81R23734 EAH-F

By: Hochberg H.B. No. 3740

Substitute the following for H.B. No. 3740:

By: Aycock C.S.H.B. No. 3740

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the establishment of a statewide education data management system.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Title 1, Education Code, is amended by adding Chapter 2 to read as follows:

CHAPTER 2. EDUCATION DATA MANAGEMENT

Sec. 2.001. STUDENT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM. (a) The Texas Education Agency shall establish a student information management system for use by school districts, open-enrollment charter schools, and other public schools. A system established under this section must be capable of supporting local information systems and state reporting requirements.

(b) The Texas Education Agency may provide information relating to best practices regarding student information management systems to school districts, open-enrollment charter schools, and other public schools.

Sec. 2.002. REGIONAL EDUCATION DATA COLLABORATIVES. (a) In this section, "regional P-16 council" means a regional council established in furtherance of the policy and goals described in Section 61.076.

(b) The commissioner of education and commissioner of higher education shall jointly select regional P-16 councils to participate in regional education data collaboratives in order to:

(1) assist educational institutions in setting goals, monitoring progress, and improving decision-making regarding instruction and operations;

(2) improve public reporting of information in a manner consistent with state and federal law, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g);

(3) reduce the costs of compliance for educational institutions and facilitate reporting of required data to state and federal agencies; and

(4) assist the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in implementing the operational data store under Section 2.003 and the aggregated data warehouse under Section 2.004.

(b-1) Not later than September 15, 2009, the commissioner of education and the commissioner of higher education shall select at least two but not more than three regional P-16 councils to participate in a regional education data collaborative. This subsection expires October 1, 2009.

(c) A regional P-16 council selected under Subsection (b) must demonstrate excellence in using data to:

(1) promote the efficient use of resources; and

(2) improve decision-making across educational institutions.

(d) A regional education data collaborative established under this section shall:

(1) work with at least eight educational institutions or entities located within the region served by the regional P-16 council, including school districts of various sizes, open-enrollment charter schools, regional education service centers, community colleges, and general academic institutions of higher education;

(2) establish a regional data governance board composed of representatives of:

(A) each of the participating educational institutions or entities; and

(B) educational researchers, including researchers affiliated with an education research center established under Section 1.005;

(3) review data collected by educational institutions, including data not currently reported to a state agency, that may be used to improve instruction and operations at educational institutions and increase educational attainment in the region;

(4) use an inclusive, consensus-building process to identify key issues relating to the instruction and operations of educational institutions that may be addressed through improved data collection and use of data;

(5) assist the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in:

(A) developing consistent definitions and standards for data collected or maintained by educational institutions;

(B) defining the requirements for the student information management system established under Section 2.001;

(C) supporting adoption of the student information management system established under Section 2.001 by school districts, open-enrollment charter schools, and other public schools; and

(D) developing the aggregated data warehouse under Section 2.004;

(6) with the assistance of the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, partner with other regional collaboratives established under this section to establish the operational data store under Section 2.003; and

(7) make recommendations regarding the improvement of education data collection and management to the commissioner of education, the commissioner of higher education, and the legislature.

(e) An educational institution participating in a regional education data collaborative shall:

(1) participate in collaborative decision-making regarding the specification, collection, and maintenance of educational data by educational institutions, including developing:

(A) applications that improve data quality and reduce costs of compliance; and

(B) business intelligence tools that support end user analysis and reporting;

(2) facilitate the timely collection of academic, fiscal, and managerial data for inclusion in the operational data store under Section 2.003; and

(3) with the assistance of the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, use unique personal identification numbers for each student enrolled in and educator employed by the educational institution for the purpose of facilitating the connection of relevant data elements.

Sec. 2.003. OPERATIONAL DATA STORE. (a) The regional education data collaboratives established under Section 2.002, with the support and assistance of the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, shall establish an operational data store for the maintenance of educational data created by educational institutions.

(b) The operational data store established under this section shall be designed and maintained in a manner that will permit the participation of any educational institution in this state, including a school district, open-enrollment charter school, other public school, institution of higher education, and university system.

(c) To the extent practicable, the operational data store shall obtain academic, fiscal, and managerial data from participating educational institutions, including public schools using the student information management system under Section 2.001, not later than the seventh day after the date the data was originally collected.

