By: Campbell, Middleton S.B. No. 2368
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the minimum number of instructional days provided by
  public schools.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 25.081, Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 25.081.  OPERATION OF SCHOOLS.  (a)  Except as
  authorized under Subsection (a-1) or (b) of this section, Section
  25.0815, Section 25.084, or Section 29.0821, for each school year
  each school district must operate:
               (1)  for a minimum of 175 instructional days; and 
               (2)  for at least 75,600 minutes of operation,
  including time allocated for instruction, intermissions, and
  recesses for students.
         (a-1)  Subsection (a)(1) does not apply to a school district
  with a student enrollment of less than 7,000.
         (b)  The commissioner may approve the operation of schools
  for fewer than the number of instructional days or minutes of
  operation required under Subsection (a) if disaster, flood, extreme
  weather conditions, fuel curtailment, or another calamity causes
  the closing of schools.
         (c)  If the commissioner does not approve reduced
  instructional days or minutes of operation [time] under Subsection
  (b), a school district may add additional instructional days to the
  school year or minutes of operation to the end of the district's
  normal school hours as necessary to compensate for instructional
  days or minutes of operation lost due to school closures caused by
  disaster, flood, extreme weather conditions, fuel curtailment, or
  another calamity.
         (d)  The commissioner may adopt rules to implement this
  section, including rules:
               (1)  [for the application, on the basis of the minimum
  minutes of operation required by Subsection (a), of any provision
  of this title that refers to a minimum number of days of instruction
  under this section;
               [(2)]  to determine the minutes of operation that are
  equivalent to a day;
               (2) [(3)]  defining minutes of operation and
  instructional time; and
               (3) [(4)] establishing the minimum number of minutes of
  instructional time required for a full-day and a half-day program
  to meet the time requirements under Subsection (a).
         (e)  A school district or education program is exempt from
  the minimum required instructional days or minutes of operation
  [requirement] if the district's or program's average daily
  attendance is calculated under Section 48.005(j).
         (f)  The commissioner may proportionally reduce the amount
  of funding a district receives under Chapter 46, 48, or 49 and the
  average daily attendance calculation for the district if the
  district operates on a calendar that provides fewer instructional
  days or minutes of operation than required under Subsection (a).
         (g)  A school district may not provide student instruction on
  Memorial Day.  If a school district would be required to provide
  student instruction on Memorial Day to compensate for instructional
  days or minutes of operation [instruction] lost because of school
  closures caused by disaster, flood, extreme weather conditions,
  fuel curtailment, or another calamity, the commissioner shall
  approve the instruction of students for fewer than the number of
  instructional days or minutes of operation required under
  Subsection (a).
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter C, Chapter 25, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 25.0813 to read as follows:
         Sec. 25.0813.  MAINTENANCE OF FOUR-DAY SCHOOL WEEK SCHEDULE.  
  Notwithstanding any other law, a school district that adopted a
  four-day school week schedule for the 2022-2023 school year may
  maintain a four-day school week schedule in each subsequent school
  year.
         SECTION 3.  Sections 25.0815(a) and (b), Education Code, are
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  The commissioner shall provide a waiver allowing for
  fewer instructional days and fewer minutes of operation [and
  instructional time] than required under Section 25.081(a) for a
  school district that requires each educator employed by the
  district to attend an approved school safety training course.
         (b)  A waiver under this section:
               (1)  must allow sufficient time for the school
  district's educators to attend the school safety training course;
  and
               (2)  may not:
                     (A)  result in an inadequate number of minutes of
  instructional time for students; or
                     (B)  reduce:
                           (i)  the number of instructional days by
  more than one day; or 
                           (ii)  the number of minutes of operation
  [and instructional time] by more than 420 minutes.
