By Bailey H.B. No. 3381
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to intra-district and inter-district public school choice
1-3 under the public education grant program.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 29.201, Education Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 29.201. Parental Choice. Notwithstanding any other
1-8 provision of this code, as provided by this subchapter an eligible
1-9 student may attend any [a] public school campus in the district in
1-10 which the student resides or may use a public education grant to
1-11 attend any other public school campus in the county in which the
1-12 student resides or any public school campus in a school district
1-13 contiguous to the school district in which the student resides
1-14 [other district] chosen by the student's parent.
1-15 SECTION 2. Section 29.202, Education Code, is amended to
1-16 read as follows:
1-17 Sec. 29.202. Eligibility. A student is eligible to receive
1-18 a public education grant under this subchapter if [the student is
1-19 assigned to attend a public school campus]:
1-20 (1) the student is assigned to attend a public school
1-21 campus at which 50 percent or more of the students did not perform
1-22 satisfactorily on an assessment instrument administered under
2-1 Section 39.023(a) or (b) in the preceding three years; or
2-2 (2) the student is assigned to attend a public school
2-3 campus that was, at any time in the preceding three years,
2-4 identified as low-performing by the commissioner under Subchapter
2-5 D, Chapter 39; and
2-6 (3) the student did not perform satisfactorily on the
2-7 most recent assessment instrument administered under Section
2-8 39.023(a) or (b).
2-9 SECTION 3. Section 29.203(b), Education Code, is amended to
2-10 read as follows:
2-11 (b) A student's public education grant must be provided by
2-12 the school district in which the student resides. A student's
2-13 public education grant is equal to the total state and local
2-14 funding per student for the school district in which the student
2-15 attends school [resides]. Total funding from state and local
2-16 sources includes special allotments under Subchapter C, Chapter 42,
2-17 but does not include small district, sparsity, and cost of
2-18 education adjustments and allotments for technology and
2-19 transportation. A student's public education grant is the
2-20 entitlement of the student, under the supervision of the student's
2-21 parent, guardian, or custodian, is not an entitlement of any school
2-22 district, and is paid to a school district solely as a means of
2-23 administrative convenience.
2-24 SECTION 4. Section 29.203(c), Education Code, is amended to
2-25 read as follows:
2-26 (c) A school campus [district] chosen by a student's parent
2-27 under Section 29.201 is entitled to [accept or] reject the
3-1 application for the student to attend school at [in] that campus
3-2 [district] only if that campus has a campus-wide student-teacher
3-3 ratio greater than the campus-wide student-teacher ratio of the
3-4 campus to which the student is currently assigned. [but] The campus
3-5 chosen by a student's parent under Section 29.201 may not use
3-6 criteria that discriminate on the basis of a student's race,
3-7 ethnicity, academic achievement, athletic abilities, language
3-8 proficiency, sex, or socioeconomic status. A campus [school
3-9 district] that has more eligible [acceptable] applicants for
3-10 attendance under this subchapter than available positions must give
3-11 priority to students at risk of dropping out of school as defined
3-12 by Section 29.081 and must fill the available positions by lottery.
3-13 However, to achieve continuity in education, a campus [school
3-14 district] may give preference over at-risk students to enrolled
3-15 students and to the siblings of enrolled students residing in the
3-16 same household or other children residing in the same household as
3-17 enrolled students for the convenience of parents, guardians, or
3-18 custodians of those children.
3-19 SECTION 5. Section 29.203(d), Education Code, is amended to
3-20 read as follows:
3-21 (d) A school district that includes the campus chosen by a
3-22 student's parent under Section 29.201 may not charge the student
3-23 tuition in addition to the public education grant or charge tuition
3-24 that is greater than the district's average expenditure per
3-25 student. The school district in which the student resides is
3-26 entitled to the remainder, if any, of the student's public
3-27 education grant funds.
4-1 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
4-2 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-3 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-4 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-5 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-6 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-7 passage, and it is so enacted.