By Crownover                                          H.B. No. 2060
         77R1224 CAS-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to returning a public school teacher to probationary
 1-3     contract status.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Sections 21.106(a) and (b), Education Code, are
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (a)  In lieu of discharging a teacher employed under a
 1-8     continuing contract, terminating a teacher employed under a term
 1-9     contract, or not renewing a teacher's term contract, a school
1-10     district may[, with the written consent of the teacher,] return the
1-11     teacher to probationary contract status:
1-12                 (1)  with the teacher's written consent if the teacher
1-13     receives prior[.]
1-14           [(b)  A teacher may agree to be returned to probationary
1-15     contract status only after receiving] written notice of the
1-16     proposed discharge, termination, or nonrenewal; or
1-17                 (2)  without the teacher's written consent if, for two
1-18     consecutive school years, the teacher is designated as a "teacher
1-19     in need of assistance"  under the commissioner's recommended
1-20     appraisal process adopted under Section 21.351.
1-21           (b)  Probationary contract status under Subsection (a)(2)
1-22     begins the school year following the school year for which the
1-23     teacher receives the second appraisal as a "teacher in need of
1-24     assistance."
 2-1           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
 2-2           (b)  Section 21.106(a)(2), Education Code, as added by this
 2-3     Act, applies only to an appraisal concerning public school teacher
 2-4     performance during the 2001-2002 school year or a later school
 2-5     year.