By: Barrientos, et al. S.B. No. 1561
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to students who drop out of public school.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Section 5.001, Education Code, is amended to read
1-4 as follows:
1-5 Sec. 5.001. Definitions. In this title:
1-6 (1) "Agency" means the Texas Education Agency.
1-7 (2) "Annual event dropout rate" means a rate computed
1-8 as a percentage of dropouts over a one-year period measured against
1-9 a cohort of students who entered the same grade level at the same
1-10 time as the dropouts.
1-11 (3) "Classroom teacher" means an educator who is
1-12 employed by a school district and who, not less than an average of
1-13 four hours each day, teaches in an academic instructional setting
1-14 or a career and technology instructional setting. The term does
1-15 not include a teacher's aide or a full-time administrator.
1-16 (4) [(3)] "Commissioner" means the commissioner of
1-17 education.
1-18 (5) "Dropout" means a student enrolled in a public
1-19 school in this state:
1-20 (A) who withdraws from school without earning a
1-21 high school diploma or the necessary credits to graduate from high
1-22 school or who has not received a high school graduate equivalency
1-23 certificate; and
1-24 (B) whose enrollment in another public or
2-1 private school that grants high school diplomas or graduate
2-2 equivalency certificates has not been verified and recorded by a
2-3 school district in this state or by the agency.
2-4 (6) [(4)] "Educationally disadvantaged" means eligible
2-5 to participate in the national free or reduced-price lunch program
2-6 established under 42 U.S.C. Section 1751 et seq.
2-7 (7) [(5)] "Educator" means a person who is required to
2-8 hold a certificate issued under Subchapter B, Chapter 21.
2-9 (8) "Longitudinal dropout rate" means a rate computed
2-10 as a percentage of dropouts over a four-year period measured
2-11 against a cohort of students who entered the ninth grade at the
2-12 same time as the dropouts.
2-13 (9) [(6)] "Open-enrollment charter school" means a
2-14 school that has been granted a charter under Subchapter D, Chapter
2-15 12.
2-16 (10) [(7)] "Regional education service centers" means
2-17 a system of regional and educational services established in
2-18 Chapter 8.
2-19 SECTION 2. Section 39.051, Education Code, is amended by
2-20 adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
2-21 (g) Beginning with the 2000-2001 school year, a campus or
2-22 district may not be rated acceptable unless its annual event
2-23 dropout rate is five percent or less. The commissioner shall
2-24 report to the legislature in January, 2001, with a plan to
2-25 incrementally decrease the annual event dropout rate so that an
2-26 acceptable rating may be set by a school year stated in that plan
3-1 which provides a campus and a district longitudinal dropout rate of
3-2 five percent.
3-3 SECTION 3. Subsection (a), Section 39.182, Education Code,
3-4 is amended to read as follows:
3-5 (a) The agency shall prepare and deliver to the governor,
3-6 the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of
3-7 representatives, each member of the legislature, the Legislative
3-8 Budget Board, and the clerks of the standing committees of the
3-9 senate and house of representatives with primary jurisdiction over
3-10 the public school system a comprehensive report covering the
3-11 preceding two school years and containing:
3-12 (1) an evaluation of the achievements of the state
3-13 educational program in relation to the statutory goals for the
3-14 public education system under Section 4.002;
3-15 (2) an evaluation of the status of education in the
3-16 state as reflected by the academic excellence indicators adopted
3-17 under Section 39.051;
3-18 (3) a summary compilation of overall student
3-19 performance on academic skills assessment instruments required by
3-20 Section 39.023, aggregated by grade level, subject area, campus,
3-21 and district, with appropriate interpretations and analysis and
3-22 disaggregated by race, ethnicity, sex, and socioeconomic status;
3-23 (4) an evaluation of the correlation between student
3-24 grades and student performance on academic skills assessment
3-25 instruments required by Section 39.023;
3-26 (5) a statement of the annual event dropout rate of
4-1 students:
4-2 (A) in grade levels 7 through 12, expressed in
4-3 the aggregate; and
4-4 (B) in grade levels 9 through 12, expressed in
4-5 the aggregate and by grade level and disaggregated by sex and by
