89R13582 KJE-D

By: Schwertner S.B. No. 1826

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to career and technology education programs in public schools and the Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership (R-PEP) program, including funding for those programs under the Foundation School Program, and to the new instructional facility allotment and the permissible uses of funding under the Foundation School Program.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 29.182(b), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b) The state plan must include procedures designed to ensure that:

(1) all secondary and postsecondary students have the opportunity to participate in career and technology education programs;

(2) the state complies with requirements for supplemental federal career and technology education funding;

(3) career and technology education is established as a part of the total education system of this state and constitutes an option for student learning that provides a rigorous course of study consistent with the required curriculum under Section 28.002 and under which a student may receive specific education in a career and technology program that:

(A) incorporates competencies leading to academic and technical skill attainment;

(B) leads to:

(i) an industry-recognized license, credential, or certificate; or

(ii) at the postsecondary level, an associate or baccalaureate degree;

(C) includes opportunities for students to earn college credit for coursework; and

(D) includes, as an integral part of the program, participation by students and teachers in activities of career and technical student organizations supported by the agency and the State Board of Education; [and]

(4) a school district provides, to the greatest extent possible, to a student participating in a career and technology education program opportunities to enroll in dual credit courses designed to lead to a degree, license, or certification as part of the program; and

(5) a course of study offered under a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program established under 10 U.S.C. Section 2031 is considered a career and technology education program.

SECTION 2. Section 29.190(a-1), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a-1) A student may not receive more than two subsidies [one subsidy] under this section.

SECTION 3. Subchapter Z, Chapter 29, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 29.9016 to read as follows:

Sec. 29.9016. MILITARY PATHWAY GRANT PROGRAM. (a) The agency shall establish a grant program to provide money to school districts to implement a program under which the district:

(1) establishes a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program under 10 U.S.C. Section 2031 for students enrolled in high school in the district;

(2) annually administers the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test to each student participating in the program described by Subdivision (1); and

(3) provides career counseling at least once per year to each student administered the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test under Subdivision (2) based on the results of the test.

(b) The amount of each grant awarded under the grant program is $50,000.

(c) The total amount of grants awarded under the grant program for a school year may not exceed $2 million.

SECTION 4. Section 29.912, Education Code, is amended by adding Subsection (c-1) and amending Subsection (j) to read as follows:

(c-1) A school district that has participated in the program may continue to participate in the program regardless of the number of students in average daily attendance in the district for the current school year.

(j) The commissioner shall make grants available for use by a coordinating entity for a two-year period to assist with costs associated with the planning, development, establishment, or expansion, as applicable, of partnerships under the program using [a portion of state funds allocated under Section 48.118 as well as] money appropriated for that purpose, federal funds, and any other funds available. The commissioner may award a grant only to a coordinating entity that has entered into a performance agreement approved under Subsection (i) or, if in the planning stage, has entered into a memorandum of understanding to enter into a performance agreement, unless the source of funds does not permit a grant to the coordinating entity, in which case the grant shall be made to a participating school district acting as fiscal agent. Eligible use of grant funds shall include planning, development, establishment, or expansion of partnerships under the program. The commissioner may use not more than 15 percent of the money allocated for the grants to cover the cost of administering grants awarded under the program and to provide technical assistance and support to partnerships under the program. The total amount of grants awarded under this subsection for a school year may not exceed $5 million.

SECTION 5. Section 45.105(c), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(c) Local school funds from district taxes, tuition fees of students not entitled to a free education, other local sources, and state funds not designated for a specific purpose may be used for the purposes listed for state and county available funds and for purchasing appliances and supplies, paying insurance premiums, paying janitors and other employees, buying school sites, buying, building, repairing, and renting school buildings, including acquiring school buildings and sites by leasing through annual payments with an ultimate option to purchase, providing advising support as described by Section 48.0035(1), and educating students as described by Section 48.0035(2), and, except as provided by Subsection (c-1), for other purposes necessary in the conduct of the public schools determined by the board of trustees. The accounts and vouchers for county districts must be approved by the county superintendent. If the state available school fund in any municipality or district is sufficient to maintain the schools in any year for at least eight months and leave a surplus, the surplus may be spent for the purposes listed in this subsection.

SECTION 6. Subchapter A, Chapter 48, Education Code, is amended by adding Sections 48.0035 and 48.0055 to read as follows:

Sec. 48.0035. USE OF FUNDING FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES. A school district may use funding to which the district is entitled under this chapter to:

(1) provide district graduates, during the first two years after high school graduation, advising support toward the successful completion of a certificate or degree program at a public institution of higher education or a postsecondary vocational training program; and

(2) educate a student who has graduated from high school but is enrolled in the district in a program through which the student may earn dual credit, including the Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) program under Subchapter N, Chapter 29, and the Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership (R-PEP) program under Section 29.912.

Sec. 48.0055. ENROLLMENT-BASED FUNDING. The commissioner by rule shall establish the method for determining average enrollment for purposes of funding provided based on average enrollment under Chapter 46 and this chapter.

SECTION 7. Section 48.106, Education Code, is amended by amending Subsection (a-1) and adding Subsection (a-2) to read as follows:

(a-1) In addition to the amounts under Subsection (a), for each student in average enrollment [daily attendance], a district is entitled to $150 [$50] for each of the following in which the student is enrolled:

(1) a campus designated as a P-TECH school under Section 29.556; or

(2) a campus that is a member of the New Tech Network and that focuses on project-based learning and work-based education.

