BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.S.B. 2206

By: Kolkhorst

State Affairs

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been noted that successful schools and colleges rely on public participation and community engagement and that it is an essential function of a public school district's board of trustees and a junior college district's governing board to be responsive to their respective communities. Thus, it is critical for the public to have access to school district board and junior college district board member contact information and to be aware of board member terms of office. In an effort to improve transparency and public access, C.S.S.B. 2206 requires the online posting of certain information regarding each member of such a district's board of trustees or governing board.

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.S.B. 2206 amends the Education Code to require each public school district that maintains a website to post on the website the name, email address, and term of office, including the date the term began and the date the term expires, of each member of the district's board of trustees. The bill requires a district that does not maintain a website to submit this information to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and requires TEA, on receipt of the district's information, to post the information on the TEA website. The bill requires a district, each time there is a change in the membership of the district's board of trustees, to update the information and, as applicable, either post the updated information on the district's website or submit the updated information to TEA for posting on the TEA website.

C.S.S.B. 2206 requires each junior college district to post on the district's website the name, email address, and term of office, including the date the term began and the date the term expires, of each member of the district's governing board. The bill requires this information to be updated each time there is a change in the governing board's membership.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF SENATE ENGROSSED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.S.B. 2206 may differ from the engrossed in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the engrossed and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute changes the public school districts that are required to post on their websites specified information for each board of trustees member from all districts to only those districts that maintain a website. The substitute includes provisions requiring a district that does not maintain a website to submit the information to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and requiring TEA, on receipt of a district's information, to post the information on the TEA website. The substitute makes related changes to a provision regarding the update of school district board of trustee information.