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H.B. No. 1518
AN ACT
relating to accountability for public school dropouts and students
at risk of dropping out of school and to the evaluation of school
campuses.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 29.081(c), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(c) Each school district shall evaluate and document the
effectiveness of the accelerated instruction in reducing any
disparity in performance on assessment instruments administered
under Subchapter B, Chapter 39, or disparity in the rates of high
school completion between students at risk of dropping out of
school and all other district students. The evaluation shall
include an analysis of the effectiveness of each program described
in the campus and district improvement plans for reducing the
disparities described by this subsection. The commissioner shall
ensure that each school district complies with this subsection.
SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 29, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 29.088 to read as follows:
Sec. 29.088. DROPOUT DATA OVERSIGHT. The Legislative
Budget Board, the office of the state auditor, and the comptroller
shall review the agency's standards and definitions for dropouts
and students completing school before the agency implements the
standards and definitions.
SECTION 3. Section 39.072, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) For purposes of Subsection (c), the board of trustees of
a school district may decide whether a student who attends a program
serving students who are pregnant or who are parents that is based
at a single campus but serves students from more than one campus is
considered to be:
(1) a student at the campus to which the student is
regularly assigned; or
(2) a student at the campus that the student actually
attends.
SECTION 4. Sections 42.152(d) and (r), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(d) The agency shall systematically evaluate the
effectiveness of accelerated instruction and support programs
provided under Section 29.081 for students at risk of dropping out
of school. The agency shall organize and share the information it
collects during its evaluation with local districts.
(r) The commissioner shall adopt rules under which the
commissioner must grant a one-year exemption from the requirements
of Subsection (q) [(g)] to a school district that consistently
achieves significant reductions in the disparity in performance
between students described by Section 29.081(d) and all other
students. The commissioner may not grant an exemption to a district
that does not make consistent significant progress in reducing its
dropout rate [in which the group of students who have failed to
perform satisfactorily in the preceding school year on an
assessment instrument required under Section 39.023(a), (c), or (l)
subsequently performs on those assessment instruments at a level
that meets or exceeds a level prescribed by commissioner rule].
Each year the commissioner, based on the most recent information
available, shall determine if a school district is entitled to an
exemption for the following school year and notify the district and
the district's board of trustees of that determination.
SECTION 5. This Act applies beginning with the 2003-2004
school year.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1518 was passed by the House on April
30, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 137, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 1518 on May 28, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 139, Nays 0,
2 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1518 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 26, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor