84R11209 GCB-D

By: González H.B. No. 3145

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the computation of dropout rates of a school district and the calculation of average daily attendance for funding purposes with respect to certain students 18 years of age or older receiving special education services from the district.

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

SECTION 1. Section 39.053(g-1), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(g-1) In computing dropout and completion rates under Subsection (c)(2), the commissioner shall exclude:

(1) students who are ordered by a court to attend a high school equivalency certificate program but who have not yet earned a high school equivalency certificate;

(2) students who were previously reported to the state as dropouts, including a student who is reported as a dropout, reenrolls, and drops out again, regardless of the number of times of reenrollment and dropping out;

(3) students in attendance who are not in membership for purposes of average daily attendance;

(4) students whose initial enrollment in a school in the United States in grades 7 through 12 was as unschooled refugees or asylees as defined by Section 39.027(a-1);

(5) students who are in the district exclusively as a function of having been detained at a county detention facility but are otherwise not students of the district in which the facility is located; [and]

(6) students who are incarcerated in state jails and federal penitentiaries as adults and as persons certified to stand trial as adults; and

(7) students 18 years of age or older who remain enrolled in the district and receive special education services from the district under Section 29.003 after completing high school graduation requirements.

SECTION 2. Section 42.151, Education Code, is amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (f-1) and (f-2) to read as follows:

(a) For each student in average daily attendance in a special education program under Subchapter A, Chapter 29, in a mainstream instructional arrangement, a school district is entitled to an annual allotment equal to the adjusted basic allotment multiplied by 1.1. For each full-time equivalent student in average daily attendance in a special education program under Subchapter A, Chapter 29, in an instructional arrangement other than a mainstream instructional arrangement, a district is entitled to an annual allotment equal to the adjusted basic allotment multiplied by a weight determined according to instructional arrangement as follows:

Homebound5.0

Hospital class3.0

Speech therapy5.0

Resource room3.0

Self-contained, mild and moderate,

regular campus3.0

Self-contained, severe, regular campus3.0

Off home campus5.0 [2.7]

Nonpublic day school1.7

Vocational adjustment class2.3

(f-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (f), a student 18 years of age or older who is in an off home campus instructional arrangement is a full-time equivalent student if the student receives four hours of contact a week. A student described by this subsection is a part-time equivalent student if the student receives two hours or more but less than four hours of contact a week.

(f-2) The commissioner by rule shall designate equivalent contact hour multipliers of not less than 5.5 for:

(1) the off home campus instructional placement; and

(2) the vocational adjustment class instructional placement.

SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 2015-2016 school year.

SECTION 4. 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 September 1, 2015.