79R15533 SLO-D
By: Shapiro S.B. No. 1393
Substitute the following for S.B. No. 1393:
By: Grusendorf C.S.S.B. No. 1393
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to regional education service centers; providing a
criminal penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 8, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 8.0041 to read as follows:
Sec. 8.0041. FILING OF FINANCIAL STATEMENT BY EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR. (a) The executive director of a regional education
service center shall file the financial statement required of state
officers under Subchapter B, Chapter 572, Government Code, with the
Texas Ethics Commission.
(b) Subchapter B, Chapter 572, Government Code:
(1) applies to an executive director as if the
executive director were a state officer; and
(2) governs the contents, timeliness of filing, and
public inspection of a statement filed under this section.
(c) An executive director commits an offense if the
executive director fails to file the statement required by this
section. An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.
SECTION 2. Section 8.103, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 8.103. ANNUAL EVALUATION. (a) The commissioner shall
conduct an annual evaluation of each executive director and
regional education service center. Each evaluation must include:
(1) an audit of the center's finances;
(2) a review of the center's performance on the
indicators adopted under Section 8.101;
(3) a review of client satisfaction with services
provided under Subchapter B; [and]
(4) a survey of the center's board of directors
concerning the performance of the center's executive director;
(5) a review of:
(A) the number of programs offered by the center
to improve student performance on assessment instruments
administered under Section 39.023; and
(B) the attendance rate at each program described
by Paragraph (A) during each year of the preceding two years;
(6) a review of the center's performance on four goals
established by the center for improving the center's performance;
and
(7) a review of any other factor the commissioner
determines to be appropriate.
(b) The agency shall post the results of an evaluation
conducted under this section on the agency's Internet website.
SECTION 3. Subchapter C, Chapter 8, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 8.1031 to read as follows:
Sec. 8.1031. RATING SYSTEM. (a) The commissioner shall
establish a system for rating regional education service centers on
the basis of the results of evaluations conducted under Section
8.103.
(b) The rating system must include a minimum level of
performance that a regional education service center is expected to
achieve on each area evaluated under Section 8.103 and on the
overall evaluation. A center that does not meet the minimum level
of overall performance is considered to be low-performing.
SECTION 4. Section 8.104, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 8.104. SANCTIONS. (a) The commissioner shall develop
a system of corrective actions to require of a regional education
service center that the commissioner determines to be
low-performing [deficient in an accountability measure] under
Section 8.1031 [8.103].
(b) The actions must include, in increasing order of
severity:
(1) conducting an on-site investigation of the center;
(2) requiring the center to send notice [of each
deficiency] to each school district and campus in the center's
region or served by the center the previous year concerning any area
of performance, including overall performance, that is below the
minimum level of performance established for that area under
Section 8.1031; and
(3) requiring the center to prepare for the
commissioner's approval a plan to address each area of performance
that is below the minimum level of performance established for that
area under Section 8.1031 [deficiency;
[(4) appointing a master to oversee the operations of
the center;
[(5) replacing the executive director or board of
directors; and
[(6) in the case of deficient performance in two
consecutive years, closing the center].
(c) In addition to the actions required under Subsection
(b), the commissioner shall take the following actions:
(1) for a regional education service center that has
been low-performing for one school year, place the center on
probation;
(2) for a regional education service center that has
been low-performing for two consecutive school years, continue the
center's probation and:
(A) withhold any state money to which the center
is otherwise entitled; and
(B) distribute the money withheld to school
districts in the region that the center serves; and
(3) for a regional education service center that has
been low-performing for three consecutive school years:
(A) both:
(i) appoint a master to oversee the
operations of the center; and
(ii) replace the executive director or
board of directors; or
(B) order the closure of the center.
SECTION 5. Section 8.0041, Education Code, as added by this
Act, applies beginning January 1, 2007. An executive director
subject to Section 8.0041, Education Code, as added by this Act, is
not required to include financial activity occurring before January
1, 2006, in a financial disclosure statement required under Section
8.0041, Education Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 6. (a) As soon as practicable after the effective
date of this Act, the commissioner of education shall establish a
rating system for regional education service centers as required by
Section 8.1031, Education Code, as added by this Act.
(b) The Texas Education Agency shall begin rating regional
education service centers as required by Section 8.1031, Education
Code, as added by this Act, beginning with the 2006-2007 school
year.
(c) The commissioner of education may not take an action
under Section 8.104, Education Code, as amended by this Act, based
on the performance of a regional education service center for the
2005-2006 school year or an earlier school year.
SECTION 7. 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, 2005.