(a-2) A district is entitled to funding under Subsection (a-1) for a student who has graduated from high school but is enrolled in the district in a program offered under Subchapter N, Chapter 29, through which the student may earn dual credit. The district is not entitled to any other funding under this chapter for a student described by this subsection.

SECTION 8. Sections 48.106(b)(1) and (1-a), Education Code, are amended to read as follows:

(1) "Approved career and technology education program":

(A) means:

(i) a sequence of career and technology education courses, including technology applications courses, authorized by the State Board of Education; and

(ii) courses offered under a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program established under 10 U.S.C. Section 2031; and

(B) includes only courses that qualify for high school credit.

(1-a) "Approved program of study" means a course sequence that:

(A) provides students with the knowledge and skills necessary for success in the students' chosen careers, including the military; and

(B) is approved by the agency for purposes of the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Pub. L. No. 115-224).

SECTION 9. Section 48.118, Education Code, is amended by amending Subsections (a) and (f) and adding Subsections (a-1), (a-2), (a-3), and (g) to read as follows:

(a) Subject to Subsection (a-1), for [For] each full-time equivalent student in average daily attendance in grades 9 through 12 in a college or career pathway offered through a partnership under the Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership (R-PEP) program under Section 29.912 who meets the requirements under Subsection (g), a school district is entitled to an allotment equal to the basic allotment, or, if applicable, the sum of the basic allotment and the allotment under Section 48.101 to which the district is entitled, multiplied by:

(1) 1.15 if the student is educationally disadvantaged; or

(2) 1.11 if the student is not educationally disadvantaged.

(a-1) A school district is eligible to receive an allotment under Subsection (a) only if the district has adopted a school calendar for that school year that provides for at least:

(1) 175 instructional days; or

(2) five instructional days per week for the majority of the school year.

(a-2) The commissioner may waive the requirement under Subsection (a-1) for a school district for the 2025-2026 school year on application by the district if the district demonstrates that the district has adopted a school calendar for the 2026-2027 school year that complies with that subsection. This subsection expires September 1, 2026.

(a-3) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a school district described by Section 29.912(c-1) may receive funding under this section for up to 110 percent of the number of students who qualified under Subsection (a) for the school year immediately preceding the school year in which the district's enrollment first reached 1,600 or more.

(f) The total amount of state funding for allotments and outcomes bonuses under this section may not exceed $20 [$5] million per year. If the total amount of allotments and outcomes bonuses to which school districts are entitled under this section exceeds the amount permitted under this subsection, the agency shall allocate state funding to districts under this section in the following order:

(1) [allotments under Subsection (a) for which school districts participating in partnerships prioritized under Section 29.912(h) are eligible;

[(2)] allotments under Subsection (a) for which school districts that entered into a memorandum of understanding or letter of commitment regarding a multidistrict pathway partnership, as defined by commissioner rule, before May 1, 2023, are eligible;

(2) [(3)] allotments under Subsection (a) for which school districts that have entered into a performance agreement under Section 29.912 with a coordinating entity that is an institution of higher education, as defined by Section 61.003, are eligible; and

(3) [(4)] allotments under Subsection (a) for which school districts with the highest percentage of students who are educationally disadvantaged, in descending order, are eligible[; and

[(5) outcomes bonuses under Subsection (c) for which school districts with the highest percentage of students who are educationally disadvantaged, in descending order, are eligible].

(g) To be eligible for funding under this section, a partnership under the Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership (R-PEP) program under Section 29.912 must offer at least one of the following programs of study through in-person instruction, remote instruction, or a hybrid of in-person and remote instruction:

(1) computer programming and software development or cybersecurity; or

(2) a specialized skilled trade, such as:

(A) plumbing and pipefitting;

(B) electrical;

(C) welding;

(D) diesel and heavy equipment;

(E) aviation maintenance; or

(F) applied agricultural engineering.

SECTION 10. Section 48.152(a)(2), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(2) "New instructional facility" includes:

(A) a newly constructed instructional facility;

(B) a repurposed instructional facility; [and]

(C) a leased facility operating for the first time as an instructional facility with a minimum lease term of not less than 10 years; and

(D) a renovated portion of an instructional facility to be used for the first time to provide high-cost and undersubscribed career and technology education programs, as determined by the commissioner.

SECTION 11. Section 48.152(f), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(f) The amount appropriated for allotments under this section may not exceed $150 [$100] million in a school year. If the total amount of allotments to which districts are entitled under this section for a school year exceeds the amount appropriated under this subsection, the commissioner:

(1) shall reduce each district's allotment under this section in the manner provided by Section 48.266(f); and

(2) for new instructional facilities described by Subsection (a)(2)(D), may remove a career and technology education program from the list of programs that qualify under that subsection.

SECTION 12. Sections 29.912(h) and 48.118(b), (c), and (d), Education Code, are repealed.

SECTION 13. Section 29.9016, Education Code, as added by this Act, and Section 29.912, Education Code, as amended by this Act, apply beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.

SECTION 14. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) or (c) of this section, 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, 2025.

(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c) of this section, the amendments by this Act to Chapter 48, Education Code, take effect September 1, 2025.

(c) Section 48.118(g), Education Code, as added by this Act, takes effect September 1, 2027.