SRC-TAG S.B. 976 78(R) BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research CenterS.B. 976
By: Shapiro
Education
7/25/2003
Enrolled
DIGEST AND PURPOSE
According to the Texas Education Agency, 23,457 students dropped out of
public school in the 19992000 school year and other studies indicate the
actual number may be much higher. Students most likely to drop out of
school are those with poor attendance, those who must work, those who are
older than the majority of their classmates, and those who fall behind in
class credits in high school. S.B. 976 establishes a Middle College
Education Pilot Program for students at-risk of dropping out; provides
atrisk students with services such as flexible scheduling and mentor
programs; requires schools to review data related to dropout prevention
and incorporate the information in district and campus improvement plans;
and allow the commissioner of education to impose sanctions on districts
that have been rated as academically unacceptable due to high dropout
rates.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
Rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the commissioner of education
in SECTION 2 (Section 29.908(c), Education Code) of this bill.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter F, Chapter 11, Education Code, by adding
Section 11.255, as follows:
Sec. 11.255. DROPOUT PREVENTION REVIEW. (a) Requires each
district-level planning and decision-making committee and each
campus-level planning and decision-making committee for a junior, middle,
or high school campus to analyze information related to dropout
prevention, including certain factors.
(b) Requires each district-level and decision-making committee and each
campus-level planning and decision-making committee to use the information
reviewed under this section while developing district or campus
improvement plans under this subchapter.
SECTION 2. Amends Subchapter Z, Chapter 29, Education Code, by adding
Section 29.908, as follows:
Sec. 29.908. MIDDLE COLLEGE EDUCATION PILOT PROGRAM. (a) Requires the
commissioner of education (commissioner) to establish and administer a
middle college education pilot program for students who are at risk of
dropping out of school or who wish to accelerate high school completion.
Provides that for the purposes of this section,
"student at risk of dropping out of school" has the meaning
assigned by Section 29.081.
(b) Requires the program to meet certain requirements.
(c) Provides that in accordance with the rules adopted by the
commissioner, the student participating in the program is entitled to the
benefits of the Foundation School Program in proportion to the amount of
time spent by the student on high school courses. Authorizes the
commissioner to accept gifts, grants, and donations to pay program costs
not covered by the student's Foundation School Program benefits.
(d) Requires the commissioner to consult the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board (THECB) while establishing and administering the
program.
SECTION 3. Amends Section 39.131(a), Education Code, to require the
commissioner, to the extent deemed necessary, to take certain actions
listed in order of severity, if a district fails to meet the accreditation
criteria, including imposing certain sanctions on a district which has
been rated as academically unacceptable for a period of one year or more
due to the district's dropout rates.
SECTION 4. Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 130, Education Code, by adding
Section 130.0012, as follows:
Sec. 130.0012. PILOT PROJECT. BACCALAUREATE DEGREE PROGRAMS. (a)
Requires THECB to establish a pilot project to examine the feasibility and
effectiveness of authorizing public junior colleges to offer baccalaureate
degree programs in the fields of applied science and applied technology.
Provides that the participation in the pilot project does not otherwise
alter the role and mission of a public junior college.
(b) Requires THECB to operate the pilot project at three public junior
colleges, as determined by THECB.
(c) Requires a public junior college participating in the pilot project
to meet all applicable accreditation requirements of the Commission on
Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
(d) Prohibits a public junior college participating in the pilot project
from offering more than five baccalaureate degree programs under the
project at any time. Establishes that the degree programs are subject to
THECB's continuing approval. Requires THECB and the junior college, in
determining what baccalaureate degree programs are to be offered, to
consider certain factors.
(e) Requires each public junior college that offers a baccalaureate
degree program under the pilot project to enter into an articulation
agreement with one or more general academic teaching institutions to
ensure that students enrolled in the degree program have an opportunity to
complete the degree if the public junior college ceases to offer the
degree program. Authorizes THECB to require a general academic teaching
institution that offers a comparable degree program to enter into an
articulation agreement with the public junior college as provided by this
subsection.
(f) Requires THECB, in its recommendations to the legislature relating to
state funding for public junior colleges, to recommend that a public
junior college receive substantially the same state support for
junior-level and senior-level courses offered under the pilot project as
that provided to a general academic teaching institution for substantially
similar courses. Requires THECB, in determining the contact hours
attributable to students enrolled in a junior-level or senior-level course
offered under the pilot project used to determine a public junior
college's proportionate share of state appropriations under Section
130.003, to weigh those contact hours as necessary to provide the junior
college the appropriate level of state support to the extent state funds
for those courses are included in the appropriations. Provides that this
subsection does not prohibit the legislature from directly appropriating
state funds to support junior-level and senior-level courses offered under
the pilot project.
(g) Requires each public junior college participating in the pilot
project to prepare a biennial report on the operation and effectiveness of
the junior college's baccalaureate degree programs offered under the
project and require to deliver a copy of the report to THECB in the form
and at the time determined by THECB.
(h) Requires THECB, by January 1, 2009, to prepare a progress report on
the pilot project. Requires THECB, by January 1, 2011, to prepare a
report on the effectiveness of the pilot project, including any
recommendations for legislative action regarding the offering of
baccalaureate degree programs by public junior colleges. Requires THECB to
deliver a copy of each report to the governor, the lieutenant governor,
the speaker of the house of representatives, and the chair of the standing
committee of each house of the legislature with primary jurisdiction over
higher education.
(i) Prohibits a public junior college from taking certain actions, unless
the authority to continue offering the baccalaureate degree programs is
continued by the legislature.
(j) Requires THECB to prescribe the procedures to ensure that each public
junior college that offers a degree program under the pilot project
informs each student who enrolls in the degree program of the nature of
the pilot project, including the limited duration of the project; and the
articulation agreement entered into under Subsection (e) for the student's
degree program.
(k) Provides that this section expires January 1, 2020.
SECTION 5. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2003.
Provides that Sections 1 and 3 apply beginning with the
2004-2005 school year.