1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to assistance to certain low-performing public school
1-3 districts.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter I, Chapter 21, Education Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Section 21.410 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 21.410. MASTER READING TEACHER GRANT PROGRAM. (a) The
1-8 commissioner shall establish a master reading teacher grant program
1-9 to encourage teachers to:
1-10 (1) become certified as master reading teachers; and
1-11 (2) work with other teachers and with students in
1-12 order to improve student reading performance.
1-13 (b) From funds appropriated for the purpose, the
1-14 commissioner shall make grants to school districts as provided by
1-15 this section to pay stipends to selected certified master reading
1-16 teachers who teach at high-need campuses.
1-17 (c) The commissioner shall annually identify each high-need
1-18 campus in a school district using criteria established by the
1-19 commissioner by rule, including performance on the reading
1-20 assessment instrument administered under Section 39.023. The
1-21 commissioner shall also use the criteria to rank campuses in order
1-22 of greatest need.
1-23 (d) A school district may apply to the commissioner for
1-24 grants for each high-need campus identified by the commissioner to
2-1 be used to pay stipends to certified master reading teachers in
2-2 accordance with this section. Unless reduced under Subsection (g)
2-3 or (i), each grant is in the amount of $5,000. The commissioner
2-4 shall approve the application if the district:
2-5 (1) applies within the period and in the manner
2-6 required by rule adopted by the commissioner; and
2-7 (2) agrees to use each grant only for the purpose of
2-8 paying a year-end stipend to a master reading teacher:
2-9 (A) who holds a certificate issued under Section
2-10 21.0481;
2-11 (B) who teaches in a position prescribed by the
2-12 district at a high-need campus identified by the commissioner;
2-13 (C) whose primary duties include:
2-14 (i) teaching reading; and
2-15 (ii) serving as a reading teaching mentor
2-16 to other teachers for the amount of time and in the manner
2-17 established by the district and by rule adopted by the
2-18 commissioner; and
2-19 (D) who satisfies any other requirements
2-20 established by rule adopted by the commissioner.
2-21 (e) Unless reduced under Subsection (g) or (i), a stipend
2-22 under Subsection (d)(2) is in the amount of $5,000.
2-23 (f) The commissioner shall adopt rules for the distribution
2-24 of grants to school districts following the year of the initial
2-25 grant. A district that has been approved for a grant to pay a
2-26 stipend to a certified master reading teacher is not required to
2-27 reapply for a grant for two consecutive school years following the
3-1 year of the intitial grant if the district:
3-2 (1) continues to pay a stipend as provided by
3-3 Subsection (g); and
3-4 (2) notifies the commissioner in writing, within the
3-5 period and in the manner prescribed by the commissioner, that the
3-6 circumstances on which the grant was based have not changed.
3-7 (g) The commissioner shall reduce payments to a school
3-8 district proportionately to the extent a teacher does not meet the
3-9 requirements under Subsection (d)(2) for the entire school year. A
3-10 district that employs more certified master reading teachers than
3-11 the number of grants available under this section shall select the
3-12 certified master reading teachers to whom to pay stipends based on
3-13 a policy adopted by the board of trustees of the district, except
3-14 that a district shall pay a stipend for two additional consecutive
3-15 school years to a teacher the district has selected for and paid a
3-16 stipend for a school year, who remains eligible for a stipend under
3-17 Subsection (d)(2), and for whom the district receives a grant under
3-18 this section for those years. A decision of the district under
3-19 this subsection is final and may not be appealed. The district may
3-20 not apportion among teachers a stipend paid for with a grant the
3-21 district receives under this section. The district may use local
3-22 money to pay additional stipends in amounts determined by the
3-23 district.
3-24 (h) A grant a school district receives under this section is
3-25 in addition to any funding the district receives under Chapter 42.
3-26 The commissioner shall distribute funds under this section with the
3-27 Foundation School Program payment to which the district is entitled
4-1 as soon as practicable after the end of the school year as
4-2 determined by the commissioner. A district to which Chapter 41
4-3 applies is entitled to the grants paid under this section. The
4-4 commissioner shall determine the timing of the distribution of
4-5 grants to a district that does not receive Foundation School
4-6 Program payments.
4-7 (i) This section does not create a property right to a grant
4-8 or stipend. A school district is entitled to a grant to carry out
4-9 the purposes of this section only to the extent the commissioner
4-10 makes the grant in accordance with this section and only to the
4-11 extent sufficient state funds are appropriated for those purposes.
4-12 If state funds are appropriated but are insufficient to fully fund
4-13 a grant, the commissioner shall reduce the grant paid to each
4-14 district and the district shall reduce the stipend the district
4-15 pays to each teacher under this section proportionately so that
4-16 each selected teacher receives the same amount of money.
4-17 (j) A decision of the commissioner concerning the amount of
4-18 money to which a school district is entitled under this section is
4-19 final and may not be appealed. Each district shall, in the manner
4-20 and at the time prescribed by the commissioner, provide to the
4-21 commissioner proof acceptable to the commissioner of the master
4-22 reading teacher certification of a teacher to whom the district is
4-23 paying a stipend under this section.
4-24 (k) The commissioner may audit the expenditure of money
4-25 appropriated for purposes of this section. A district's use of the
4-26 money appropriated for purposes of this section shall be verified
4-27 as part of the district audit under Section 44.008.
5-1 (l) A stipend a teacher receives under this section is not
5-2 considered in determining whether the district is paying the
5-3 teacher the minimum monthly salary under Section 21.402.
5-4 (m) The commissioner may adopt other rules as necessary to
5-5 implement this section.
