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78R6774 BDH-F

By:  West                                                         S.B. No. 1589



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the public school finance compensatory education 
allotment.     
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 42.152(c), Education Code, is amended to 
read as follows:
	(c)  Funds allocated under this section shall be used [only] 
to fund supplemental programs and services designed to assist any 
student performing below grade level and to eliminate 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, as 
defined by Section 29.081, and all other students.  Specifically, 
the funds, other than an indirect cost allotment established under 
State Board of Education rule, which may not exceed 15 percent, may 
be used only to meet the costs of providing a compensatory, 
intensive, or accelerated instruction program under Section 29.081 
or an alternative education program established under Section 
37.008 or to support a program eligible under Title I of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as provided by Pub. 
L. No. 103-382 and its subsequent amendments, and by federal 
regulations implementing that Act, at a campus at which at least 50 
percent of the students are educationally disadvantaged.  In 
meeting the costs of providing a compensatory, intensive, or 
accelerated instruction program under Section 29.081, a district's 
compensatory education allotment may be used [only] for costs 
supplementary to the regular education program, such as costs for 
program and student evaluation, instructional materials and 
equipment and other supplies required for quality instruction, 
supplemental staff expenses, salary for teachers of at-risk 
students, smaller class size, and individualized instruction.  A 
district may use funds allocated under this section to pay the cost 
of modifying a regular education program for students at risk of 
dropping out of school, as determined by Section 29.081(d).  A 
home-rule school district or an open-enrollment charter school must 
use funds allocated under Subsection (a) for a purpose authorized 
in this subsection but is not otherwise subject to Subchapter C, 
Chapter 29.  Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section:
		(1)  to ensure that a sufficient amount of the funds 
allotted under this section are available to supplement 
instructional programs and services, no more than 18 percent of the 
funds allotted under this section may be used to fund disciplinary 
alternative education programs established under Section 37.008; 
[and]
		(2)  the commissioner may waive the limitations of 
Subdivision (1) upon an annual petition, by a district's board and a 
district's site-based decision making committee, presenting the 
reason for the need to spend supplemental compensatory education 
funds on disciplinary alternative education programs under Section 
37.008, provided that:
			(A)  the [.  The] district [shall] in its petition 
reports [report] the number of students in each grade level, by 
demographic subgroup, not making satisfactory progress under the 
state's assessment system; and
			(B)  the [.  The] commissioner makes the [will 
make this] waiver request information available annually to the 
public on the agency's website; and
		(3)  for purposes of this subsection, an alternative 
education program specifically designed to serve students at risk 
of dropping out of school, as defined by Section 29.081, is 
considered to be a program supplemental to the overall educational 
program, and a district may use its compensatory education 
allotment for such a program.
	SECTION 2.  Section 42.152(c), Education Code, as amended by 
this Act, applies to the use of compensatory education funds 
allotted under Chapter 42, Education Code, for any school year, 
including a school year before September 1, 2003.
	SECTION 3.  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.