By Grusendorf H.B. No. 2900
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 the Education Excellence Fund.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Chapter 21, Education Code, is amended by adding
1-5 Subchapter K to read as follows:
1-6 SUBCHAPTER K. EDUCATION EXCELLENCE FUND
1-7 Sec. 21.501. PURPOSE OF THE EDUCATION EXCELLENCE FUND. (a)
1-8 The purpose of the Education Excellence Fund is to promote
1-9 educational excellence and improve student performance.
1-10 (b) The Education Excellence Fund is a fund in the state
1-11 treasury that consists of the Discretionary Excellence Fund, the
1-12 Teaching Excellence Bonus Fund, the Teacher Tuition Excellence
1-13 Fund, and the Excellence Signing Bonus Fund.
1-14 (c) The fund may receive transfers from the general revenue
1-15 fund, the economic stabilization fund, or other sources of revenue.
1-16 (d) The fund may receive donations from public or private
1-17 sources.
1-18 (e) The provisions of each section of this subchapter are
1-19 contingent upon the appropriation of sufficient funds into each
1-20 fund.
1-21 Sec. 21.502. DISCRETIONARY EXCELLENCE FUND. (a) Each
2-1 person who is employed as a classroom teacher shall receive $1,000
2-2 each year to be held in escrow for the duration of the school year
2-3 by the teacher's school district.
2-4 (b) A classroom teacher may receive reimbursement from the
2-5 escrow account for any expense the teacher incurs. The teacher
2-6 shall have the sole decision on how the funds in the account are
2-7 spent. The school district may not require the teacher to spend
2-8 the funds on certain items or on reimbursement of the school
2-9 district for traditionally supplied materials and classroom
2-10 expenses.
2-11 (c) At the end of a school year, any balance remaining in a
2-12 teacher's account shall, at the discretion of the classroom
2-13 teacher:
2-14 (1) be paid to the teacher; or
2-15 (2) accrue to the classroom teacher's account for the
2-16 next year.
2-17 (d) A school district that holds an account in escrow may
2-18 retain the interest from the account to cover administrative
2-19 expenses incurred as a result of administering this section.
2-20 Sec. 21.503. TEACHING EXCELLENCE BONUS FUND. (a) The
2-21 Education Excellence Commission is established to adopt criteria
2-22 for determining recipients of teaching excellence bonuses.
2-23 (b) The commission is composed of 11 members appointed to
2-24 staggered four-year terms by the governor with the advice and
2-25 consent of the senate. A majority of the members must be classroom
3-1 teachers. Appointments shall be made without regard to the race,
3-2 color, disability, sex, religion, age, or national origin of the
3-3 person appointed.
3-4 (c) Each school district, using criteria adopted by the
3-5 commission, shall annually select the top two quintile of classroom
3-6 teachers to be recipients of teaching excellence bonuses. The
3-7 district shall forward the names of the recipients to the
3-8 commission by a date determined by the commission.
3-9 (d) The bonuses shall be distributed each year as follows:
3-10 (1) recipients in the top quintile of classroom
3-11 teachers shall each be awarded a $2,000 bonus; and
3-12 (2) recipients in the second quintile of classroom
3-13 teachers shall each be awarded a $1,000 bonus.
3-14 Sec. 21.504. TEACHER TUITION EXCELLENCE FUND. (a) A person
3-15 who has been a classroom teacher for five consecutive years is
3-16 entitled to free tuition at any public senior college or university
3-17 in this state on those courses that are necessary for one
3-18 post-graduate degree in the classroom teacher's academic field of
3-19 expertise.
3-20 (b) The comptroller shall establish rules for providing a
3-21 qualifying classroom teacher a tuition voucher to be presented to a
3-22 public senior college or university. The voucher may be used only
3-23 on those courses necessary to complete a post-graduate degree
3-24 program in the classroom teacher's academic field of expertise.
3-25 The comptroller shall reimburse the public senior college or
4-1 university for the voucher from the Teacher Tuition Excellence
4-2 Fund.
4-3 Sec. 21.505. EXCELLENCE SIGNING BONUS FUND. (a) In this
4-4 section, a "designated shortage-area classroom teacher" is a
4-5 classroom teacher who teaches full-time in an area designated by
4-6 the commissioner as a shortage area.
4-7 (b) A person who is employed as a classroom teacher for the
4-8 first time and who has not taught before June 1, 1999, shall
4-9 receive a $4,000 bonus in return for signing a contract as a
4-10 classroom teacher or a $6,000 bonus in return for signing a
4-11 contract as a designated shortage-area classroom teacher if the
4-12 person signs a written agreement to teach full-time as a classroom
4-13 teacher for five consecutive years and the person:
4-14 (1) was in the top 10 percent of the person's
4-15 graduating class in college or university; or
4-16 (2) scored in the top quartile on the Scholastic
4-17 Assessment Test (SAT) or American College Test (ACT) of all
4-18 students attending the college or university from which the person
4-19 graduated.
4-20 (c) The signing bonus shall be repaid to the fund in its
4-21 entirety if the person fails to teach full-time in the classroom
4-22 for five consecutive years, except in the event of death or serious
4-23 disability, injury, or illness, or maternity leave for pregnancy.
4-24 Failure to repay the signing bonus shall be grounds for revocation
4-25 of an educator certificate under Section 21.041(b)(7).
5-1 (d) The comptroller shall make rules to administer this
5-2 section.
5-3 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
5-4 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
5-5 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-6 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-7 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-8 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.