By Cuellar, et al.                                     H.B. No. 318

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the public education grant program.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Sections 29.202 and 29.203, Education Code, are

 1-5     amended to read as follows:

 1-6           Sec. 29.202.  ELIGIBILITY.  (a)  A student is eligible to

 1-7     receive a public education grant under this subchapter if the

 1-8     student is assigned to attend a public school campus:

 1-9                 (1)  at which 50 percent or more of the students did

1-10     not perform satisfactorily on an assessment instrument administered

1-11     under Section 39.023(a) or (b) at any time in the preceding three

1-12     years; or

1-13                 (2)  that was, at any time in the preceding three

1-14     years, identified as low-performing by the commissioner under

1-15     Subchapter  D, Chapter 39.

1-16           (b)  After a student has used a public education grant to

1-17     attend a school in a district other than the district in which the

1-18     student resides:

1-19                 (1)  the student does not become ineligible for the

1-20     grant if the school on which the student's initial eligibility is

1-21     based no longer meets the criteria under Subsection (a); and

1-22                 (2)  the student becomes ineligible for the grant if

1-23     the student is assigned to attend a school that does not meet the

1-24     criteria under Subsection (a).

 2-1           Sec. 29.203.  FINANCING.  (a)  A student [eligible under

 2-2     Section 25.001 to attend school in a school district but]  who

 2-3     under this subchapter uses a public education grant to attend

 2-4     [attends] a public school in a school [another]  district other

 2-5     than the district in which the student resides is included in the

 2-6     average daily attendance of the district in which the student

 2-7     [resides.  The district in which the student] attends school [shall

 2-8     report the student's attendance to the district in which the

 2-9     student resides in accordance with rules adopted by the

2-10     commissioner].

2-11           (b)  A school district is entitled to the allotment provided

2-12     by Section 42.157 for each eligible student using a public

2-13     education grant.  If the district has a wealth per student greater

2-14     than the guaranteed wealth level but less than the equalized wealth

2-15     level,  a school district is entitled under rules adopted by the

2-16     commissioner to additional state aid in an amount equal to the

2-17     difference between the cost to the district of providing services

2-18     to a student using a public education grant and the sum of the

2-19     state aid received because of the allotment under Section 42.157

2-20     and money from the available school fund attributable to the

2-21     student.

2-22           (c)  A school district is entitled to additional facilities

2-23     assistance under Section 42.4101 if the district agrees to:

2-24                 (1)  accept a number of students using public education

2-25     grants that is at least one percent of the district's average daily

2-26     attendance for  the preceding school year; and

2-27                 (2) provide services to each student until the student

 3-1     either voluntarily decides to attend a school in a different

 3-2     district or graduates from high school.

 3-3           (d)  [A student's public education grant is the total state

 3-4     and local funding per student for the school district in which the

 3-5     student resides.  Total funding from state and local sources

 3-6     includes special allotments under Subchapter C, Chapter 42, but

 3-7     does not include small district, sparsity, and cost of education

 3-8     adjustments and allotments for technology and transportation.  A

 3-9     student's public education grant is the entitlement of the student,

3-10     under the supervision of the student's parent, guardian, or

3-11     custodian, is not an entitlement of any school district, and is

3-12     paid to a school district solely as a means of administrative

3-13     convenience.]

3-14           [(c)]  A school district chosen by a student's parent under

3-15     Section 29.201 is entitled to [accept or] reject the application

3-16     for the student to attend school in that district only if 95

3-17     percent or more of the available positions for the grade level for

3-18     which the student is applying are filled.  The district  [but] may

3-19     not use criteria that discriminate on the basis of a student's

3-20     race, ethnicity, academic achievement, athletic abilities, language

3-21     proficiency, sex, or socioeconomic status.  A school district that

3-22     has more acceptable applicants for attendance under this subchapter

3-23     than available positions must give priority to students at risk of

3-24     dropping out of school as defined by Section 29.081 and must fill

3-25     the available positions by lottery.  However, to achieve continuity

3-26     in education, a school district may give preference over at-risk

3-27     students to enrolled students and to the siblings of enrolled

 4-1     students residing in the same household or other children residing

 4-2     in the same household as enrolled students for the convenience of

 4-3     parents, guardians, or custodians of those children.

