BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 1771

By: Taylor, Larry

Public Education

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The purposes of the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium include advising the governor, the legislature, and the commissioner of education on methods to transform public schools and improve learning for all Texas students. Interested parties contend that the law relating to the consortium needs to be revised to allow for expanded participation in the consortium in terms of both the cap on the number of participants and participant eligibility and to clarify certain reporting requirements. S.B. 1771 seeks to address this issue.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

S.B. 1771 amends the Education Code to include the State Board of Education (SBOE) among the entities the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium is to inform concerning methods for transforming Texas public schools by improving student learning through the development of innovative, next-generation learning standards and assessment and accountability systems. The bill increases from 20 to 30 the maximum number of participants that the commissioner of education is authorized to select for the consortium. The bill extends eligibility for an open-enrollment charter school to participate in the consortium from a school that has been awarded an exemplary distinction designation to a school that has been awarded any distinction designation. The bill raises the cap on the number of students that may be enrolled in consortium participants from five percent to 10 percent of the total number of students enrolled in public schools in Texas according to the most recent Texas Education Agency data.

S.B. 1771 replaces a requirement for the commissioner to submit reports concerning the performance and progress of the consortium with a requirement for the school districts and open-enrollment charter schools participating in the consortium to submit such reports, includes the SBOE and the commissioner of education among the required recipients of the reports, and requires the reports to be submitted not later than December 1 of each even-numbered year. The bill makes these reporting requirements permanent.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2015.