HBA-MPM H.B. 457 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 457
By: Clark
Public Education
3/26/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, a juvenile held in a juvenile pre-adjudication secure detention
facility or a juvenile postadjudication secure correctional facility
(facility) is considered for enrollment purposes a resident of the school
district in which the facility is located.  A school district is required
to serve a facility which is located within that district.  Student data
from the facility must be used for the purpose of determining an
accountability rating.  A juvenile held at a facility often lives in a
school district that does not serve the facility.  If a juvenile is
released from the facility and does not enroll in school, the school
district which serves the facility is charged with a dropout for the
purpose of determining an accountability rating.  This might unfairly
prevent a school from achieving a recognized or exemplary rating because
they are held accountable for students who do not live in the district.
House Bill 457 specifies that a student who is released from a facility and
who fails to enroll in school will not be considered a dropout of the
school district serving the facility, unless the district is the one to
which the student is regularly assigned. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 457 amends the Education Code to provide that in computing
dropout rates as an indicator of academic excellence, a student released
from a juvenile correctional facility who fails to enroll in school may not
be considered to have dropped out of the campus or school district serving
the juvenile justice alternative education program unless the campus or
school district is the one to which the student is regularly assigned. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001. The Act applies to the computation of
dropout rates made for the 2001-2002 school year.