83R8261 GCB-F
By: Dutton H.B. No. 1957
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the establishment of the recovery school district.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 39, Education Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter E-1 to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER E-1. RECOVERY SCHOOL DISTRICT
Sec. 39.131. ESTABLISHMENT OF RECOVERY SCHOOL DISTRICT.
The recovery school district is established to provide an
appropriate education for students attending any public elementary
or secondary school campus operated under the prior jurisdiction of
an independent school district that has been transferred to the
jurisdiction of the district under Section 39.107(e).
Sec. 39.1311. DEFINITION. In this subchapter, "prior
system" means the independent school district of which a school
transferred to the recovery school district is a part.
Sec. 39.1312. ADMINISTRATION OF RECOVERY SCHOOL DISTRICT;
SUPERINTENDENT. (a) The commissioner shall appoint a qualified
individual as superintendent to administer the recovery school
district.
(b) The recovery school district may provide for the
supervision, management, and operation of a school placed under the
district's jurisdiction and may receive, control, and spend the
local, state, and federal funding attributable to that school with
all the same authority as the prior system from which the school was
transferred.
(c) The recovery school district may contract with
for-profit providers for the general operation of and any needed
services for a school under the district's jurisdiction.
(d) In providing for the operation of schools within the
district's jurisdiction, at any time the district seeks
participation by a college or university or a consortium of
colleges and universities to provide for the operation of any
school or group of schools, the district shall include an
opportunity for participation by colleges and universities that
historically were established to provide education for African
American students in this state.
Sec. 39.1313. SUNSET PROVISION. The recovery school
district is subject to Chapter 325, Government Code (Texas Sunset
Act). Unless continued in existence as provided by that chapter,
the district is abolished September 1, 2025.
Sec. 39.132. FINANCIAL POWERS. (a) The recovery school
district may:
(1) seek, spend, manage, and retain federal funding
and grant funding in the same manner as an independent school
district;
(2) spend, manage, and retain funding with the same
authority as an independent school district; and
(3) maintain and manage fund balances.
(b) The recovery school district may not impose an ad
valorem tax.
(c) Expenditures of funds are subject to the requirements of
the Foundation School Program formulas that apply to a public
school and are subject to audit in the same manner.
Sec. 39.1321. PROCUREMENT. (a) The recovery school
district has the same authority and autonomy afforded to an
independent school district under state law regarding the
procurement of:
(1) services, including personal, professional,
consulting, and social services; and
(2) property.
(b) The recovery school district is not required to use or
obtain the approval of any state agency, including the Texas
Facilities Commission, comptroller, or Department of Information
Resources, when procuring data processing and telecommunications
goods or services or materials, supplies, or major repairs or in the
disposition of property, except that the district shall comply with
all other applicable provisions of Subtitles D, E, and F, Title 10,
Government Code, regarding such procurement and disposition of
property.
(c) The recovery school district may require an independent
school district to provide school support or student support
services for a school transferred from the school district's
jurisdiction, including student transportation, school food
service, or student assessment for special education eligibility,
that are compliant with all laws and regulations governing such
services. In such case, the recovery school district shall
reimburse the actual cost to the independent school district
providing such services. If a dispute arises between the recovery
school district and the independent school district providing such
services regarding the cost of the services to be reimbursed, the
comptroller shall determine the cost to be reimbursed.
Sec. 39.1322. USE OF SCHOOL FACILITIES. (a) The recovery
school district may use any school building and any facility or
property otherwise part of the school and recognized as part of the
facilities or assets of the school before the school was
transferred to the recovery school district, and has access to such
additional facilities as were typically available to the school and
the school's students, faculty, and staff before the school's
transfer to the recovery school district.
(b) The use of school facilities or property under
Subsection (a) may not be restricted, except that the recovery
school district is responsible for and shall provide for routine
maintenance and repair so that the facilities and property are
maintained in as good an order as when the right of use was acquired
by the district. The district is not required to provide for the
type of extensive repair to buildings or facilities that would be
considered to be a capital expense. Such extensive repairs shall be
provided by the prior system that is responsible for the facility.
Sec. 39.133. MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS FUNDING. (a) The
legislature shall annually appropriate sufficient money to fund
each school in the recovery school district in an amount equal to
the school's average daily attendance multiplied by the state share
per student as provided under the Foundation School Program for the
independent school district in which the school is located. The
appropriation shall be made to the agency for the district and may
be expended by the agency only for the provision of services to
students in the district.
(b) In addition to the appropriation required by Subsection
(a), the independent school district that had jurisdiction of a
school before the school's transfer to the recovery school district
shall annually allocate and transfer to the recovery school
district an amount of money equal to the number of students in
average daily attendance at the school multiplied by the per
student amount received by the independent school district from
maintenance and operations taxes, less the costs of assessing and
collecting the taxes.
(c) For each school transferred to the jurisdiction of the
recovery school district, the commissioner shall reduce the amount
of state funds otherwise to be allocated under the Foundation
School Program to the independent school district from which the
school was transferred by an amount equal to the amount provided
under Subsection (a) for that school.
(d) If there are insufficient funds available to provide the
total due the recovery school district under this section after all
state funds are reduced and allocated to the district, each prior
system shall transfer a sufficient amount of money from the
district's maintenance and operations tax revenue to the district.
If the prior system's maintenance and operations tax revenue is
insufficient to allow the prior system, after allocating funds to
the district, to maintain a minimum balance of 10 percent of the
state Foundation School Program funding to which the prior system
would otherwise be entitled and 10 percent of the maintenance and
operations tax revenue that the prior system would otherwise
retain, local revenue otherwise required to be allocated to the
district shall be reduced to an amount necessary to allow the prior
system to maintain such balances.
(e) All amounts to be appropriated or allocated and
transferred under this section shall be estimated by the
commissioner based on the most recent local revenue data and
projected student counts available. Allocations to be transferred
shall be adjusted during the year as necessary to reflect actual
student counts and actual prior year local revenue collections.
(f) Except for administrative costs, money appropriated to
the recovery school district that is attributable to the transfer
of a school from a prior system and money allocated or transferred
from the prior system to the district may be expended solely on the
operation of schools transferred from the prior system to the
jurisdiction of the district.
Sec. 39.134. PERSONNEL. (a) The recovery school district
may employ such staff members as the superintendent considers
necessary.
(b) At the time of the transfer of a school to the recovery
school district, each certified teacher with regular and direct
responsibility for providing classroom instruction who is employed
in the transferred school by the prior system shall be given
priority consideration for employment in the same or a comparable
position by the district. Each person employed by the prior system
in a transferred school may choose to remain in the employment of
the prior system and, in that case, the prior system shall retain
and reassign such person consistent with its contractual
obligations or policies regarding the retention and reassignment of
employees.
(c) Benefits and privileges of a person employed in a school
by the recovery school district who was employed by the prior system
at the time the school was transferred to the district's
jurisdiction shall be the same as those required by law for
employees of the prior system.
(d) A person employed by the recovery school district in a
school who was employed by the prior system at the time the school
was transferred to the district's jurisdiction, for the purposes of
permanent status and the retention on return to employment in the
prior system of any employment benefit or right that requires
continuous service or that becomes vested based on years of
service, or both, shall be granted an approved leave of absence from
the prior system for the period the school is under the jurisdiction
of the recovery school district in order to be employed by the
district. The period any employee is on such leave shall be
considered service time by the prior system at any time the employee
returns to the prior system's employment. Such approved leave shall
not require the prior system to provide for benefits during the time
the employee on leave is employed by the recovery school district.
(e) The benefits and privileges of any person employed in a
school by the recovery school district who was not employed by the
prior system at the time the school was transferred to the
jurisdiction of the district shall be determined at the time of such
employment by the superintendent in compliance with any requirement
of any applicable contract or requirement of law.
Sec. 39.135. ENROLLMENT. (a) Except as otherwise provided
by this section, only a student who would have been eligible to
enroll in or attend a school before the school's transfer to the
recovery school district may attend the school after it is
transferred to the jurisdiction of the district.
(b) A student who is eligible to participate in a school
choice program established by the prior system shall be permitted
to enroll in any school operated under the jurisdiction of the
recovery school district that has sufficient capacity in the
appropriate grade level.
(c) The recovery school district may permit any student
eligible to attend any school in the prior system to attend a school
operated by the district in the area of the prior system.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the
contrary, the recovery school district and a prior system that has
had one or more schools transferred to the district shall enter into
a cooperative agreement to allow any student enrolled in a school
under each district's respective jurisdiction to enroll in a school
under the jurisdiction of the other, provided the school in which
the student seeks to enroll has sufficient capacity at the
appropriate grade level.
(e) The commissioner shall determine a school's maximum
capacity by grade level for purposes of this section.
(f) This section does not limit the authority of the
recovery school district or an independent school district to
establish attendance zones for the schools under each district's
respective jurisdiction in accordance with established policy and
any federal court order, judgment, or consent decree.
Sec. 39.136. COMMUNITY OUTREACH PLAN. (a) The
superintendent of the recovery school district shall develop a
community outreach plan to engage parents and community leaders in
the successful operation and academic improvement of all schools
under the district's jurisdiction and to solicit input on any
proposed changes in school governance or the establishment of any
new school site.
