AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

 

Public school choice encompasses a wide array of public school programs aimed at providing and paying for an education at public schools with public dollars.  Currently in Texas, parents have several options for choosing public schools to meet a variety of needs and interests for their children.  These options are offered at the federal, state, and local levels.

 

Students in Texas may choose to attend a public school outside of their attendance zone by exercising inter-district and intra-district transfer options.  Under current law, one of the options that Texas students have is the public education grant (PEG) program wherein students attending a low-performing school are eligible to attend a higher-performing school in the same district or in another district.

 

Section 29.203(f), Education Code, provides that "The school district in which a student resides shall provide each student attending a school in another district under this subchapter transportation free of charge to and from the school the student would otherwise attend."

 

The problem related to transportation of PEG students is that the district to which the student transfers in the case of inter-district transfers does not get sufficient funding through the standard transportation allotment to compensate for the expensive services they would provide if they decided to run buses to pick up the transferring students in their district of residence.  For intra-district transfers, the bus routes to be run to encourage choice within a district are also expensive and not reimbursed sufficiently. 

 

S.B. 1062 amends current law by reimbursing the district providing transportation to PEG students at the rate per mile authorized by Section 42.155(f) for the transportation of career and technology education students.  A school district that provides transportation to students to another school within the same district in which the student resides as a result of a public education grant will be reimbursed at the rate per mile authorized by Section 42.155(f) for the transportation of career and technology education students.

 

As proposed, S.B. 1062 amends current law relating to transportation of a student entitled to a public education grant.

 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

 

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

 

SECTION 1.  Amends Subchapter G, Chapter 29, Education Code, by adding Section 29.2021, as follows:

 

Sec. 29.2021.  TRANSPORTATION.  (a) Requires the school district in which a student resides to:

 

(1) provide each student attending another school in the district under this subchapter transportation free of charge to and from the school the student attends; and

 

(2) provide each student attending a school in another district under this subchapter transportation free of charge to and from the school the student would otherwise attend.

 

(b) Provides that a school district that provides transportation services for students under Subsection (a)(1) is entitled to reimbursement based on the number of actual miles traveled times the per mile rate authorized by Section 42.155(f) (requiring reimbursement for the cost of certain transportation).

 

(c) Provides that a school district that provides transportation from the school the student would otherwise attend in another district to the school the student attends under this subchapter is entitled to reimbursement based on the number of actual miles traveled times the per mile rate authorized by Section 42.155(f).

 

SECTION 2.  Repealer: Section 29.203(f) [No such section exists], Transportation Code.

 

SECTION 3.  Effective date: September 1, 2013.