BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 1423

By: Guillen

Public Education

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Under current law, the State Board of Education is restricted from granting more than 215 open-enrollment charters, excluding university-sponsored charter schools, which are exempt from the cap.

H.B. 1423 provides junior colleges with the same charter-school privileges and exemptions afforded to universities and senior colleges, in an effort to improve dropout recovery programming and workforce development.

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. 1423 amends the Education Code to extend to a public junior college the existing eligibility of a public senior college or university to be granted a charter for an open-enrollment charter school. The bill authorizes the State Board of Education to grant a charter on the application of a public junior college for an open-enrollment school to operate on the campus of the public junior college or in the same county in which the public junior college campus is located if the application satisfies the following criteria, as determined by the board:

· the junior college charter school's educational program must be implemented under the direct supervision of a faculty member of the public junior college;

· the supervising faculty member must have substantial experience and expertise in teacher education, classroom instruction, or educational administration;

· the junior college charter school's educational program must be designed to meet specific goals described in the charter, such as dropout recovery, and each aspect of the program must be directed toward the attainment of the goals;

· the attainment of those stated goals must be measured using specific, objective standards set forth in the charter, including assessment methods and a time frame; and

· the junior college charter school's financial operations must be supervised by the business office of the junior college.

H.B. 1423 requires the name of a junior college charter school to include the name of the public junior college operating the school; establishes that, except as otherwise provided, existing provisions relating to an open-enrollment charter school apply to a junior college charter school; and defines "public junior college."

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the act does not receive the necessary vote, the act takes effect September 1, 2009.