By: Grusendorf (Senate Sponsor - Armbrister) H.B. No. 3012
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 16, 2005;
May 17, 2005, read first time and referred to Committee on
Education; May 20, 2005, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 20, 2005, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the investment capital fund for public education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 7.024(b), (c), (d), and (e), Education
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(b) The commissioner may make grants from the fund to:
(1) an eligible school; or
(2) a group of eligible schools located in the same
school district that collaboratively organize for purposes of this
section [schools].
(c) A school or a group of schools organized as described by
Subsection (b)(2) is eligible to apply for a grant if the school or
each school in the group of schools has demonstrated a commitment to
campus deregulation and to restructuring educational practices and
conditions at the school by entering into a partnership with:
(1) school staff;
(2) parents of students at the school;
(3) community and business leaders;
(4) school district officers;
(5) a nonprofit, community-based organization that
has a demonstrated capacity to train, develop, and organize parents
and community leaders into a large, nonpartisan constituency that
will hold the school and the school district accountable for
achieving high academic standards; and
(6) the agency.
(d) A grant from the fund shall be made directly to the
school or, in the case of a group of schools organized as described
by Subsection (b)(2), to each school designated in the group's
application as a member of the group. The grant [and] may be used
for:
(1) the training and development of school staff,
parents, and community leaders in order that they understand and
implement:
(A) [the] academic standards and practices
necessary for high academic achievement;
(B) [,] appropriate strategies to deregulate and
restructure the school in order to improve student achievement;[,]
and
(C) effective strategies to organize parents and
community leaders into a large, nonpartisan constituency that will
hold the school and the school district accountable for achieving
high academic standards; and
(2) the implementation of [. The grant may be used to
implement] strategies developed by the partners that are designed
to enrich or extend student learning experiences outside of the
regular school day.
(e) The commissioner may make a grant of up to $50,000 each
academic year to an eligible school. The commissioner may make a
grant that exceeds $50,000 to a group of eligible schools organized
as described by Subsection (b)(2) if not more than $50,000 in grant
funds is distributed to any school that is a member of the group.
Campus administration personnel of a school that receives a grant
under this section are accountable to the commissioner [of
education] and must demonstrate:
(1) the responsible use of the grant to achieve campus
deregulation and restructuring to improve academic performance;
(2) a comprehensive plan to engage in ongoing
development and training of teachers, parents, and community
leaders to:
(A) understand academic standards;
(B) develop effective strategies to improve
academic performance; and
(C) organize a large constituency of parents and
community leaders to hold the school and school district
accountable to achieve high academic standards;
(3) ongoing progress in achieving higher academic
performance; and
(4) ongoing progress in identifying, training, and
organizing parents and community leaders who are holding the school
and the school district accountable for achieving high academic
standards.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
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