87R11838 BDP-F
By: Talarico H.B. No. 4391
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the implementation of student and family engagement
plans by school districts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 29, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 29.926 to read as follows:
Sec. 29.926. STUDENT AND FAMILY ENGAGEMENT PLANS. (a) Each
school district shall develop and implement a student and family
engagement plan for students in each grade level from
prekindergarten through grade 12 to assist the district in:
(1) achieving and maintaining high levels of family
involvement and positive family attitudes toward education;
(2) strengthening relationships between students,
families, and teachers;
(3) creating positive outcomes by increasing positive
student engagement and developing the student's sense of connection
to the student's learning environment, including by ensuring that
the student is:
(A) actively involved in the student's academic
achievement; and
(B) positively motivated to attend school
regularly and graduate;
(4) creating opportunities for parents to engage with
and be directly involved in their child's education; and
(5) creating a communal campus environment that
includes students, families, teachers, district staff, and
community-based organizations that provide resources to students
for social-emotional and academic development.
(b) The student and family engagement plans must be based on
student and parent engagement strategies that:
(1) are based on empirical research;
(2) establish a system of communication, updated
annually based on a district assessment of parent and communication
needs, between students, families, and school districts that
includes mailed, electronic, and virtual communications, such as
phone calls, text messaging, and e-mail;
(3) provide support for students who are attending
school in-person or virtually through counselors, teachers, and
district staff;
(4) use diagnostic tools to evaluate the emotional,
behavioral, and cognitive engagement of students and communicate
the results to the family of the student;
(5) include regular meetings with interested persons,
including community-based organizations, throughout the school
year regarding the development and implementation of the engagement
plans;
(6) are proven to demonstrate significant positive
short-term and long-term outcomes for early childhood, elementary,
middle school, and high school education;
(7) include programs and interventions that engage a
family in supporting a student's learning at home;
(8) include programming that is accessible by students
who are bilingual and students of limited English proficiency;
(9) are proven to demonstrate solutions that build
long-lasting generational relationships between school districts
and families; and
(10) support virtual or remote learning by promoting
digital communication and literacy and by ensuring that students
have access to devices and broadband Internet throughout the
duration of a disaster declared by the president of the United
States under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. Section 5121 et seq.) or by the governor
under Chapter 418, Government Code.
(c) Each school district shall ensure that student and
family engagement plans are consistent with the public education
mission and objectives described by Section 4.001 and accessible to
students who are educationally disadvantaged.
(d) In developing student and family engagement plans, a
school district must collaborate with campus leaders, educators,
teachers, families, and students at all grade levels to include in
the student and family engagement plans the strategies described by
Subsection (b). A school district must provide for a student at the
middle or high school level to be directly involved in developing
student engagement plans.
(e) The agency shall offer administrative support and
resources to assist school districts with developing and
implementing student and family engagement plans as provided by
this section.
(f) Not later than the 30th instructional day following the
first day of school, each school district shall post the student and
family engagement plans on the district's Internet website.
(g) The agency shall collaborate with other state agencies,
including the Health and Human Services Commission, that provide
services for children to establish prioritized family engagement
strategies to be included in a school district's family engagement
plan.
(h) A parent-teacher organization, community group, or
faith-based institution may submit to the agency recommendations
regarding the establishment of family engagement strategies, and
the agency, in establishing the family engagement strategies, shall
consider any submitted recommendations.
(i) Each school district shall review the student and family
engagement plans annually and update the plans at least once every
five years.
SECTION 2. Section 29.168, Education Code, is repealed.
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.