         SECTION 4.  Section 29.026(e), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (e)  A program under this section may:
               (1)  alter the length of the school day or school year
  or the number of instructional days or the minutes of operation
  allocated to  instruction for [received by] students;
               (2)  coordinate services with private or
  community-based providers;
               (3)  allow the enrollment of students without
  disabilities or with other disabilities, if approved by the
  commissioner; and
               (4)  adopt staff qualifications and staff to student
  ratios that differ from the applicable requirements of this title.
         SECTION 5.  Section 29.0822(c), Education Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (c)  Except in the case of a course designed for a student
  described by Subsection (a)(3) or enrolled in a course described by
  Subsection (b)(4), a course offered in a program under this section
  must provide for at least the same number of instructional hours as
  required for a course offered in a program that meets the required
  minimum number of instructional days [minutes of operation] under
  Section 25.081.
         SECTION 6.  Section 29.162(a), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (a)  The commissioner may adopt rules for this subchapter,
  including rules establishing full-day and half-day instructional
  days and minutes of operation requirements as provided by Section
  25.081.
         SECTION 7.  Section 37.011(f), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (f)  A juvenile justice alternative education program must
  operate at least seven hours per day and 175 [180] days per year,
  except that a program may apply to the Texas Juvenile Justice
  Department for a waiver of the 175-day [180-day] requirement.  The
  department may not grant a waiver to a program under this subsection
  for a number of days that exceeds the highest number of
  instructional days waived by the commissioner during the same
  school year for a school district served by the program.
         SECTION 8.  Sections 48.005(i), (j), and (m), Education
  Code, are amended to read as follows:
         (i)  A district or a charter school operating under Chapter
  12 that operates a prekindergarten program is eligible to receive
  one-half of average daily attendance under Subsection (a) if the
  district's or charter school's prekindergarten program provides at
  least 32,400 minutes of instructional time to students over the
  minimum required number of instructional days.
         (j)  A district or charter school is eligible to earn full
  average daily attendance under Subsection (a) if the district or
  school provides at least 43,200 minutes of instructional time
  during a school year to students enrolled in:
               (1)  a dropout recovery school or program operating
  under Section 12.1141(c) or Section 39.0548;
               (2)  an alternative education program operating under
  Section 37.008;
               (3)  a school program located at a day treatment
  facility, residential treatment facility, psychiatric hospital, or
  medical hospital;
               (4)  a school program offered at a correctional
  facility; or
               (5)  a school operating under Subchapter G, Chapter 12.
         (m)  The commissioner shall adopt rules necessary to
  implement this section, including rules that:
               (1)  establish the minimum amount of instructional time
  per day that allows a school district or charter school to be
  eligible for full average daily attendance, which may differ based
  on the instructional program offered by the district or charter
  school;
               (2)  establish the requirements necessary for a school
  district or charter school to be eligible for one-half of average
  daily attendance, which may differ based on the instructional
  program offered by the district or charter school;
               (3)  proportionally reduce the average daily
  attendance for a school district if any campus or instructional
  program in the district provides to students fewer than the
  required minimum number of instructional days or minutes of
  operation [instruction to students]; and
               (4)  allow a grade or course repeated under Section
  28.02124 to qualify for average daily attendance even if the
  student previously passed or earned credit for the grade or course,
  if the grade or course would otherwise be eligible.
         SECTION 9.  Section 48.0051(a), Education Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (a)  Subject to Subsection (a-1), the commissioner shall
  adjust the average daily attendance of a school district or
  open-enrollment charter school under Section 48.005 in the manner
  provided by Subsection (b) if the district or school:
               (1)  provides the minimum number of minutes of
  operational and instructional time required under Section 25.081
  and commissioner rules adopted under that section over the minimum
  required number of instructional days or minutes of operation [at
  least 180 days of instruction]; and
               (2)  offers an additional 30 days of half-day
  instruction for students enrolled in prekindergarten through fifth
  grade.
         SECTION 10.  This Act applies beginning with the 2024-2025
  school year.
         SECTION 11.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.