75R10029 ESH-D
By Cuellar, et al. H.B. No. 318
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 318:
By Sadler C.S.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 for
3-16 the student to attend school in that district but may not use
3-17 criteria that discriminate on the basis of a student's race,
3-18 ethnicity, academic achievement, athletic abilities, language
3-19 proficiency, sex, or socioeconomic status. A school district that
3-20 has more acceptable applicants for attendance under this subchapter
3-21 than available positions must give priority to students at risk of
3-22 dropping out of school as defined by Section 29.081 and must fill
3-23 the available positions by lottery. However, to achieve continuity
3-24 in education, a school district may give preference over at-risk
3-25 students to enrolled students and to the siblings of enrolled
3-26 students residing in the same household or other children residing
3-27 in the same household as enrolled students for the convenience of
4-1 parents, guardians, or custodians of those children.
4-2 (e) [(d)] A school district chosen by a student's parent
4-3 under Section 29.201 may not charge the student tuition [in
4-4 addition to the public education grant or charge tuition that is
4-5 greater than the district's average expenditure per student. The
4-6 school district in which the student resides is entitled to the
4-7 remainder, if any, of the student's public education grant funds].
4-8 (f) [(e)] The school district in which a student resides
4-9 shall provide each student attending a school in another district
4-10 under this subchapter transportation free of charge to and from the
4-11 school the student would otherwise attend.
4-12 (g) In this section:
4-13 (1) "Equalized wealth level" has the meaning assigned
4-14 by Section 41.001.
4-15 (2) "Guaranteed wealth level" means a wealth per
4-16 student equal to the dollar amount guaranteed level of state and
4-17 local funds per weighted student per cent of tax effort, as
4-18 provided by Section 42.302, multiplied by 10,000.
4-19 (3) "Wealth per student" has the meaning assigned by
4-20 Section 41.001.
4-21 SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 42, Education Code, is
4-22 amended by adding Section 42.157 to read as follows:
4-23 Sec. 42.157. PUBLIC EDUCATION GRANT ALLOTMENT. (a) Except
4-24 as provided by Subsection (b), for each student in average daily
4-25 attendance who is using a public education grant under Subchapter
4-26 G, Chapter 29, to attend school in a district other than the
4-27 district in which the student resides, the district in which the
5-1 student attends school is entitled to an annual allotment equal to
5-2 the adjusted basic allotment multiplied by a weight of 0.1.
5-3 (b) The total number of allotments under this section to
5-4 which a district is entitled may not exceed the number by which the
5-5 number of students using public education grants to attend school
5-6 in the district exceeds the number of students who reside in the
5-7 district and use public education grants to attend school in
5-8 another district.
5-9 SECTION 3. Subchapter H, Chapter 42, Education Code, is
5-10 amended by adding Section 42.4101 to read as follows:
5-11 Sec. 42.4101. ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR DISTRICTS WITH
5-12 STUDENTS USING PUBLIC EDUCATION GRANTS. (a) A district is
5-13 entitled to additional assistance under this section as provided by
5-14 Section 29.203(c).
5-15 (b) The amount of additional assistance under this section
5-16 is computed by subtracting the number of students residing in the
5-17 district and using public education grants to attend school in
5-18 another district for the year in which the assistance is granted
5-19 from the number of students using public education grants to attend
5-20 school in the district for that year and multiplying the difference
5-21 by $266.
5-22 (c) If a district to which this section applies is entitled
5-23 to the maximum amount of assistance under Section 42.406, the
5-24 maximum is increased by the amount of additional assistance to
5-25 which the district is entitled under this section.
5-26 SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 1997-1998
5-27 school year.
6-1 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
6-2 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-3 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-4 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-5 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
6-6 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
6-7 passage, and it is so enacted.