By Olivo H.B. No. 2358
76R7672 ESH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to open-enrollment charter schools.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 12.101(b), Education Code, is amended to
1-5 read as follows:
1-6 (b) The State Board of Education may not grant an original
1-7 charter [a total of more than 20 charters] for an open-enrollment
1-8 charter school after the effective date of the 1999 amendment to
1-9 this section.
1-10 SECTION 2. Section 12.118, Education Code, is amended by
1-11 amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (d) to read as
1-12 follows:
1-13 (b) An evaluation under this section, before implementing
1-14 the charter and after implementing the charter, as applicable,
1-15 must:
1-16 (1) emphasize:
1-17 (A) student's scores on assessment instruments
1-18 administered under Subchapter B, Chapter 39; and
1-19 (B) the rate at which eligible students
1-20 re-enroll in the school from year to year; and
1-21 (2) include consideration of the following items
1-22 [before implementing the charter and after implementing the
1-23 charter]:
1-24 (A) [(1) students' scores on assessment
2-1 instruments administered under Subchapter B, Chapter 39;]
2-2 [(2)] student attendance;
2-3 (B) [(3)] students' grades;
2-4 (C) [(4)] incidents involving student
2-5 discipline;
2-6 (D) [(5)] socioeconomic data on students'
2-7 families;
2-8 (E) [(6)] parents' satisfaction with their
2-9 children's schools; and
2-10 (F) [(7)] students' satisfaction with their
2-11 schools.
2-12 (d) If funds are appropriated for the purpose, the agency
2-13 shall reimburse an open-enrollment charter school for the cost of
2-14 an evaluation under this section. If the funds appropriated are
2-15 insufficient to cover the cost of evaluation of all schools, the
2-16 commissioner shall reimburse each school proportionately.
2-17 SECTION 3. Subchapter D, Chapter 12, Education Code, is
2-18 amended by adding Sections 12.119 and 12.120 to read as follows:
2-19 Sec. 12.119. FINANCIAL AUDITS. (a) An open-enrollment
2-20 charter school is subject to the financial audit requirements of
2-21 Section 44.008.
2-22 (b) At least once during the period for which a charter or
2-23 renewed charter is valid, the state auditor shall perform a
2-24 financial audit of each open-enrollment charter school. The state
2-25 auditor shall prescribe a schedule of audits for this purpose. The
2-26 open-enrollment charter school shall reimburse the state auditor
2-27 for the cost of an audit under this subsection, and the audit of
3-1 the state auditor satisfies the annual financial audit requirements
3-2 of Section 44.008 for the year in which the audit is performed.
3-3 Sec. 12.120. CERTAIN CONTRACTS PROHIBITED. An
3-4 open-enrollment charter school may not contract for the management
3-5 or operation of the school by an entity not eligible for a charter
3-6 under Section 12.101(a).
3-7 SECTION 4. Section 12.1011, Education Code, is repealed.
3-8 SECTION 5. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999,
3-9 except that Sections 1 and 4 of this Act take effect immediately.
3-10 (b) The changes in law made by this Act do not affect the
3-11 validity of charters issued before the effective date of a
3-12 provision of this Act.
3-13 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
3-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-18 and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
3-19 terms, and it is so enacted.