82S10173 CAS-D

By: Van de Putte S.B. No. 33

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to revising, revoking, or denying renewal of charters of open-enrollment charter schools under certain circumstances.

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

SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 12, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 12.1141 to read as follows:

Sec. 12.1141. REVISION: ADDING SCHOOLS UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), the commissioner may not deny approval for a charter holder to add one or more additional open-enrollment charter schools under an existing open-enrollment charter granted to the charter holder if:

(1) considering available data, the charter holder meets all criteria established by rule for adding a charter school under an existing charter other than criteria for performance based on dropout and completion rates of one or more existing charter schools under the charter and the charter holder demonstrates through a process developed by the agency that those criteria would be met if:

(A) a student enrolled at the charter school who is at least 17 years of age at the time of enrollment were not considered a dropout; and

(B) a student who graduates from the charter school before or during the student's sixth year of high school were considered a high school graduate;

(2) the charter holder, at the time of submission of the application for approval to add one or more additional charter schools, has been assigned a financial accountability rating under Subchapter D, Chapter 39, indicating financial performance that is satisfactory or better; and

(3) each additional charter school:

(A) will serve only high school students;

(B) will have an enrollment of students of whom at least 50 percent did not graduate with a ninth grade cohort; and

(C) will be in the geographical area described for the charter under Section 12.111(a)(14).

(b) The commissioner may not approve a total of more than 10 additional charter schools under Subsection (a). The commissioner may, in accordance with commissioner rule, limit the enrollment of an additional charter school as necessary to conform to the capacity limits of the charter holder or the demand for services in the geographical area, as determined by the commissioner, but may not limit the enrollment of an additional charter school to less than the number of students currently enrolled at the high school level at a charter school operated by the charter holder that focuses on dropout recovery.

(c) This section expires September 1, 2013.

SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 12, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 12.1151 to read as follows:

Sec. 12.1151. LIMITATION ON REVOCATION OR DENIAL OF RENEWAL FOR CERTAIN CHARTER SCHOOLS. (a) This section applies only to an open-enrollment charter school that has an enrollment of students of whom at least 50 percent did not graduate with a ninth grade cohort.

(b) The commissioner may not revoke or deny renewal of the charter of an open-enrollment charter school to which this section applies if:

(1) considering available data, the charter holder meets all criteria established by rule for adding a charter school under an existing charter other than criteria for performance based on dropout and completion rates of one or more existing charter schools under the charter and the charter holder demonstrates through a process developed by the agency that those criteria would be met if:

(A) a student enrolled at the charter school who is at least 17 years of age at the time of enrollment were not considered a dropout; and

(B) a student who graduates from the charter school before or during the student's sixth year of high school were considered a high school graduate; and

(2) the charter holder, as of the time required by commissioner rule, has been assigned a financial accountability rating under Subchapter D, Chapter 39, that indicates financial performance that is satisfactory or better.

(c) This section expires September 1, 2013.

SECTION 3. 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 on the 91st day after the last day of the legislative session.