88R4198 KJE-F
 
  By: Paxton S.B. No. 1261
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to accelerated instruction provided to public school
  students who fail to achieve satisfactory performance on certain
  assessment instruments.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  The heading to Section 28.0211, Education Code,
  is amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 28.0211.  [ACCELERATED LEARNING COMMITTEE;]
  ACCELERATED INSTRUCTION; MODIFIED TEACHER ASSIGNMENT.
         SECTION 2.  Section 28.0211, Education Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (a), (a-1), (a-2), (a-3), (a-4), (f), (f-1),
  (f-2), (f-3), (h), (i), (j), and (n) and adding Subsections (a-7),
  (a-8), (a-9), (a-10), (b), (i-1), and (i-2) to read as follows:
         (a)  [A school district shall establish an accelerated
  learning committee described by Subsection (c) for each student who
  does not perform satisfactorily on:
               [(1)  the third grade mathematics or reading assessment
  instrument under Section 39.023;
               [(2)  the fifth grade mathematics or reading assessment
  instrument under Section 39.023; or
               [(3)  the eighth grade mathematics or reading
  assessment instrument under Section 39.023.
         [(a-1)]  Each time a student fails to perform satisfactorily
  on an assessment instrument administered under Section 39.023(a) or
  (l) in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth grade or
  on an end-of-course assessment instrument administered under
  Section 39.023(c), the school district in which the student attends
  school shall provide to the student accelerated instruction in the
  applicable subject area during the subsequent summer or school
  year.
         (a-1)  Subject to Subsection (a-7), each time a student fails
  to perform satisfactorily on an assessment instrument specified
  under Subsection (a) that is a mathematics or reading assessment
  instrument or the English I, English II, or Algebra I end-of-course
  assessment instrument, the school district in which the student
  attends school shall [and] either:
               (1)  allow the student to be assigned a classroom
  teacher who is certified as a master, exemplary, or recognized
  teacher under Section 21.3521 for the subsequent school year in the
  applicable subject area; or
               (2)  provide the student supplemental instruction
  under Subsection (a-4).
         (a-2)  Accelerated instruction provided during the following
  school year under Subsection (a) [(a-1)] may require participation
  of the student before or after normal school hours.
         (a-3)  In providing accelerated instruction under Subsection
  (a) [(a-1)], a district may not remove a student, except under
  circumstances for which a student enrolled in the same grade level
  who is not receiving accelerated instruction would be removed,
  from:
               (1)  instruction in the foundation curriculum and
  enrichment curriculum adopted under Section 28.002 for the grade
  level in which the student is enrolled; or
               (2)  recess or other physical activity that is
  available to other students enrolled in the same grade level.
         (a-4)  If a district receives funding under Section 29.0881
  or 48.104, the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental
  Appropriations Act, 2021 (Div. M, Pub. L. No. 116-260), or the
  American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Pub. L. No. 117-2), then
  supplemental instruction provided by a school district under
  Subsection (a-1)(2) must:
               (1)  include targeted instruction in the essential
  knowledge and skills for the applicable grade levels and subject
  area;
               (2)  be provided in addition to instruction normally
  provided to students in the grade level in which the student is
  enrolled;
               (3)  be provided [for no less than 30 total hours]
  during the subsequent summer or school year:
                     (A)  to each student for no less than 15 hours;
                     (B)  for an average of no less than 30 hours per
  student for all students receiving supplemental instruction; and
                     (C)  [,] unless the instruction is provided to a
  student fully during summer, [include instruction] no less than
  once per week during the school year, except as otherwise provided
  by commissioner rule to account for school holidays or shortened
  school weeks;
               (4)  be designed to assist the student in achieving
  satisfactory performance in the applicable grade level and subject
  area;
               (5)  include effective instructional materials
  designed for supplemental instruction;
               (6)  be provided to a student individually or in a group
  of no more than four [three] students, unless the parent or guardian
  of each student in the group authorizes a larger group;
               (7)  be provided by a person with training in the
  applicable instructional materials for the supplemental
  instruction and under the oversight of the school district; and
               (8)  to the extent possible, be provided by one person
  for the entirety of the student's supplemental instruction period.
         (a-7)  The requirements under Subsection (a-1) do not apply
  to a student who is retained at a grade level for the school year in
  which those requirements would otherwise apply.
         (a-8)  A parent or guardian of a student to whom supplemental
  instruction will be provided under Subsection (a-1)(2) and who
  either was administered and failed to perform satisfactorily on an
  assessment instrument described by Subsection (a) or was
  administered a beginning-of-year assessment instrument aligned
  with the essential knowledge and skills for the applicable subject
  area may elect to reduce or remove a requirement for that
  instruction under Subsection (a-4) by submitting a written request
  to the school district. A school district may not encourage or
  direct a parent or guardian to make an election under this
  subsection that would allow the district to not provide
  supplemental instruction to the student.
         (a-9)  The agency shall approve an automated or other
  augmented method for providing supplemental instruction under
  Subsection (a-1)(2) that may be used in lieu of some or all of the
  individual or group instruction required under Subsection
  (a-4)(6), as appropriate for the applicable grade level and subject
  area and a student's academic deficiency. The agency may approve a
  method under this subsection only if evidence indicates that the
  method is more effective than the individual or group instruction
  required under Subsection (a-4)(6). The commissioner shall adopt
  rules regarding when a method approved under this subsection may be
  used and the requirements under Subsection (a-4) for which the
  method may be substituted.
         (a-10)  A school district that is required to provide to a
  student accelerated instruction under Subsection (a) or
  supplemental instruction under Subsection (a-1)(2) is not required
  to provide additional instruction under either subsection to the
  student based on the student's failure to perform satisfactorily on
  an assessment instrument administered as an optional assessment in
  the same subject area in which the district is required to provide
  the student the accelerated or supplemental instruction.
         (b)  For each student who does not perform satisfactorily on
  an assessment instrument described by Subsection (a-1) for two or
  more consecutive school years, the school district the student
  attends shall develop an accelerated education plan as described by
  Subsection (f).
         (f)  Not [An accelerated learning committee described by
  Subsection (c) shall, not] later than the start of the subsequent
  school year, a school district shall develop an accelerated
  education [educational] plan for each [the] student to whom
  Subsection (b) applies that provides the necessary accelerated
  instruction to enable the student to perform at the appropriate
  grade level by the conclusion of the school year. The plan:
               (1)  must:
                     (A)  identify the reason the student did not
  perform satisfactorily on the applicable assessment instrument
  described by Subsection (a-1); and
                     (B)  notwithstanding Subsections (a-4)(3)(A) and
  (B), require the student to be provided with no less than 30 hours,
  or a greater number of hours if appropriate, of supplemental
  instruction under Subsection (a-4) for each consecutive school year
  in which the student does not perform satisfactorily on the
  assessment instrument in the applicable subject area described by
  Subsection (a-1); and
               (2)  may require that, as appropriate to ensure the
  student performs satisfactorily on the assessment instrument in the
  applicable subject area described by Subsection (a-1) at the next
  administration of the assessment instrument:
                     (A)  notwithstanding Subsection (a-4)(6), the
  student be provided supplemental instruction under Subsection
  (a-4) individually or in a group of fewer than four students;
                     (B)  the district expand the times in which
  supplemental instruction under Subsection (a-4) is available to the
  student;
                     (C)  the student be assigned for the school year
  to a specific teacher who is better able to provide accelerated
  instruction; and
                     (D)  the district provide any necessary
  additional resources to the student.
         (f-1)  The accelerated education [educational] plan under
  Subsection (f) must be documented in writing, and a copy must be
  provided to the student's parent or guardian.
         (f-2)  During the school year, the student shall be monitored
  to ensure that the student is progressing in accordance with the
  accelerated education plan developed under Subsection (f).  The
  district shall administer to the student the assessment instrument
  for the grade level in which the student is placed at the time the
  district regularly administers the assessment instruments for that
  school year.
         (f-3)  The board of trustees of each school district shall
  adopt a policy consistent with the grievance procedure adopted
  under Section 26.011 to allow a parent to contest the content or
  implementation of an accelerated education [educational] plan
  developed under Subsection (f).
