By Barrientos S.B. No. 1561
76R7423 CAS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to students who drop out of public school.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 5.001, Education Code, is amended to read
1-5 as follows:
1-6 Sec. 5.001. DEFINITIONS. In this title:
1-7 (1) "Agency" means the Texas Education Agency.
1-8 (2) "Annual event dropout rate" means a rate computed
1-9 as a percentage of dropouts over a one-year period measured against
1-10 a cohort of students who entered the same grade level at the same
1-11 time as the dropouts.
1-12 (3) "Classroom teacher" means an educator who is
1-13 employed by a school district and who, not less than an average of
1-14 four hours each day, teaches in an academic instructional setting
1-15 or a career and technology instructional setting. The term does
1-16 not include a teacher's aide or a full-time administrator.
1-17 (4) [(3)] "Commissioner" means the commissioner of
1-18 education.
1-19 (5) "Dropout" means a student enrolled in a public
1-20 school in this state:
1-21 (A) who withdraws from school without earning a
1-22 high school diploma or the necessary credits to graduate from high
1-23 school; and
1-24 (B) whose enrollment in another school in this
2-1 country that grants high school diplomas or graduate equivalency
2-2 certificates has not been verified and recorded by a school
2-3 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(c), Education Code, is amended to
2-20 read as follows:
2-21 (c) Performance on the indicator under Subsection (b)(1)
2-22 shall be compared to state standards, required improvement, and
2-23 comparable improvement. The state standard shall be established by
2-24 the commissioner. Required improvement is defined as the progress
2-25 necessary for the campus or district to meet state standards and
2-26 for its students to meet exit requirements as defined by the
2-27 commissioner. Comparable improvement is derived by measuring
3-1 campuses and districts against a profile developed from a total
3-2 state student performance database which exhibits substantial
3-3 equivalence to the characteristics of students served by the campus
3-4 or district, including past academic performance, socioeconomic
3-5 status, ethnicity, and limited English proficiency. In
3-6 establishing the required improvement for dropout rates, the
3-7 commissioner shall require a high school campus or a school
3-8 district to incrementally decrease each year the annual event
3-9 dropout rate so that the state standard beginning with the
3-10 2004-2005 school year is a longitudinal dropout rate of five
3-11 percent or less.
3-12 SECTION 3. Section 39.182(a), Education Code, is amended to
3-13 read as follows:
3-14 (a) The agency shall prepare and deliver to the governor,
3-15 the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of
3-16 representatives, each member of the legislature, the Legislative
3-17 Budget Board, and the clerks of the standing committees of the
3-18 senate and house of representatives with primary jurisdiction over
3-19 the public school system a comprehensive report covering the
3-20 preceding two school years and containing:
3-21 (1) an evaluation of the achievements of the state
3-22 educational program in relation to the statutory goals for the
3-23 public education system under Section 4.002;
3-24 (2) an evaluation of the status of education in the
3-25 state as reflected by the academic excellence indicators adopted
3-26 under Section 39.051;
3-27 (3) a summary compilation of overall student
4-1 performance on academic skills assessment instruments required by
4-2 Section 39.023, aggregated by grade level, subject area, campus,
4-3 and district, with appropriate interpretations and analysis and
4-4 disaggregated by race, ethnicity, sex, and socioeconomic status;
4-5 (4) an evaluation of the correlation between student
4-6 grades and student performance on academic skills assessment
4-7 instruments required by Section 39.023;
4-8 (5) a statement of the annual event dropout rate of
4-9 students:
4-10 (A) in grade levels 7 through 12, expressed in
4-11 the aggregate; and
4-12 (B) in grade levels 9 through 12, expressed in
4-13 the aggregate and by grade level and disaggregated by sex and by
4-14 the number of students who have also been retained at a grade
4-15 level;
4-16 (6) a statement of the projected cross-sectional and
4-17 longitudinal dropout rates for grade levels 7 through 12 for the
4-18 next five years based on the most recent annual event dropout rate,
4-19 assuming no state action is taken to reduce the dropout rate;
4-20 (7) a description of a measurable systematic plan for
4-21 reducing the projected cross-sectional and longitudinal dropout
4-22 rates to five percent or less beginning with [for] the 2004-2005
4-23 [1997-1998] school year;
4-24 (8) a summary of the information required by Section
4-25 29.083 regarding grade level retention of students;
4-26 (9) a list of each school district or campus that does
4-27 not satisfy performance standards, with an explanation of the
5-1 actions taken by the commissioner to improve student performance in
5-2 the district or campus and an evaluation of the results of those
5-3 actions;
5-4 (10) an evaluation of the status of the curriculum
5-5 taught in public schools, with recommendations for legislative
5-6 changes necessary to improve or modify the curriculum required by
5-7 Section 28.002;
5-8 (11) a description of all funds received by and each
5-9 activity and expenditure of the agency;
5-10 (12) a summary and analysis of the compliance of
5-11 school districts with administrative cost ratios set by the
5-12 commissioner under Section 42.201, including any improvements and
5-13 cost savings achieved by school districts;
5-14 (13) a summary of the effect of deregulation,
5-15 including exemptions and waivers granted under Section 7.056 or
5-16 39.112;
5-17 (14) a statement of the total number and length of
5-18 reports that school districts and school district employees must
5-19 submit to the agency, identifying which reports are required by
5-20 federal statute or rule, state statute, or agency rule, and a
5-21 summary of the agency's efforts to reduce overall reporting
5-22 requirements; and
5-23 (15) any additional information considered important
5-24 by the commissioner or the State Board of Education.
5-25 SECTION 4. Section 42.152, Education Code, is amended by
5-26 adding Subsections (s) and (t) to read as follows:
5-27 (s) From the total amount of funds appropriated for
6-1 allotments under this section, the commissioner shall, each fiscal
6-2 year, withhold $250,000 or a greater amount as determined in the
6-3 General Appropriations Act and out of that amount distribute:
6-4 (1) $10,000 or a greater amount as determined in the
6-5 General Appropriations Act to each of the 20 high school campuses
6-6 that achieved the greatest annual reduction in the longitudinal
6-7 dropout rate for the preceding school year; and
6-8 (2) $50,000 or a greater amount as determined by the
6-9 General Appropriations Act among other districts selected by the
6-10 commissioner according to guidelines adopted by the commissioner to
6-11 be used for instructional materials or program replication based
6-12 on programs used to lower the dropout rate in districts described
6-13 under Subdivision (1).
6-14 (t) After deducting the amount withheld under Subsection (s)
6-15 from the total amount appropriated for the allotment under
6-16 Subsection (a), the commissioner shall reduce each district's
6-17 allotments in the same manner described for a reduction in
6-18 allotments under Section 42.253.
6-19 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
6-20 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
6-21 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-22 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-23 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-24 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.