BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1301

By: Davis, Sarah

Public Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Concerns have been raised regarding the challenges of achieving parental engagement with public school district boards and maintaining a district's accountability to the public, especially in large school districts. C.S.H.B. 1301 seeks to address these concerns by requiring certain corrective measures for a district that is investigated by TEA for an alleged violation of state open meetings law.

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. 1301 amends the Education Code to require a board of trustees of a public school district that is notified by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) of a special accreditation investigation for an alleged violation of compliance with the requirements of state open meetings law to prepare, with assistance from TEA, a corrective action plan to improve the transparency of board activities. The bill sets out required contents of the plan and requires the plan to be completed not later than the 90th day after the date TEA completes the special accreditation investigation.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 1301 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 a required monthly report for an independent school district whose student enrollment exceeds a certain threshold.

The substitute includes provisions requiring the preparation of a certain corrective action plan for a public school district that is subject to a special accreditation investigation for an alleged violation of state open meetings law.

The substitute changes the bill's caption.