83R10171 PAM-F
By: Van de Putte S.B. No. 1127
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to evaluating the performance, including computing
dropout and completion rates, of public schools, including schools
designated as dropout recovery schools and residential facilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 39.053, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (g-1) and adding Subsection (g-2) to read as
follows:
(g-1) In computing dropout and completion rates under
Subsection (c)(2), the commissioner may not consider as a dropout a
student [shall exclude]:
(1) [students] who is [are] ordered by a court to
attend a high school equivalency certificate program but who has
[have] not yet earned a high school equivalency certificate;
(2) [students] who was [were] previously reported to
the state as a dropout [dropouts];
(3) who is [students] in attendance but who is [are]
not in membership for purposes of average daily attendance;
(4) [students] whose initial enrollment in a school in
the United States in grades 7 through 12 was as an unschooled
refugee [refugees] or asylee [asylees] as defined by Section
39.027(a-1);
(5) [students] who is [are] in the district
exclusively as a function of having been detained at a county
detention facility but is [are] otherwise not a student [students]
of the district in which the facility is located; and
(6) [students] who is [are] incarcerated in a state
jail or [jails and] federal penitentiary [penitentiaries] as an
adult or as a person [adults and as persons] certified to stand
trial as an adult [adults].
(g-2) Notwithstanding Subsection (c)(2), in computing
completion rates under that subdivision, the commissioner shall
include any student described by Subsection (g-1) who graduates,
continues attending school into the next academic year, or receives
a high school equivalency certificate.
SECTION 2. Section 39.054, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (d-2) to read as follows:
(d-2) In evaluating performance of a dropout recovery
school designated under Section 39.0545 or a campus or
open-enrollment charter school that is a residential facility, the
commissioner shall assign a performance rating in accordance with
Subsection (a), provided that the commissioner shall adjust the
criteria on which performance is evaluated under Subsection (b) to
appropriately evaluate the student population served by the dropout
recovery school or residential facility, as appropriate.
SECTION 3. Subchapter C, Chapter 39, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 39.0545 to read as follows:
Sec. 39.0545. EVALUATING DROPOUT RECOVERY SCHOOLS. (a)
For purposes of evaluating performance under Section 39.053(c), the
commissioner shall designate as a dropout recovery school a school
district or an open-enrollment charter school or a campus of a
district or of an open-enrollment charter school:
(1) that has an enrollment of which at least 50 percent
of the students are 17 years of age or older as of the fall semester
Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) submission;
and
(2) that is registered under alternative education
accountability procedures adopted by the commissioner.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 39.053(c)(2), the commissioner
shall adopt an alternative computation for the student achievement
indicator under Section 39.053(c)(2) for a dropout recovery school.
The computation of the completion rate shall be the ratio of the
total number of students who graduate, continue attending school
into the next academic year, or receive a high school equivalency
certificate to the total number of students.
(c) For a dropout recovery school, only the best result from
the primary administration and any retake of an assessment
instrument administered to a student in the school year evaluated
under the accountability procedures adopted by the commissioner may
be considered in determining the performance rating of the school
under Section 39.054.
SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 2013-2014
school year.
SECTION 5. 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, 2013.