5-6 SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 21, Education Code, is
5-7 amended by adding Section 21.0481 to read as follows:
5-8 Sec. 21.0481. MASTER READING TEACHER CERTIFICATION. (a) To
5-9 ensure that there are teachers with special training to work with
5-10 other teachers and with students in order to improve student
5-11 reading performance, the board shall establish a master reading
5-12 teacher certificate.
5-13 (b) The board shall issue a master reading teacher
5-14 certificate to each eligible person.
5-15 (c) To be eligible for a master reading teacher certificate,
5-16 a person must:
5-17 (1) hold a reading specialist certificate issued under
5-18 this subchapter and satisfactorily complete a course of instruction
5-19 as prescribed under Subdivision (2)(B); or
5-20 (2) hold a teaching certificate issued under this
5-21 subchapter and:
5-22 (A) have at least three years of teaching
5-23 experience;
5-24 (B) satisfactorily complete a knowledge-based
5-25 and skills-based course of instruction on the science of teaching
5-26 children to read that includes training in:
5-27 (i) effective reading instruction
6-1 techniques, including effective techniques for students whose
6-2 primary language is a language other than English;
6-3 (ii) identification of dyslexia and
6-4 related reading disorders and effective reading instruction
6-5 techniques for students with those disorders; and
6-6 (iii) effective professional peer
6-7 mentoring techniques;
6-8 (C) perform satisfactorily on the master reading
6-9 teacher certification examination prescribed by the board; and
6-10 (D) satisfy any other requirements prescribed by
6-11 the board.
6-12 SECTION 3. Subchapter J, Chapter 21, Education Code, is
6-13 amended by adding Section 21.453 to read as follows:
6-14 Sec. 21.453. STAFF DEVELOPMENT ACCOUNT. (a) The staff
6-15 development account is an account in the general revenue fund. The
6-16 account consists of gifts, grants, donations, appropriations for
6-17 the purpose of staff development under this subchapter, and any
6-18 other money transferred by law to the account. Funds in the
6-19 account may be used only as provided by this section.
6-20 (b) The commissioner may allocate funds from the account to
6-21 regional education service centers to provide staff development
6-22 resources to school districts that:
6-23 (1) are rated academically unacceptable;
6-24 (2) have one or more campuses rated as low-performing;
6-25 or
6-26 (3) are otherwise in need of assistance as indicated
6-27 by the academic performance of students, as determined by the
7-1 commissioner.
7-2 (c) A school district that receives resources under this
7-3 section must pay to the commissioner for deposit in the account an
7-4 amount equal to one-half of the cost of the resources provided to
7-5 the district.
7-6 (d) The commissioner may adopt rules governing the
7-7 allocation and use of funds under this section.
7-8 SECTION 4. Section 39.075(c), Education Code, is amended to
7-9 read as follows:
7-10 (c) Based on the results of a special accreditation
7-11 investigation, the commissioner may lower the district's
7-12 accreditation rating and may take appropriate action under
7-13 Subchapter G. Regardless of whether the commissioner lowers the
7-14 district's accreditation rating, the commissioner may take action
7-15 under Sections 39.131(a)(1) through (8) if the commissioner
7-16 determines that the action is necessary to improve any area of a
7-17 district's performance, including the district's financial
7-18 accounting practices.
7-19 SECTION 5. Section 822.201(b), Government Code, as amended
7-20 by Chapters 330 and 1035, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular
7-21 Session, 1997, is amended to read as follows:
7-22 (b) "Salary and wages" as used in Subsection (a) means:
7-23 (1) normal periodic payments of money for service the
7-24 right to which accrues on a regular basis in proportion to the
7-25 service performed;
7-26 (2) amounts by which the member's salary is reduced
7-27 under a salary reduction agreement authorized by Chapter 610;
8-1 (3) amounts that would otherwise qualify as salary and
8-2 wages under Subdivision (1) but are not received directly by the
8-3 member pursuant to a good faith, voluntary written salary reduction
8-4 agreement in order to finance payments to a deferred compensation
8-5 or tax sheltered annuity program specifically authorized by state
8-6 law or to finance benefit options under a cafeteria plan qualifying
8-7 under Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C.
8-8 Section 125), if:
8-9 (A) the program or benefit options are made
8-10 available to all employees of the employer; and
8-11 (B) the benefit options in the cafeteria plan
8-12 are limited to one or more options that provide deferred
8-13 compensation, group health and disability insurance, group term
8-14 life insurance, dependent care assistance programs, or group legal
8-15 services plans; [and]
8-16 (4) performance pay awarded to an employee by a school
8-17 district as part of a total compensation plan approved by the board
8-18 of trustees of the district;[.]
8-19 (5) [(4)] the benefit replacement pay a person earns
8-20 under Subchapter H, Chapter 659, as added by Chapter 417, Acts of
8-21 the 74th Legislature, 1995, except as provided by Subsection (c);
8-22 and
8-23 (6) stipends paid to teachers in accordance with
8-24 Section 21.410, Education Code.
8-25 SECTION 6. The State Board for Educator Certification shall
8-26 propose rules establishing requirements and prescribing an
8-27 examination for master reading teacher certification not later than
9-1 January 1, 2001.
9-2 SECTION 7. This Act takes effect only if a specific
9-3 appropriation for the implementation of this Act is provided in
9-4 H.B. No. 1 (General Appropriations Act), Acts of the 76th
9-5 Legislature, Regular Session, 1999. If no specific appropriation
9-6 is provided in H.B. No. 1, the General Appropriations Act, this Act
9-7 has no effect.
9-8 SECTION 8. The importance of this legislation and the
9-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
9-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
9-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
9-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
9-13 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
9-14 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2307 was passed by the House on May
8, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 143, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 2307 on May 22, 1999, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2307 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 20, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays
0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor