1-1 By: Cuellar, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Bivins) H.B. No. 318
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 9, 1997;
1-3 May 12, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Education; May 18, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable
1-5 Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0;
1-6 May 18, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 318 By: Bivins
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to the public education grant program.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Sections 29.202 and 29.203, Education Code, are
1-13 amended to read as follows:
1-14 Sec. 29.202. Eligibility. (a) A student is eligible to
1-15 receive a public education grant or to attend another public school
1-16 in the district in which the student resides under this subchapter
1-17 if the student is assigned to attend a public school campus:
1-18 (1) at which 50 percent or more of the students did
1-19 not perform satisfactorily on an assessment instrument administered
1-20 under Section 39.023(a) or (b) during each of the [in the]
1-21 preceding three years; or
1-22 (2) that was, at any time in the preceding three
1-23 years, identified as low-performing by the commissioner under
1-24 Subchapter D, Chapter 39.
1-25 (b) After a student has used a public education grant to
1-26 attend a school in a district other than the district in which the
1-27 student resides:
1-28 (1) the student does not become ineligible for the
1-29 grant if the school on which the student's initial eligibility is
1-30 based no longer meets the criteria under Subsection (a); and
1-31 (2) the student becomes ineligible for the grant if
1-32 the student is assigned to attend a school that does not meet the
1-33 criteria under Subsection (a).
1-34 Sec. 29.203. Financing. (a) A student [eligible under
1-35 Section 25.001 to attend school in a school district but] who under
1-36 this subchapter uses a public education grant to attend [attends] a
1-37 public school in a school [another] district other than the
1-38 district in which the student resides is included in the average
1-39 daily attendance of the district in which the student [resides.
1-40 The district in which the student] attends school [shall report the
1-41 student's attendance to the district in which the student resides
1-42 in accordance with rules adopted by the commissioner].
1-43 (b) A school district is entitled to the allotment provided
1-44 by Section 42.157 for each eligible student using a public
1-45 education grant. If the district has a wealth per student greater
1-46 than the guaranteed wealth level but less than the equalized wealth
1-47 level, a school district is entitled under rules adopted by the
1-48 commissioner to additional state aid in an amount equal to the
1-49 difference between the cost to the district of providing services
1-50 to a student using a public education grant and the sum of the
1-51 state aid received because of the allotment under Section 42.157
1-52 and money from the available school fund attributable to the
1-53 student.
1-54 (c) A school district is entitled to additional facilities
1-55 assistance under Section 42.4101 if the district agrees to:
1-56 (1) accept a number of students using public education
1-57 grants that is at least one percent of the district's average daily
1-58 attendance for the preceding school year; and
1-59 (2) provide services to each student until the student
1-60 either voluntarily decides to attend a school in a different
1-61 district or graduates from high school.
1-62 (d) [A student's public education grant is the total state
1-63 and local funding per student for the school district in which the
1-64 student resides. Total funding from state and local sources
2-1 includes special allotments under Subchapter C, Chapter 42, but
2-2 does not include small district, sparsity, and cost of education
2-3 adjustments and allotments for technology and transportation. A
2-4 student's public education grant is the entitlement of the student,
2-5 under the supervision of the student's parent, guardian, or
2-6 custodian, is not an entitlement of any school district, and is
2-7 paid to a school district solely as a means of administrative
2-8 convenience.]
2-9 [(c)] A school district chosen by a student's parent under
2-10 Section 29.201 is entitled to accept or reject the application for
2-11 the student to attend school in that district but may not use
2-12 criteria that discriminate on the basis of a student's race,
2-13 ethnicity, academic achievement, athletic abilities, language
2-14 proficiency, sex, or socioeconomic status. A school district that
2-15 has more acceptable applicants for attendance under this subchapter
2-16 than available positions must give priority to students at risk of
2-17 dropping out of school as defined by Section 29.081 and must fill
2-18 the available positions by lottery. However, to achieve continuity
2-19 in education, a school district may give preference over at-risk
2-20 students to enrolled students and to the siblings of enrolled
2-21 students residing in the same household or other children residing
2-22 in the same household as enrolled students for the convenience of
2-23 parents, guardians, or custodians of those children.
