4 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
7-5 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
7-6 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.