88R18651 CXP-D
By: Lozano H.B. No. 2209
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2209:
By: Buckley C.S.H.B. No. 2209
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to establishing the Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership
(R-PEP) program and creating an allotment and outcomes bonus under
the Foundation School Program to support the program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 29, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 29.912 to read as follows:
Sec. 29.912. RURAL PATHWAY EXCELLENCE PARTNERSHIP (R-PEP)
PROGRAM. (a) In this section, "program" means the Rural Pathway
Excellence Partnership (R-PEP) program established under this
section.
(b) The commissioner shall establish and administer the
Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership (R-PEP) program to
incentivize and support multidistrict, cross-sector, rural college
and career pathway partnerships that expand opportunities for
underserved students to succeed in school and life while promoting
economic development in rural areas.
(c) The program must enable an eligible school district that
lacks an economy of scale, as determined by commissioner rule, to
partner with at least one other school district to offer a broader
array of robust college and career pathways. Each partnership must:
(1) offer college and career pathways that align with
regional labor market projections for high-wage, high-demand
careers; and
(2) be managed by a coordinating entity that:
(A) has or will have at the time students are
served under the partnership the capacity to effectively coordinate
the partnership;
(B) has entered into a performance agreement
approved by the board of trustees of each partnering school
district that confers to the coordinating entity the same authority
with respect to the pathways offered under the partnership as
provided to an entity that contracts to operate a district campus
under Section 11.174;
(C) is an eligible entity as defined by Section
12.101(a); and
(D) has on the entity's governing board as either
voting or ex officio members representatives of each partnering
school district and members of regional higher education and
workforce organizations.
(d) The performance agreement described by Subsection
(c)(2)(B) must:
(1) include ambitious and measurable performance
goals and progress measures tied to current college, career, and
military readiness outcomes and longitudinal postsecondary
completion and employment-related outcomes;
(2) allocate responsibilities for accessing and
managing progress and outcome information and annually publishing
that information on the Internet website of each partnering
district and the coordinating entity;
(3) authorize the coordinating entity to optimize the
value of each college and career pathway offered through the
partnership by:
(A) determining scheduling;
(B) adding or removing a pathway;
(C) hiring pathway-specific personnel;
(D) developing and exercising final approval of
pathway budgets, which must include at least 80 percent of the state
and local funding to which each partnering school district is
entitled under Chapter 48 and that is attributable to students'
participation in the program, including an allotment under Section
48.106 or 48.118 and an outcome bonus under Section 48.110 or
48.118; and
(E) determining other matters critical to the
efficacy of the pathways; and
(4) provide that any eligible student residing in a
partnering school district may participate in a college or career
pathway offered through the partnership.
(e) An employee of a coordinating entity that manages a
partnership under the program is eligible for membership in and
benefits from the Teacher Retirement System of Texas if the
employee would be eligible for membership and benefits by holding
the same position at a partnering school district.
(f) A student enrolled in a college or career pathway
offered through a partnership under the program is not considered
for accountability purposes under Chapter 39 to have dropped out of
high school or failed to complete the curriculum requirements for
high school graduation until the sixth anniversary of the student's
first day in high school.
(g) A school district proposing to enter into a performance
agreement under this section shall notify the commissioner of the
district's intent to enter into the agreement. The commissioner
shall establish procedures for a district to notify the
commissioner, including the period within which notification is
required before the school year in which the proposed agreement
would take effect, and to provide any additional information
required by the commissioner. The commissioner shall notify the
district whether the proposed agreement is approved or denied not
later than the 60th day after the date the commissioner receives
notification of the proposed agreement and all other information
required by the commissioner. If the commissioner fails to notify
the district that the proposed agreement has been approved or
denied within the period prescribed by this subsection, the
proposed agreement is considered approved.
(h) From money appropriated for that purpose, the
commissioner shall establish a grant program to assist in the
planning and implementation of a partnership under the program.
The commissioner may award a grant only to a coordinating entity
that has entered into a performance agreement approved under
Subsection (g). The commissioner may use not more than 15 percent
of the money appropriated for the grant program to cover the cost of
administering the grant program and to provide technical assistance
and support to partnerships under the program.
(i) The commissioner shall adopt rules as necessary to
implement this section, including rules establishing:
(1) requirements for a coordinating entity and a
performance agreement with the entity;
(2) the period for which a partnership under the
program may operate after commissioner approval before renewal of
commissioner approval is required; and
(3) standards for renewal of commissioner approval for
a partnership under the program.
(j) This section does not prohibit an agreement between a
school district and another entity for the provision of services at
a district campus.
(k) The commissioner may accept gifts, grants, and
donations from any source, including private and nonprofit
organizations, for the program. A private or nonprofit
organization that contributes to the program may receive an award
under Section 7.113.
SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 48, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 48.118 to read as follows:
Sec. 48.118. RURAL PATHWAY EXCELLENCE PARTNERSHIP (R-PEP)
ALLOTMENT AND OUTCOME BONUS. (a) For each full-time equivalent
student in average daily attendance in grades 9 through 12 in a
college or career pathway offered through a partnership under the
Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership (R-PEP) program under Section
29.912, a school district is entitled to an allotment equal to the
basic allotment or, if applicable, the sum of the basic allotment
and the allotment under Section 48.101 to which the district is
entitled, multiplied by:
(1) 1.15, if the student is educationally
disadvantaged; or
(2) 1.11, if the student is not educationally
disadvantaged.
(b) Each year, the commissioner shall determine for each
school district the minimum number of annual graduates of a college
or career pathway described by Subsection (a) in each cohort
described by Section 48.110(b) who would have to obtain not later
than five years after high school graduation a postsecondary
credential of value, including a degree, certificate, or other
credential that prepares students for continued learning and
greater earnings in the state economy, in order for the district to
qualify for an outcomes bonus under Subsection (c).
(c) In addition to the allotment under Subsection (a), for
each annual graduate in a cohort described by Subsection (b) who
earns a postsecondary credential of value described by that
subsection during the preceding school year in excess of the
minimum number of students determined for the applicable district
cohort for that school year, a school district is entitled to an
annual outcomes bonus of:
(1) if the annual graduate is educationally
disadvantaged, $2,000;
(2) if the annual graduate is not educationally
disadvantaged, $1,000; and
(3) if the annual graduate is enrolled in a special
education program under Subchapter A, Chapter 29, $2,000,
regardless of whether the annual graduate is educationally
disadvantaged.
(d) A school district is entitled to an outcomes bonus under
each subdivision of Subsection (c) for which an annual graduate
qualifies.
(e) A school district may receive funding for a student
under this section and any other section for which the student
qualifies.
SECTION 3. Section 29.912, Education Code, as added by this
Act, applies beginning with the 2023-2024 school year.
SECTION 4. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
section, 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, 2023.
(b) Section 48.118, Education Code, as added by this Act,
takes effect September 1, 2023.