         (h)  In each instance under this section in which a school
  district is specifically required to provide notice or a written
  copy to a parent or guardian of a student, the district shall make a
  good faith effort to ensure that such notice or copy is provided
  either in person or by regular mail and that the notice or copy is
  clear and easy to understand and is written in English or the parent
  or guardian's native language.
         (i)  The admission, review, and dismissal committee of a
  student who participates in a district's special education program
  under Subchapter A, Chapter 29, and who does not perform
  satisfactorily on an assessment instrument specified under
  Subsection (a) [and administered under Section 39.023(a) or (b)]
  must [meet to] determine the manner in which the student will
  participate in an accelerated instruction program under this
  section. For a student for whom the committee determines
  participation in the required tutoring model for supplemental
  instruction under Subsection (a-4) is not appropriate, the
  committee must review the student's individualized education plan
  and adjust the plan as appropriate to target the areas in which the
  student did not perform satisfactorily on the assessment
  instrument.
         (i-1)  If a student who attends school in a homebound or
  other off-campus instructional arrangement is unable to
  participate in an accelerated instruction program required under
  this section due to the student's medical condition, the student's
  admission, review, and dismissal committee or committee
  established under Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29
  U.S.C. Section 794), as applicable, may determine that the student
  may be provided the accelerated instruction when the student
  attends school in an on-campus instructional setting. If the
  student's medical condition prevents the student from attending
  school in an on-campus instructional setting for the school year
  during which the accelerated instruction is required to be provided
  to the student, the school district is not required to provide the
  accelerated instruction to the student for that school year.
         (i-2)  The admission, review, and dismissal committee of a
  student who participates in a district's special education program
  under Subchapter A, Chapter 29, and for whom an accelerated
  education plan is required under Subsection (b) shall develop the
  accelerated education plan for the student and must determine the
  manner in which the student will participate in an accelerated
  instruction program under this section. To the extent consistent
  with federal law, the accelerated education plan may not be
  considered to be part of the student's individualized education
  program and is not subject to the requirements of Section 29.005 or
  20 U.S.C. Section 1414(d) relating to the development of an
  individualized education program. A parent or guardian of a
  student for whom an accelerated education plan is developed under
  this subsection may contest the content or implementation of the
  plan only through the grievance procedure adopted under Subsection
  (f-3).
         (j)  A school district or open-enrollment charter school
  shall provide students required to attend accelerated programs
  under this section with transportation to those programs if the
  programs occur outside of regular school hours, unless the district
  or school does not operate, or contract or agree with another entity
  to operate, a transportation system.
         (n)  Except as requested under Subsection (a-5) or provided
  by Subsection (n-1), a student for whom an accelerated education
  plan must be developed [who fails to perform satisfactorily on an
  assessment instrument specified] under Subsection (b) [(a) and is
  promoted to the next grade level] must be assigned, in each [the
  subsequent] school year and [in each] subject covered by the
  accelerated education plan, [in which the student failed to perform
  satisfactorily on an assessment instrument specified under
  Subsection (a)] to an appropriately certified teacher who meets all
  state and federal qualifications to teach that subject and grade.
         SECTION 3.  Section 29.0881(e), Education Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (e)  A school district or open-enrollment charter school
  that receives grant funds under this section may use the funds to:
               (1)  financially support or train or otherwise prepare
  educators and other staff;
               (2)  pay for agreements with other entities to provide
  prekindergarten services; or
               (3)  pay for accelerated instruction provided under
  Section 28.0211 [or 28.0217].
         SECTION 4.  Section 39.025(b-1), Education Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (b-1)  A school district shall provide each student who fails
  to perform satisfactorily as determined by the commissioner under
  Section 39.0241(a) on an end-of-course assessment instrument with
  accelerated instruction under Section 28.0211 [28.0217] in the
  subject assessed by the assessment instrument.
         SECTION 5.  The following provisions of the Education Code
  are repealed:
               (1)  Sections 28.0211(c), (f-4), (f-5), (o), and (p);
  and
               (2)  Section 28.0217.
         SECTION 6.  The changes in law made by this Act to Section
  28.0211, Education Code, apply beginning with assessment
  instruments administered during the 2023 spring semester.
         SECTION 7.  The repeal by this Act of Section 28.0217,
  Education Code, applies beginning with the 2023-2024 school year.
         SECTION 8.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2023.