By: Stucky H.B. No. 3163
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to campuses of an open-enrollment charter school.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 12.101(b-4), Education Code, is amended
by adding a new Subsection (4) to read as follows:
(b-4) Notwithstanding Section 12.114, approval of the
commissioner under that section is not required for establishment
of a new open-enrollment charter school campus if the requirements
of this subsection are satisfied. A charter holder having an
accreditation status of accredited and at least 50 percent of its
student population in grades assessed under Subchapter B, Chapter
39, or at least 50 percent of the students in the grades assessed
having been enrolled in the school for at least three school years
may establish one or more new campuses under an existing charter
held by the charter holder if:
(1) the charter holder is currently evaluated under
the standard accountability procedures for evaluation under
Chapter 39 and received a district rating in the highest or second
highest performance rating category under Subchapter C, Chapter 39,
for three of the last five years with at least 75 percent of the
campuses rated under the charter also receiving a rating in the
highest or second highest performance rating category and with no
campus with a rating in the lowest performance rating category in
the most recent ratings;
(2) the charter holder provides written notice to the
commissioner of the establishment of any campus under this
subsection in the time, manner, and form provided by rule of the
commissioner; and
(3) not later than the 60th day after the date the
charter holder provides written notice under Subdivision (2), the
commissioner does not provide written notice to the charter holder
that the commissioner has determined that the charter holder does
not satisfy the requirements of this section.; and
(4) the charter holder cannot establish one or more
new campuses under an existing charter held by the charter holder if
the new campuses would be located within a public school district
that is currently evaluated under the standard accountability
procedures for evaluation under Chapter 39 and received a district
rating in the highest or second highest performance rating category
under Subchapter C, Chapter 39, for three of the last five years
with at least 75 percent of the campuses rated in the public school
district receiving a rating in the highest or second highest
performance rating category and with no campus with a rating in the
lowest performance rating category in the most recent ratings.
SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2021-2022
school year.
SECTION 3. 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, 2021.