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A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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AN ACT
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relating to an open-enrollment charter high school designed to |
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prevent students from dropping out of school. |
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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SECTION 1. Chapter 12, Education Code, is amended by adding |
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Subchapter D-1 to read as follows: |
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SUBCHAPTER D-1. DROPOUT PREVENTION AND RECOVERY OPEN-ENROLLMENT |
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CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL |
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Sec. 12.141. DEFINITION. In this subchapter, "charter high |
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school" means a dropout prevention and recovery open-enrollment |
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charter high school. |
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Sec. 12.142. CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL. (a) To serve the needs |
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of at-risk students, improve the quality of the available |
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workforce, and increase student success rates in obtaining and |
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maintaining employment, a school that qualifies as an |
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open-enrollment charter school under Subchapter D may apply to the |
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commissioner to be designated a dropout prevention and recovery |
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open-enrollment charter high school and be made subject to modified |
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accountability system requirements as provided by this subchapter. |
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The commissioner shall adopt a form to be used for an application |
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under this section. |
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(b) An application by an open-enrollment charter school to |
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be designated a charter high school as provided by this subchapter |
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shall be approved if: |
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(1) 50 percent or more of the charter school's students |
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are 17 years of age or older; and |
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(2) 75 percent or more of the charter school's students |
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are considered to be at risk of dropping out of school as provided |
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by Section 29.081. |
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Sec. 12.143. ASSESSMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF CHARTER HIGH |
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SCHOOL. (a) Provisions of this title and other laws applicable to |
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open-enrollment charter schools under Section 12.104 apply to a |
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charter high school, except a student who enrolls at a charter high |
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school is not included in calculating the dropout or completion |
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rates for the school unless the student remains enrolled for at |
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least 20 school days. |
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(b) In assessing the completion rate for students and |
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measuring the success of a charter high school in educating older |
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students otherwise excluded from the calculation of the completion |
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rate under guidelines of the National Center for Education |
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Statistics of the United States Department of Education, a charter |
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high school may request that the commissioner include all students |
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who graduate from the charter high school in the calculation of the |
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school's completion rate. If requested, the charter high school's |
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completion rate shall be calculated by dividing the sum of |
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graduates, high school equivalency certificate recipients, and |
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students continuing to attend the school by the sum of graduates, |
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high school equivalency certificate recipients, students |
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continuing to attend the school, and former students who are |
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dropouts. |
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(c) The commissioner may adopt a set of indicators to |
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measure the quality of learning and student achievement at a |
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charter high school. |
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(d) A charter high school is responsible for reporting |
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information required by the commissioner under this section, |
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performing the calculation specified in Subsection (b), and |
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covering all reasonable costs incurred by the commissioner in |
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verifying the required information and calculation. |
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Sec. 12.144. RULES. The commissioner may adopt rules |
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necessary to implement this subchapter. |
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SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2013-2014 |
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school year. |
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SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives |
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a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as |
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provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this |
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Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this |
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Act takes effect September 1, 2013. |