By: King of Hemphill (Senate Sponsor - Seliger) H.B. No. 2811
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 2015;
May 13, 2015, read first time and referred to Committee on
Education; May 22, 2015, reported adversely, with favorable
Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 10, Nays 0;
May 22, 2015, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 2811 By: Seliger
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the essential knowledge and skills of the required
public school curriculum, the administration of and reports
relating to assessment instruments administered to public school
students, 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 MODIFICATION OF ESSENTIAL
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS. (a) The State Board of Education shall:
(1) conduct a review of the essential knowledge and
skills of each foundation curriculum subject under Section
28.002(a)(1) that were most recently revised by the board with an
effective date before September 1, 2012; and
(2) modify the essential knowledge and skills of each
foundation curriculum subject reviewed under Subdivision (1) to
narrow the content and scope of standards and skills for the subject
at each grade level in accordance with this section.
(b) In complying with this section, the State Board of
Education shall consider:
(1) at each grade level for each subject reviewed
under this section, the time:
(A) a teacher would require to provide
comprehensive instruction on a particular standard or skill; and
(B) a typical student would require to master a
particular standard or skill;
(2) whether, in light of the consideration required by
Subdivision (1), each essential knowledge and skill of a subject
reviewed under this section can be comprehensively taught within
the number of school days required under Section 25.081, not
including the number of days required for testing;
(3) the college and career readiness standards, and
whether inclusion of part of those standards in the essential
knowledge and skills of a subject reviewed under this section is
possible; and
(4) whether an assessment instrument administered
under Section 39.023 adequately assesses a particular standard or
skill.
(c) In establishing or following an established timeline
for reviewing and modifying the essential knowledge and skills as
required under this section, the State Board of Education shall
ensure that the timeline reflects a priority to first review and
modify a subject for which an end-of-course assessment instrument
under Section 39.023(c) is administered before a subject for which
an assessment instrument under Section 39.023(a) is administered.
The board shall complete the review and modification of the
essential knowledge and skills at each grade level for each
applicable subject as required under this section not later than
September 1, 2018.
(d) Until the review and modification under this section is
complete, the State Board of Education may not add to or modify the
content and scope of standards and skills for any subject in the
foundation curriculum under Section 28.002(a)(1) reviewed under
this section unless modifications are made in accordance with this
section.
(e) This section expires September 1, 2018.
SECTION 2. Section 28.008(d), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(d) The State Board of Education shall incorporate college
readiness standards and expectations approved by the commissioner
of education and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
under Subsection (b) into the essential knowledge and skills
identified by the board under Section 28.002(c). The State Board of
Education shall develop a chart that clearly indicates the
alignment of the college readiness standards and expectations with
the essential knowledge and skills identified by the board under
Section 28.002(c).
SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 28, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 28.0081 to read as follows:
Sec. 28.0081. ADMINISTRATION OF ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT FOR
DIAGNOSTIC PURPOSES. (a) Not later than April 1 of each school
year, a school district, using funds appropriated to the agency and
distributed by the commissioner to the district for that purpose,
shall administer an assessment instrument designated by the Texas
Higher Education Coordinating Board under Section 51.3062(c) to
each student in the district enrolled in the 10th grade. A
student's performance on the assessment instrument may only be used
for diagnostic purposes, including a determination as to whether a
student should be enrolled in developmental education courses. If
a student is in a special education program under Subchapter A,
Chapter 29, the student's admission, review, and dismissal
committee shall determine if it is appropriate for the student to be
administered the assessment instrument required under this
section.
(b) This section applies only until the State Board of
Education has completed the review and modification of essential
knowledge and skills of the foundation curriculum subjects required
by Section 28.0025. This section expires September 1, 2018.
SECTION 4. 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 5. 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 6. 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 7. 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 8. 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 9. Subchapter B, Chapter 39, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 39.0239 to read as follows:
Sec. 39.0239. REQUIRED REPORT FOR CERTAIN ASSESSMENTS.
(a) Following the administration of an assessment instrument
adopted or developed under Section 39.023(a), the agency shall
provide a detailed report of a student's performance on the
assessment instrument to:
(1) the student;
(2) the student's parent or other person standing in
parental relationship; and
(3) the student's teachers.
(b) The report provided under Subsection (a) must include an
analysis of a student's performance on each assessed standard or
skill in the essential knowledge and skills of the subject for which
the assessment instrument was administered. The analysis must
indicate whether the student mastered each standard or skill
assessed in the assessment instrument.
(c) The analysis under Subsection (b) must demonstrate both
individual assessment results and assessment results aggregated
across classes, campuses, and districts.
(d) If the commissioner contracts with a third party for the
development or adoption of an assessment instrument under Section
39.023(a), the contract must require the third party to fulfill the
requirements of this section.
SECTION 10. 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 11. 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 12. Sections 31.101(d) and (e), Education Code, are
repealed.
SECTION 13. Not later than January 1, 2016, the State Board
of Education shall adopt a chart as prescribed by Section
28.008(d), Education Code, as amended by this Act.
SECTION 14. The change in law made by Section 39.0239(d),
Education Code, as added by this Act, applies only to a contract
entered into, amended, or renewed on or after the effective date of
this Act. A contract entered into, amended, or renewed before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it existed
immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 15. This Act applies beginning with the 2015-2016
school year.
SECTION 16. 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, 2015.
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