BILL ANALYSIS
By: Madden
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The Windham School District (WSD) was established by the Texas Legislature as an entity separate and distinct from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), with the Texas Board of Criminal Justice (TBCJ) serving as the Board of Trustees for the WSD. It is the policy of the Board that the WSD shall provide academic, as well as career and technology education, to eligible offenders incarcerated within the TDCJ.
Current law requires that WSD employees required under Subchapter B, Chapter 21 of the Education Code to hold a certificate, must be certified in accordance with that subchapter. Under Subchapter B, the State Board for Educator Certification regulates and oversees all aspects of the certification, and per their rule making authority, have required all superintendents to hold a superintendent certificate under Title 19 of the Administrative Code. Courses required for the certification teach skills in managing public schools and responding to the demands of the Texas Education Agency and local school boards. Many of these topics, however, are less relevant to the Windham superintendent than knowledge of the prison environment, in-prison programs and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
H.B. 282 exempts the WSD superintendent from the requirement to hold a certificate issued under subchapter B, Chapter 21 of the Education Code.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
H.B. 282 amends the Education Code to provide that a district employee required under Subchapter B, Chapter 21, to hold a certificate must be certified in accordance with that subchapter, except that the district superintendent is not required to hold a certificate issued under that subchapter.
EFFECTIVE DATE
Upon passage, or, if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2007.