2-24 (e) [(d)] A school district chosen by a student's parent
2-25 under Section 29.201 may not charge the student tuition [in
2-26 addition to the public education grant or charge tuition that is
2-27 greater than the district's average expenditure per student. The
2-28 school district in which the student resides is entitled to the
2-29 remainder, if any, of the student's public education grant funds].
2-30 (f) [(e)] The school district in which a student resides
2-31 shall provide each student attending a school in another district
2-32 under this subchapter transportation free of charge to and from the
2-33 school the student would otherwise attend.
2-34 (g) In this section:
2-35 (1) "Equalized wealth level" has the meaning assigned
2-36 by Section 41.001.
2-37 (2) "Guaranteed wealth level" means a wealth per
2-38 student equal to the dollar amount guaranteed level of state and
2-39 local funds per weighted student per cent of tax effort, as
2-40 provided by Section 42.302, multiplied by 10,000.
2-41 (3) "Wealth per student" has the meaning assigned by
2-42 Section 41.001.
2-43 SECTION 2. Subchapter G, Chapter 29, Education Code, is
2-44 amended by adding Section 29.204 to read as follows:
2-45 Sec. 29.204. NOTIFICATION. (a) Not later than January 1 of
2-46 each year the commissioner shall, based on the preceding year,
2-47 provide notice to each school district in which a campus described
2-48 by Section 29.202 is located that:
2-49 (1) identifies each campus in the district that meets
2-50 the description in Section 29.202; and
2-51 (2) informs the district that the district must comply
2-52 with Subsection (b).
2-53 (b) Not later than February 1 of each year, a school
2-54 district shall notify the parent of each student in the district
2-55 assigned to attend a campus described by Section 29.202 that the
2-56 student is eligible for a public education grant. The notice must
2-57 contain a clear, concise explanation of the public education grant
2-58 program and of the manner in which the parent may obtain further
2-59 information about the program.
2-60 SECTION 3. Subchapter G, Chapter 29, Education Code, is
2-61 amended by adding Section 29.205 to read as follows:
2-62 Sec. 29.205. CONTRACT AUTHORITY. The board of trustees of a
2-63 school district may contract under Section 11.157 for the provision
2-64 of educational services to a district student eligible to receive a
2-65 public education grant under Section 29.202.
2-66 SECTION 4. Subchapter C, Chapter 42, Education Code, is
2-67 amended by adding Section 42.157 to read as follows:
2-68 Sec. 42.157. PUBLIC EDUCATION GRANT ALLOTMENT. (a) Except
2-69 as provided by Subsection (b), for each student in average daily
3-1 attendance who is using a public education grant under Subchapter
3-2 G, Chapter 29, to attend school in a district other than the
3-3 district in which the student resides, the district in which the
3-4 student attends school is entitled to an annual allotment equal to
3-5 the adjusted basic allotment multiplied by a weight of 0.1.
3-6 (b) The total number of allotments under this section to
3-7 which a district is entitled may not exceed the number by which the
3-8 number of students using public education grants to attend school
3-9 in the district exceeds the number of students who reside in the
3-10 district and use public education grants to attend school in
3-11 another district.
3-12 SECTION 5. Subchapter H, Chapter 42, Education Code, is
3-13 amended by adding Section 42.4101 to read as follows:
3-14 Sec. 42.4101. ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR DISTRICTS WITH
3-15 STUDENTS USING PUBLIC EDUCATION GRANTS. (a) A district is
3-16 entitled to additional assistance under this section as provided by
3-17 Section 29.203(c).
3-18 (b) The amount of additional assistance under this section
3-19 is computed by subtracting the number of students residing in the
3-20 district and using public education grants to attend school in
3-21 another district for the year in which the assistance is granted
3-22 from the number of students using public education grants to attend
3-23 school in the district for that year and multiplying the difference
3-24 by $266.
3-25 (c) If a district to which this section applies is entitled
3-26 to the maximum amount of assistance under Section 42.406, the
3-27 maximum is increased by the amount of additional assistance to
3-28 which the district is entitled under this section.
3-29 SECTION 6. This Act applies beginning with the 1997-1998
3-30 school year.
3-31 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
3-32 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-33 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-34 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-35 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-36 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-37 passage, and it is so enacted.
3-38 * * * * *