BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 808

By: Dutton

Public Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

There are concerns that African American and Hispanic male students lag in grade point average and on standardized tests and are less likely to enroll or graduate from college when compared to their peers in public schools. C.S.H.B. 808 seeks to address these concerns by providing greater transparency regarding achievement within certain student populations.

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

C.S.H.B. 808 amends the Education Code to specify that the disaggregated data used to demonstrate the differentials among students from different racial and ethnic groups in the closing the gaps domain under the public school accountability system is disaggregated by sex, including African American and Hispanic students. The bill prohibits the information regarding sex from being used by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for accountability purposes before the accountability ratings assigned for the 2022-2023 school year. This prohibition expires September 1, 2023. The bill applies beginning with the 2019-2020 school year. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 808 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute does not include provisions relating to public school students evaluated for purposes of accountability ratings in certain school districts.

The substitute includes the following provisions:

· a provision specifying that the disaggregated data used to demonstrate the differentials among students from different racial and ethnic groups in the closing the gaps domain under the public school accountability system is disaggregated according to sex; and

· a provision prohibiting TEA from using such disaggregated data regarding sex for accountability purposes before a certain date.