BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2881

By: Bernal

Public Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

There are concerns that high-need school campuses struggle with limited resources, large student populations, and low teacher retention rates. It has been suggested that certain school campuses should be designated as resource campuses to allow for more funding. C.S.H.B. 2881 seeks to address these concerns by providing for the establishment of resource campuses to improve the ratings of certain public school district campuses.

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 rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the commissioner of education in SECTION 1 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2881 amends the Education Code to authorize a public school district campus that has received an overall performance rating of F for four years over a 10-year period to apply to the commissioner of education to be designated as a resource campus. The bill exempts a campus approved by the commissioner as a resource campus from certain interventions and sanctions and establishes that such a campus qualifies for funding under the district campus entitlement for certain students under the foundation school program.

C.S.H.B. 2881 requires a campus to form a campus evaluation team that includes certain persons and complete an on-site needs assessment that must include certain information before submitting an application to the commissioner to be designated as a resource campus. The bill requires the campus, after submitting the application, to conduct a public meeting that includes specified participants to review the campus' overall performance rating and solicit input for the development of the targeted improvement plan.

C.S.H.B. 2881 requires the campus evaluation team to determine if the campus would benefit from designation as a resource campus and provide recommendations on policies the campus must adopt to meet the resource campus program requirements. The bill requires the commissioner to notify a campus if it has been designated as such not later than the 60th day after the date the commissioner receives the designation request, establishes the commissioner's designation decision as final and ineligible for appeal, and establishes that a designated resource campus begins the school year as such during the second school year that begins after the designation approval.

C.S.H.B. 2881 sets out qualifications for employment and duties for a resource campus principal, teacher, school counselor, and social services professional and sets out provisions relating to the continuation of employment and rights and protections for persons who were the principal of or teachers employed at such a campus before it received the resource campus designation, as applicable.

C.S.H.B. 2881 provides for the exemption of a resource campus from accountability interventions and sanctions for failure to satisfy academic performance standards during the first two school years of operation as such, requires all resource campus educators, including the principal, to be evaluated on an annual basis by an appropriate supervisor, and provides for the principal's removal of an educator who falls below an accomplished rating in one or more categories. The bill requires a resource campus that does not use a state evaluation program to develop a certain compliant appraisal system that is supported by locally adopted policy and procedures, requires the applicable district-level planning and decision-making committee to develop an appraisal process and evaluation criteria for all educators, sets out the required components of the appraisal process, and provides for the submission of the appraisal process and criteria to the superintendent and for the acceptance or rejection of both by the district board of trustees.

C.S.H.B. 2881 sets out requirements relating to resource campus school day length, class size, and classroom technology and requires resource campus educators to receive a salary higher than the district average. The bill requires a portion of any additional funding received by the district under the foundation school program funding entitlement and attributable to the resource campus to be used to provide those higher salaries and additional classroom technology and authorizes a portion to be used for any needed campus facility improvements. The bill requires a district to make every effort to provide each resource campus educator with a significant salary increase and establishes that the increased salary is a supplement to the educator's salary and may not be used to supplant any other eligible increase.

C.S.H.B. 2881 authorizes the commissioner of education to adopt rules necessary to implement the bill's provisions. The bill requires the Texas Education Agency, on a district's request, to assist the district in applying for designation of a district campus as a resource campus and developing and implementing a plan to operate a district campus as a resource campus.   

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. 2881 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 changes the criteria under which a district campus may apply for designation as a resource campus from the district having received an overall performance rating of F for two consecutive years or D for three consecutive years to the district having received an overall performance rating of F for four years over a 10-year period. The substitute changes the time at which such a district campus must conduct a public meeting from before submitting the application to after submitting the application.

The substitute revises the employment qualifications for a teacher at a resource campus relating to positive student and parent experience surveys by specifying that the teacher is required to have received such surveys, if available, and that such surveys must account for at least 15 percent of the qualifications required for the teacher.

The substitute includes a requirement for the TEA, on a district's request, to assist a district campus in applying for designation as a resource campus and developing and implementing a plan to operate as such.