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.