(b) Not later than December 15, 2014, the superintendent
shall submit the community outreach plan to the State Board of
Education, the Senate Education Committee, and the House Public
Education Committee. The recovery school district shall implement
the plan for use in the 2014-2015 school year and thereafter. This
subsection expires September 1, 2015.
SECTION 2. The heading to Section 39.107, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 39.107. RECONSTITUTION; TRANSFER TO RECOVERY SCHOOL
DISTRICT [, REPURPOSING, ALTERNATIVE MANAGEMENT, AND CLOSURE].
SECTION 3. Section 39.107, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (c), (e), and (e-1) and adding Subsection
(e-4) to read as follows:
(c) A campus subject to Subsection (a) shall implement the
updated targeted improvement plan as approved by the
commissioner. [The commissioner may appoint a monitor,
conservator, management team, or board of managers to the district
to ensure and oversee district-level support to low-performing
campuses and the implementation of the updated targeted improvement
plan. In making appointments under this subsection, the
commissioner shall consider individuals who have demonstrated
success in managing campuses with student populations similar to
the campus at which the individual appointed will serve.]
(e) If a campus is considered to have an unacceptable
performance rating for the school year [three consecutive school
years] after the campus is reconstituted under Subsection (a), the
commissioner, subject to Subsection (e-1) [or (e-2)], shall
transfer the campus to the jurisdiction of the recovery school
district established under Subchapter E-1 [order:
[(1) repurposing of the campus under this section;
[(2) alternative management of the campus under this
section; or
[(3) closure of the campus].
(e-1) The commissioner may waive the requirement to
transfer a campus [enter an order] under Subsection (e) for not more
than one school year if the commissioner determines that, on the
basis of significant improvement in student performance over the
preceding two school years, the campus is likely to be assigned an
acceptable performance rating for the following school year.
(e-4) A campus transferred to the jurisdiction of the
recovery school district must remain under that district's
jurisdiction for at least three school years. Following each school
year, the commissioner shall, as provided by Section 39.108, review
the school's progress toward meeting academic standards. After the
third school year in which the campus is under the jurisdiction of
the recovery school district, the commissioner may return the
campus to the jurisdiction of the district from which the campus was
transferred if the commissioner finds that the campus:
(1) has met the requirements for acceptable
performance under Section 39.054; or
(2) in each year in which the campus has been under the
jurisdiction of the recovery school district, has made significant
progress, as determined by commissioner rule, toward meeting the
requirements for acceptable performance and is likely to be
assigned an acceptable performance rating for the following school
year.
SECTION 4. Sections 39.110 and 39.115, Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 39.110. COSTS PAID BY DISTRICT. The costs of providing
a [monitor, conservator, management team,] campus intervention
team, technical assistance team, [managing entity,] or service
provider under this subchapter shall be paid by the district. If
the district fails or refuses to pay the costs in a timely manner,
the commissioner may:
(1) pay the costs using amounts withheld from any
funds to which the district is otherwise entitled; or
(2) recover the amount of the costs in the manner
provided for recovery of an overallocation of state funds under
Section 42.258.
Sec. 39.115. CAMPUS NAME CHANGE PROHIBITED. In
[reconstituting, repurposing, or] imposing any [other]
intervention or sanction on a campus under this subchapter, the
commissioner may not require that the name of the campus be changed.
SECTION 5. Section 39.152(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) A school district or open-enrollment charter school
that intends to challenge a decision by the commissioner under this
chapter to transfer jurisdiction of a campus to the recovery school
district [close the district or a district campus or the charter
school or to pursue alternative management of a district campus or
the charter school] must appeal the decision under the procedures
provided for a contested case under Chapter 2001, Government Code.
SECTION 6. The following provisions of the Education Code
are repealed:
(1) Sections 39.107(d), (e-2), (e-3), (f), (g), (h),
(j), (k), (l), (m), (n), (o), (p), and (r); and
(2) Sections 39.111 and 39.112.
SECTION 7. The commissioner of education shall appoint the
superintendent of the recovery school district, as established
under Subchapter E-1, Chapter 39, Education Code, as added by this
Act, not later than January 2, 2014. The superintendent shall
ensure that the recovery school district is prepared to begin
operations with the 2014-2015 school year. For the 2013-2014 school
year, the commissioner may impose any sanction under Section
39.107, Education Code, as that section existed before amendment by
this Act. Beginning with the 2014-2015 school year, any campus that
meets the criteria for transfer to the jurisdiction of the recovery
school district under Section 39.107(e), Education Code, as amended
by this Act, shall be transferred to the district's jurisdiction.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.