By: Dutton H.B. No. 2104
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to charter schools and accurately accounting for workforce
  development statistics.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Chapter 12, Education Code, is amended by adding
  new Sections 12.141 and 12.142, to read as follows:
         Sec. 12.141.  DROP OUT PREVENTION AND RECOVERY OPEN
  ENROLLMENT CHARTER HIGH SCHOOLS.  (a) To better serve the needs of
  at-risk students, improve the quality of the available workforce,
  and increase student success rates in obtaining and maintaining
  employment, a school that otherwise qualifies as an open enrollment
  charter school may apply in a form approved by the commissioner to
  be assessed as an open enrollment charter high school.
         (b)  A compliant application by an open enrollment charter
  school to be assessed as a Drop Out Prevention and Recovery Charter
  High School shall be granted if:
               (1)  Fifty percent (50%) or more of its students are 17
  years of age or older; and
               (2)  Seventy-five percent (75%) or more of its students
  are considered to be at risk of dropping out of school, as defined
  by Section 29.081.
         Sec. 12.142.  ASSESSMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF DROP OUT
  PREVENTION AND RECOVERY OPEN ENROLLMENT CHARTER HIGH SCHOOLS. (a)
  Provisions of this Title and other laws made applicable to open
  enrollment charter schools by Section 12.104 apply to a Drop Out
  Prevention and Recovery Open Enrollment Charter High School, except
  as follows:
               (1)  A student who enrolls at a Drop Out Prevention and
  Recovery Open Enrollment Charter High School shall not be included
  in calculating the drop out or completion rates for the school
  unless the student remains enrolled for at least twenty (20) school
  days.
               (2)  Solely for the purpose of assessing the completion
  rate for the students, and measuring the success, of a Drop Out
  Prevention and Recovery Open Enrollment Charter High School in
  educating older students otherwise excluded from the calculation of
  the diploma completion rate under NCES standards, a Drop Out
  Prevention and Recovery Open Enrollment Charter High School may
  request that the commissioner include all students who graduate
  from a Drop Out Prevention and Recovery Open Enrollment Charter
  High School in the calculation of the school's completion rate. The
  calculation methodology under this Section shall be as follows:
  Graduates + GED Recipients + Continuers
  ___________________________________________________
  Graduates + GED Recipients + Continuers + Dropouts
               (3)  The commissioner may adopt a set of indicators to
  measure the quality of learning and student achievement at a Drop
  Out Prevention and Recovery Open Enrollment Charter High School.
         (b)  A Drop Out Prevention and Recovery Open Enrollment
  Charter High School shall be responsible for reporting the
  information required to perform the assessments described by this
  Section, performing the calculation specified in Section
  12.142(a)(b), and all reasonable costs incurred by the commission
  in verifying the information and calculation.
         SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with the 2013-2014
  school year.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all of 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, 2013.