4-6 the number of students who have also been retained at a grade
4-7 level;
4-8 (6) a statement of the projected cross-sectional and
4-9 longitudinal dropout rates for grade levels 7 through 12 for the
4-10 next five years based on the most recent annual event dropout rate,
4-11 assuming no state action is taken to reduce the dropout rate;
4-12 (7) a description of a measurable systematic plan for
4-13 reducing the projected cross-sectional and longitudinal dropout
4-14 rates to five percent or less beginning with [for] the 2004-2005
4-15 [1997-1998] school year;
4-16 (8) a summary of the information required by Section
4-17 29.083 regarding grade level retention of students;
4-18 (9) a list of each school district or campus that does
4-19 not satisfy performance standards, with an explanation of the
4-20 actions taken by the commissioner to improve student performance in
4-21 the district or campus and an evaluation of the results of those
4-22 actions;
4-23 (10) an evaluation of the status of the curriculum
4-24 taught in public schools, with recommendations for legislative
4-25 changes necessary to improve or modify the curriculum required by
4-26 Section 28.002;
5-1 (11) a description of all funds received by and each
5-2 activity and expenditure of the agency;
5-3 (12) a summary and analysis of the compliance of
5-4 school districts with administrative cost ratios set by the
5-5 commissioner under Section 42.201, including any improvements and
5-6 cost savings achieved by school districts;
5-7 (13) a summary of the effect of deregulation,
5-8 including exemptions and waivers granted under Section 7.056 or
5-9 39.112;
5-10 (14) a statement of the total number and length of
5-11 reports that school districts and school district employees must
5-12 submit to the agency, identifying which reports are required by
5-13 federal statute or rule, state statute, or agency rule, and a
5-14 summary of the agency's efforts to reduce overall reporting
5-15 requirements; and
5-16 (15) any additional information considered important
5-17 by the commissioner or the State Board of Education.
5-18 SECTION 4. Section 42.152, Education Code, is amended by
5-19 adding Subsections (s) and (t) to read as follows:
5-20 (s) From the total amount of funds appropriated for
5-21 allotments under this section, the commissioner shall, each fiscal
5-22 year, withhold $250,000 or a greater amount as determined in the
5-23 General Appropriations Act and out of that amount distribute:
5-24 (1) $10,000 or a greater amount as determined in the
5-25 General Appropriations Act to each of the 20 high school campuses
5-26 that achieved the greatest annual reduction in the longitudinal
6-1 dropout rate for the preceding school year; and
6-2 (2) $50,000 or a greater amount as determined by the
6-3 General Appropriations Act among other districts selected by the
6-4 commissioner according to guidelines adopted by the commissioner to
6-5 be used for instructional materials or program replication based on
6-6 programs used to lower the dropout rate in districts described
6-7 under Subdivision (1).
6-8 (t) After deducting the amount withheld under Subsection (s)
6-9 from the total amount appropriated for the allotment under
6-10 Subsection (a), the commissioner shall reduce each district's
6-11 allotments in the same manner described for a reduction in
6-12 allotments under Section 42.253.
6-13 SECTION 5. Section 29.081, Education Code, is amended by
6-14 adding Subsections (j) and (k) to read as follows:
6-15 (j) A school district shall make a good faith effort to
6-16 determine and document the educational status of each student who:
6-17 (1) does not resume attendance in the district at the
6-18 beginning of a school year after attending school in the district
6-19 during the preceding school year, unless the student graduated at
6-20 the end of the preceding school year; or
6-21 (2) is absent from school for 10 or more consecutive
6-22 school days, if the absences are unexcused.
6-23 (k) A school district shall take and document all possible
6-24 steps to encourage or require appropriate students identified under
6-25 Subsection (j) to return to school.
6-26 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
7-1 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
7-2 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-3 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-4 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-5 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.