By: Shapiro, Shapleigh S.B. No. 876
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to restaffing certain low-performing public schools.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Subsection (b), Section 39.131, Education Code,
1-4 is amended to read as follows:
1-5 (b) If a campus performance is below any standard under
1-6 Section 39.073(b), the campus is considered a low-performing campus
1-7 and the commissioner may take any of the following actions, listed
1-8 in order of severity, to the extent the commissioner determines
1-9 necessary:
1-10 (1) issue public notice of the deficiency to the board
1-11 of trustees;
1-12 (2) order a hearing conducted by the board of trustees
1-13 at the campus for the purpose of notifying the public of the
1-14 unacceptable performance, the improvements in performance expected
1-15 by the agency, and the sanctions that may be imposed under this
1-16 section if the performance does not improve within a designated
1-17 period of time and of soliciting public comment on the initial
1-18 steps being taken to improve performance;
1-19 (3) order the preparation of a student achievement
1-20 improvement plan that addresses each academic excellence indicator
1-21 for which the campus's performance is unacceptable, the submission
1-22 of the plan to the commissioner for approval, and implementation of
1-23 the plan;
1-24 (4) order a hearing to be held before the commissioner
2-1 or the commissioner's designee at which the president of the board
2-2 of trustees, the superintendent, and the campus principal shall
2-3 appear and explain the campus's low performance, lack of
2-4 improvement, and plans for improvement;
2-5 (5) appoint a special campus intervention team to:
2-6 (A) conduct a comprehensive on-site evaluation
2-7 of each low-performing campus to determine the cause for the
2-8 campus's low performance and lack of progress;
2-9 (B) recommend actions, including reallocation of
2-10 resources and technical assistance, changes in school procedures or
2-11 operations, staff development for instructional and administrative
2-12 staff, intervention for individual administrators or teachers,
2-13 waivers from state statute or rule, or other actions the team
2-14 considers appropriate;
2-15 (C) assist in the development of a campus plan
2-16 for student achievement; and
2-17 (D) assist the commissioner in monitoring the
2-18 progress of the campus in implementing the campus plan for
2-19 improvement of student achievement;
2-20 (6) if a campus has been a low-performing campus for a
2-21 period of one year or more, appoint a board of managers composed of
2-22 residents of the district to exercise the powers and duties of the
2-23 board of trustees of the district in relation to the campus; or
2-24 (7) if a campus has been a low-performing campus for a
2-25 period of two years or more, order closure of the school program on
2-26 the campus or order that some or all of the educators employed on
3-1 the school campus for at least the two preceding years be
3-2 reassigned to other campuses or other appropriate positions in the
3-3 school district.
3-4 SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 1999-2000
3-5 school year.
3-6 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-11 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-12 passage, and it is so enacted.