(d) The operational data store shall support, in a manner consistent with state and federal law, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g), the secure transfer of individual student data of a student who:

(1) transfers from a participating educational institution to another participating educational institution; or

(2) concurrently enrolls in two or more participating educational institutions.

(e) The data included in the operational data store is for use by the educational institution supplying the data to support the educational institution's local functions and the functions of the relevant regional education data collaborative under Section 2.002, including reporting and analysis. Except as provided by this chapter or by agreement of the educational institution, a person or agency may not use data included in the operational data store for analysis.

(f) The operational data store may include data from regional education service centers, state assessment vendors, and other state and federal agencies.

(g) Except as required for a function of an education data collaborative under Section 2.002 or as required under Section 2.004, the operational data store may not release student, human resource, or financial data from an educational institution without the consent of the institution.

(h) The regional education data collaboratives established under Section 2.002, with the assistance and support of the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, shall develop and make available through the operational data store:

(1) automated applications to streamline and improve the quality of data submissions from educational institutions to state and federal agencies;

(2) business intelligence tools designed to provide information that can be used directly and efficiently by educators to improve the instruction and operations of educational institutions, including information that allows educators to assess the effectiveness of instructional programs, practices, and polices; and

(3) reporting tools that support end user analysis and reporting.

(i) Following a review of reporting requirements under Section 2.005 and certification by the commissioner of education and the commissioner of higher education that the operational data store is capable of operating effectively, the commissioner of education and the commissioner of higher education may require educational institutions, including school districts, open-enrollment charter schools, other public schools, institutions of higher education, and university systems, to participate in the operational data store.

Sec. 2.004. AGGREGATED DATA WAREHOUSE. (a) The Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall obtain from the operational data store established under Section 2.003 student, human resource, and financial data required by law to be used for mandatory compliance or reporting purposes and maintain the data in an aggregated data warehouse. The aggregated data warehouse must:

(1) be available on an Internet website in a summarized format easily understood by the public for reporting financial and academic performance information; and

(2) contain state, district, and campus-level information available for download in a format that facilitates analysis of local data.

(b) The Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall establish rules and procedures for the collection of data under Subsection (a) through efficient and automated processes.

(c) The Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall make the data maintained in the aggregated data warehouse available to education research centers established under Section 1.005.

Sec. 2.005. LIMITS ON REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. (a) To the extent practicable, the commissioner of education and the commissioner of higher education, with the assistance of regional education data collaboratives established under Section 2.002, education research centers established under Section 1.005, and other appropriate stakeholders, shall conform mandatory reporting requirements applicable to educational institutions to data available through the operational data store established under Section 2.003 that is useful for improving the local instruction and operations of a school district, open-enrollment charter school, other public school, institution of higher education, or university system.

(b) The commissioner of education and the commissioner of higher education may not require an educational institution participating in the operational data store under Section 2.003 to submit additional data that is not specifically required by state or federal law.

Sec. 2.006. GIFTS; GRANTS. The commissioner of education, the commissioner of higher education, and a regional education data collaborative established under Section 2.002 may each solicit and receive gifts, grants, and federal funds to implement this chapter.

Sec. 2.007. RULES. The commissioner of education and the commissioner of higher education may adopt rules as necessary to implement this chapter.

Sec. 2.008. CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. This chapter does not authorize the disclosure of information protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g).

Sec. 2.009. REFERENCE TO PUBLIC EDUCATION INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (PEIMS). (a) On or after September 1, 2015, a reference to the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) in law means the statewide data management system established under this chapter. The commissioner of education by rule may establish an earlier date for purposes of this section.

(b) This section does not apply to Section 21.357(a).

SECTION 2. Section 42.006, Education Code, is amended by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:

(e) This section expires September 1, 2015. Before that date, the commissioner by rule may waive compliance with this section if the commissioner determines that compliance is unnecessary due to implementation of Chapter 2.

SECTION 3. Section 7.008, Education Code, is repealed.

SECTION 4. (a) Except as provided by Subsections (b) and (c) of this section, the commissioner of education, the Texas Education Agency, the commissioner of higher education, and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall implement Chapter 2, Education Code, as added by this Act, not later than September 1, 2012.

(b) Not later than September 1, 2011, the Texas Education Agency shall establish the student information management system as required by Section 2.001, Education Code, as added by this Act.

(c) Not later than September 1, 2013, the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall establish the aggregated data warehouse required by Section 2.004, Education Code, as added by this Act.

SECTION 5. 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, 2009.