1-1     By:  Bivins                                            S.B. No. 226
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed January 22, 1999; January 28, 1999,
 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Education;
 1-4     February 18, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas
 1-5     6, Nays 0; February 18, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the transfer of and funding for public school students
 1-9     who are the victims of certain criminal offenses.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 37, Education Code, is
1-12     amended by adding Section 37.0071 to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 37.0071.  TRANSFER OF AND FUNDING FOR VICTIMS.  (a)  On
1-14     the request of a parent or other person with authority to act on
1-15     behalf of a student who was the victim of conduct described by
1-16     Section 37.007(a)(2), the board of trustees of the school district
1-17     shall, to the extent practicable, ensure that the victim and the
1-18     student who engaged in the conduct are not assigned to the same
1-19     campus, transportation route, or extracurricular program.  The
1-20     decision of the board of trustees as to the practicability of
1-21     reassigning a student is final and may not be appealed.  This
1-22     subsection applies regardless of where the offense occurred.
1-23           (b)  If the board of trustees determines that it is not
1-24     practicable for the victim and the student who engaged in the
1-25     conduct to be assigned to separate campuses, routes, and programs,
1-26     a district to which the victim transfers under Section 25.036 is
1-27     entitled to additional funding as follows for that school year and
1-28     for each succeeding school year that the victim and the student who
1-29     engaged in the conduct would be assigned to the same campus in the
1-30     victim's former district:
1-31                 (1)  an allotment under Section 42.157(a), as if the
1-32     student were using a public education grant to attend school in the
1-33     district; and
1-34                 (2)  a payment from the district from which the student
1-35     transferred in an amount computed in the manner provided under
1-36     Section 37.0061 for computing the amount of the funds transferred
1-37     to a district providing educational services.
1-38           (c)  Payments to a district under Subsection (b) shall be
1-39     prorated based on the portion of the school year a student attends
1-40     school in the district under this section.
1-41           (d)  Notwithstanding Section 25.038, a district that receives
1-42     funding under this section may not charge a tuition fee.
1-43           SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with the 1999-2000
1-44     school year.
1-45           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-46     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-47     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-48     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-49     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-50     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-51     passage, and it is so enacted.
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