BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	C.S.S.B. 54
86R24056 SRS-D	By: Zaffirini
	Education
	4/7/2019
	Committee Report (Substituted)

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

The purpose of S.B. 54 is to prevent school districts from being held accountable for students over which districts have no direct authority regarding instruction, curriculum, or assessment.

Currently, students who attend Regional Day School Programs for the Deaf are counted, for accountability purposes, as students of the district within whose physical boundaries the program is located. As school districts do not have authority over the instruction and assessment of these students, it is unfair to hold them accountable for these students' academic outcomes.

S.B. 54 would remove from school district accountability calculations students who attend Regional Day School Programs for the Deaf in certain districts but whose parents do not reside within the physical boundaries of those districts. This change would ensure districts' accountability ratings accurately reflect the performance of the students they serve. (Original Author's/Sponsor's Statement of Intent)

C.S.S.B. 54 amends current law relating to a study regarding the appropriate methods and standards to evaluate certain students participating in the regional day school programs for the deaf.�

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. STUDY REGARDING METHODS AND STANDARDS TO EVALUATE CERTAIN STUDENTS. (a) Requires the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to conduct a study regarding appropriate methods and standards to evaluate the performance, separately from the performance of other students attending the district or campus in which the program is physically located, of a student who spends at least 50 percent of the instructional day participating in a regional day school program for the deaf under Subchapter D (Regional Day Schools For the Deaf), Chapter 30, and whose parent or person standing in parental relation to the student does not reside in the school district providing program services.

(b) Requires TEA, not later than September 1, 2020, to provide a report of the study required by Subsection (a) of this section and any recommendations for legislative action to each standing committee of the legislature having primary jurisdiction over public education.

SECTION 2. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2019.