 4-4           (e) [(d)]  A school district chosen by a student's parent

 4-5     under Section 29.201 may not charge the student tuition [in

 4-6     addition to the public education grant or charge tuition that is

 4-7     greater than the district's average expenditure per student.  The

 4-8     school district in which the student resides is entitled to the

 4-9     remainder, if any, of the student's public education grant funds].

4-10           (f) [(e)]  The school district in which a student resides

4-11     shall provide each student attending a school in another district

4-12     under this subchapter transportation free of charge to and from the

4-13     school the student would otherwise attend.

4-14           (g)  In this section:

4-15                 (1)  "Equalized wealth level" has the meaning assigned

4-16     by Section 41.001.

4-17                 (2)  "Guaranteed wealth level" means a wealth per

4-18     student equal to the dollar amount guaranteed level of state and

4-19     local funds per weighted student per cent of tax effort, as

4-20     provided by Section 42.302, multiplied by 10,000.

4-21                 (3)  "Wealth per student" has the meaning assigned by

4-22     Section 41.001.

4-23           SECTION 2.  Subchapter G, Chapter 29, Education Code, is

4-24     amended by adding Section 29.204 to read as follows:

4-25           Sec. 29.204.  NOTIFICATION.  (a)  Not later than July 1 of

4-26     each year, the commissioner shall provide a notice to each school

4-27     district in which a campus described by Section 29.202 is located

 5-1     that:

 5-2                 (1)  identifies each campus in the district that meets

 5-3     the description in Section 29.202; and

 5-4                 (2)  informs the district that the district must comply

 5-5     with Subsection (b).

 5-6           (b)  Not later than July 15 of each year, a school district

 5-7     shall notify the parent of each student in the district assigned to

 5-8     attend a campus described by Section 29.202 that the student is

 5-9     eligible for a public education grant.  The notice must contain a

5-10     clear, concise explanation of the public education grant program

5-11     and of the manner in which the parent may obtain further

5-12     information about the program.

5-13           SECTION 3.  Subchapter G, Chapter 29, Education Code, is

5-14     amended by adding Section 29.205 to read as follows:

5-15           Sec. 29.205.  CONTRACT AUTHORITY.  The board of trustees of a

5-16     school district may contract under Section 11.157 for the provision

5-17     of educational services to a district student eligible to receive a

5-18     public education grant under Section 29.202.

5-19           SECTION 4.  Subchapter C, Chapter 42, Education Code, is

5-20     amended by adding Section 42.157 to read as follows:

5-21           Sec. 42.157.   PUBLIC EDUCATION GRANT ALLOTMENT.  (a)  Except

5-22     as provided by Subsection (b), for each student in average daily

5-23     attendance who is using a public education grant under Subchapter

5-24     G, Chapter 29, to attend school in a district other than the

5-25     district in which the student resides, the district in which the

5-26     student attends school is entitled to an annual allotment equal to

5-27     the adjusted basic allotment multiplied by a weight of 0.1.

 6-1           (b)  The total number of allotments under this section to

 6-2     which a district is entitled may not exceed the number by which the

 6-3     number of students using public education grants to attend school

 6-4     in the district exceeds the number of students who reside in the

 6-5     district and use public education grants to attend school in

 6-6     another district.

 6-7           SECTION 5.  Subchapter H, Chapter 42, Education Code, is

 6-8     amended by adding Section 42.4101 to read as follows:

 6-9           Sec. 42.4101.  ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR DISTRICTS WITH

6-10     STUDENTS USING PUBLIC EDUCATION GRANTS.  (a)  A district is

6-11     entitled to additional assistance under this section as provided by

6-12     Section 29.203(c).

6-13           (b)  The amount of additional assistance under this section

6-14     is computed by subtracting the number of students residing in the

6-15     district and using public education grants to attend school in

6-16     another district for the year in which the assistance is granted

6-17     from the number of students using public education grants to attend

6-18     school in the district for that year and multiplying the difference

6-19     by $266.

6-20           (c)  If a district to which this section applies is entitled

6-21     to the maximum amount of assistance under Section 42.406, the

6-22     maximum is increased by the amount of additional assistance to

6-23     which the district is entitled under this section.

6-24           SECTION 6.  This Act applies beginning with the 1997-1998

6-25     school year.

6-26           SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the

6-27     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 7-1     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 7-2     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 7-3     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 7-4     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 7-5     passage, and it is so enacted.