By: Campbell, Hall S.B. No. 722
(In the Senate - Filed February 8, 2019; March 1, 2019, read
first time and referred to Committee on Education; April 29, 2019,
reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the
following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 1; April 29, 2019, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 722 By: Campbell
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a severance payment to a superintendent or
administrator serving as educational leader and chief executive
officer of a school district or an open-enrollment charter school.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 11.201(c), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(c) For purposes of this subsection, "severance payment"
means any amount paid by the board of trustees of an independent
school district to or in behalf of a superintendent on early
termination of the superintendent's contract that exceeds the
amount earned by the superintendent under the contract as of the
date of termination, including any amount that exceeds the amount
of earned standard salary and benefits that is paid as a condition
of early termination of the contract. The board of trustees may not
make a severance payment to a superintendent in an amount greater
than one year's salary under the superintendent's terminated
contract. The board of trustees that makes a severance payment to a
superintendent shall report the terms of the severance payment to
the commissioner. [The commissioner shall reduce the district's
Foundation School Program funds by any amount that the amount of the
severance payment to the superintendent exceeds an amount equal to
one year's salary and benefits under the superintendent's
terminated contract.] The commissioner may adopt rules as necessary
to administer this subsection.
SECTION 2. Section 12.104, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (b-4) to read as follows:
(b-4) Section 11.201(c) applies to an open-enrollment
charter school as though the governing body of the school were the
board of trustees of a school district and to the superintendent or,
as applicable, the administrator serving as educational leader and
chief executive officer of the school as though that person were the
superintendent of a school district.
SECTION 3. (a) Section 11.201(c), Education Code, as
amended by this Act, applies only to a severance payment made by the
board of trustees of an independent school district to a
superintendent under an agreement entered into on or after the
effective date of this Act. A severance payment made by the board
of trustees of an independent school district to a superintendent
under an agreement entered into before the effective date of this
Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the agreement was
made, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
(b) Section 12.104(b-4), Education Code, as added by this
Act, applies only to a severance payment made by the governing body
of an open-enrollment charter school to a superintendent or
administrator serving as educational leader and chief executive
officer under an agreement entered into on or after the effective
date of this Act. A severance payment made by the governing body of
an open-enrollment charter school to a superintendent or
administrator serving as educational leader and chief executive
officer under an agreement entered into before the effective date
of this Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the
agreement was made, and that law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 4. 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, 2019.
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