By Williams                                           H.B. No. 1685
         76R6201 ESH-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to state assistance for school facilities in certain
 1-3     fast-growth school districts.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 46.006, Education Code, is amended to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 46.006.  SHORTAGE OR EXCESS OF FUNDS APPROPRIATED FOR
 1-8     NEW PROJECTS.  (a)  If the total amount appropriated for a year for
 1-9     new projects is less than the amount of money to which school
1-10     districts applying for state assistance are entitled for that year,
1-11     the commissioner shall rank each school district applying by wealth
1-12     per student.  For purposes of this section, a district's wealth per
1-13     student is reduced by 10 percent for each state fiscal biennium in
1-14     which the district did not receive assistance under this chapter.
1-15     The commissioner shall adjust the rankings after making the
1-16     reductions in wealth per student required by this subsection.
1-17           (b)  A district's wealth per student is reduced for purposes
1-18     of this section if a district has had substantial student
1-19     enrollment  growth in the preceding five-year period.  The
1-20     reduction is in addition to any reduction under Subsection (a)  and
1-21     is computed after the district's wealth per student is reduced
1-22     under that subsection, if applicable.  A district's wealth per
1-23     student is reduced:
1-24                 (1)  by five percent, if the district has an enrollment
 2-1     growth rate in that period that is 10 percent or more but less than
 2-2     15 percent;
 2-3                 (2)  by 10 percent, if the district has an enrollment
 2-4     growth rate in that period that is 15 percent or more but less
 2-5     than 30 percent; or
 2-6                 (3)  by 15 percent, if the district has an enrollment
 2-7     growth rate in that period that is more than 30 percent.
 2-8           (c)  Beginning with the district with the lowest adjusted
 2-9     wealth per student that has applied for state assistance for the
2-10     year,  the commissioner shall award state assistance to districts
2-11     that have applied for state assistance in ascending order of
2-12     adjusted wealth per student.  The commissioner shall award the full
2-13     amount of state assistance to which a district is entitled under
2-14     this chapter, except that the commissioner may award less than the
2-15     full amount to the last district for which any funds are available.
2-16           (d) [(c)]  Any amount appropriated for the first year of a
2-17     fiscal biennium that is not awarded to a school district may be
2-18     used to provide assistance in the following fiscal year.
2-19           (e) [(d)]  In this section, "wealth per student" means a
2-20     school district's taxable value of property as determined under
2-21     Subchapter M, Chapter 403, Government Code, divided by the
2-22     district's average daily attendance as determined under Section
2-23     42.005.
2-24           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-25           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-26     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-27     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.