1-1     By:  Van de Putte                                     S.B. No. 1446
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 8, 2001; March  13, 2001, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Education; April 17, 2001,
 1-4     reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 0;
 1-5     April 17, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to severance payments to superintendents of independent
 1-9     school districts.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subsection (c), Section 11.201, Education Code,
1-12     is amended to read as follows:
1-13           (c)  For purposes of this subsection, "severance payment"
1-14     means any amount paid by the board of trustees of an independent
1-15     school district to or in behalf of a superintendent on early
1-16     termination of the superintendent's contract that exceeds the
1-17     amount earned by the superintendent under the contract as of the
1-18     date of termination, including any amount that exceeds the amount
1-19     of earned standard salary and benefits that is paid as a condition
1-20     of early termination of the contract.  The [A] board of trustees
1-21     [of an independent school district] that makes a severance payment
1-22     to a superintendent shall report the terms of the severance payment
1-23     to the commissioner.  The commissioner shall reduce the district's
1-24     Foundation School Program funds [for the school year following the
1-25     school year in which the first payment is made] by any amount that
1-26     the amount of the severance payment to the superintendent exceeds
1-27     an amount equal to one year's salary and benefits under the
1-28     superintendent's terminated contract [an amount equal to the
1-29     severance payment made by the board of trustees to the
1-30     superintendent].  The commissioner may adopt rules as necessary to
1-31     administer this subsection.
1-32           SECTION 2.  Subsection (c), Section 11.201, Education Code,
1-33     as amended by this Act, applies only to a severance payment made by
1-34     the board of trustees of an independent school district to a
1-35     superintendent under an agreement entered into on or after the
1-36     effective date of this Act.  A severance payment made by the board
1-37     of trustees to a superintendent under an agreement entered into
1-38     before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
1-39     effect at the time the agreement was made, and that law is
1-40     continued in effect for that purpose.
1-41           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
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