By: King of Hemphill H.B. No. 2811
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a revision of the essential knowledge and skills of the
public school foundation curriculum, the instructional materials
allotment, and proclamations for the production of instructional
materials.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 28, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 28.0025 to read as follows:
Sec. 28.0025. REVIEW AND REVISION OF ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE
AND SKILLS. (a) The State Board of Education shall:
(1) conduct a review of the essential knowledge and
skills for the foundation curriculum adopted under Section
28.002(a)(1); and
(2) revise the essential knowledge and skills for that
curriculum to narrow the number and scope of student expectations
for each subject and grade level in accordance with this section.
(b) The scope of the essential knowledge and skills for each
subject and grade level of the foundation curriculum must:
(1) be more narrow than the scope of the essential
knowledge and skills adopted as of January 1, 2015; and
(2) require less time for a demonstration of mastery
than required for the essential knowledge and skills adopted as of
January 1, 2015.
(c) In complying with this section, the State Board of
Education shall:
(1) ensure that a revision of the essential knowledge
and skills for the foundation curriculum does not result in a need
for the adoption of new instructional materials;
(2) consider for each subject and grade level, the
time:
(A) a teacher would require to provide
comprehensive instruction on a particular student expectation; and
(B) a typical student would require to master a
particular student expectation;
(3) determine whether, in light of the consideration
required by Subdivision (2), each essential knowledge and skill of
a subject can be comprehensively taught within the shorter of the
following periods:
(A) the number of school days available for
instruction before the date a state assessment instrument is
administered for the subject; or
(B) the number of school days required under
Section 25.081, not including the number of days required for
testing;
(4) determine whether the college and career readiness
standards have been appropriately integrated in the essential
knowledge and skills for each subject and grade level; and
(5) consider whether an assessment instrument
administered under Section 39.023 adequately assesses a particular
student expectation.
(d) Not later than September 1, 2018, the State Board of
Education shall complete the review and revision of the essential
knowledge and skills for each subject and grade level of the
foundation curriculum that was last revised before September 1,
2012.
(e) This section expires September 1, 2019.
SECTION 2. Section 31.002, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subdivision (1-b) to read as follows:
(1-b) "Proclamation" means a request for production of
instructional materials issued by the State Board of Education.
SECTION 3. Sections 31.0211(a) and (d), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) A school district is entitled to an [annual] allotment
each biennium from the state instructional materials fund for each
student enrolled in the district on a date during the last year of
the preceding biennium [school year] specified by the
commissioner. The commissioner shall determine the amount of the
allotment per student each biennium [year] on the basis of the
amount of money available in the state instructional materials fund
to fund the allotment. An allotment under this section shall be
transferred from the state instructional materials fund to the
credit of the district's instructional materials account as
provided by Section 31.0212.
(d) Each biennium [year] a school district shall use the
district's allotment under this section to purchase, in the
following order:
(1) instructional materials necessary to permit the
district to certify that the district has instructional materials
that cover all elements of the essential knowledge and skills of the
required curriculum, other than physical education, for each grade
level as required by Section 28.002; and
(2) any other instructional materials or
technological equipment as determined by the district.
SECTION 4. Section 31.0212(a), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The commissioner shall maintain an instructional
materials account for each school district. In the first year of
each biennium [Each school year], the commissioner shall deposit in
the account for each district the amount of the district's
instructional materials allotment under Section 31.0211.
SECTION 5. Sections 31.0215(a) and (b), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) The commissioner shall, as early as practicable during
each biennium [fiscal year], notify each school district and
open-enrollment charter school of the estimated amount to which the
district or charter school will be entitled under Section 31.0211
during the next fiscal biennium [year].
(b) The commissioner may allow a school district or
open-enrollment charter school to place an order for instructional
materials before the beginning of a fiscal biennium [year] and to
receive instructional materials before payment. The commissioner
shall limit the cost of an order placed under this section to 80
percent of the estimated amount to which a school district or
open-enrollment charter school is estimated to be entitled as
provided by Subsection (a) and shall first credit any balance in a
district or charter school instructional materials account to pay
for an order placed under this section.
SECTION 6. Section 31.022, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (b-1), (b-2), and (b-3) and amending Subsection
(f) to read as follows:
(b-1) For any state fiscal biennium, the board may only
issue proclamations for instructional materials in which the total
projected cost of instructional materials under the proclamations
does not exceed 75 percent of the total amount used to fund the
instructional materials allotment under Section 31.0211 for that
biennium.
(b-2) Following the adoption of revised essential knowledge
and skills for any subject, the board shall determine whether
issuance of a proclamation is necessary based on the significance
of the changes to the essential knowledge and skills. If the board
determines a proclamation is necessary, the board shall issue:
(1) a full call for instructional materials aligned to
all of the essential knowledge and skills for the subject and grade
level;
(2) a supplemental call for instructional materials
aligned to new or expanded essential knowledge and skills for the
subject and grade level;
(3) a call for new information demonstrating alignment
of current instructional materials to the revised essential
knowledge and skills; or
(4) any combination of the calls described by
Subdivisions (1), (2), and (3).
(b-3) In determining the disbursement of money to the
available school fund and the amount of that disbursement that will
be used, in accordance with Section 43.001(d), to fund the
instructional materials allotment under Section 31.0211, the board
must consider the cost of all instructional materials and
technology requirements for that state fiscal biennium.
(f) The board shall amend any proclamation [request for
production] issued for the purchase of instructional materials to
conform to the instructional materials funding levels provided by
the General Appropriations Act for the year of implementation and
to comply with Subsection (b-1).
SECTION 7. Section 43.001(d), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(d) Each biennium [year] the State Board of Education shall
set aside an amount equal to 50 percent of the [annual] distribution
for that biennium [year] from the permanent school fund to the
available school fund as provided by Section 5(a), Article VII,
Texas Constitution, to be placed, subject to the General
Appropriations Act, in the state instructional materials fund
established under Section 31.021.
SECTION 8. Section 403.093(d), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(d) The comptroller shall transfer from the general revenue
fund to the foundation school fund an amount of money necessary to
fund the foundation school program as provided by Chapter 42,
Education Code. The comptroller shall make the transfers in
installments as necessary to comply with Section 42.259, Education
Code, and permit the Texas Education Agency, to the extent
authorized by the General Appropriations Act, to make temporary
transfers from the foundation school fund for payment of the
instructional materials allotment under Section 31.0211, Education
Code. Unless an earlier date is necessary for purposes of temporary
transfers for payment of the instructional materials allotment, an
[An] installment must be made not earlier than two days before the
date an installment to school districts is required by Section
42.259, Education Code, and must not exceed the amount necessary
for that payment and any temporary transfers for payment of the
instructional materials allotment.
SECTION 9. Sections 31.101(d) and (e), Education Code, are
repealed.
SECTION 10. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.