88S30797 PRL-F
By: Cunningham H.B. No. 198
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the minimum number of instructional days provided by
public schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 25.081, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 25.081. OPERATION OF SCHOOLS. (a) Except as
authorized under Subsection (a-1) or (b) of this section, Section
25.0815, Section 25.084, or Section 29.0821, for each school year
each school district must operate:
(1) for a minimum of 175 instructional days; and
(2) for at least 75,600 minutes of operation,
including time allocated for instruction, intermissions, and
recesses for students.
(a-1) Subsection (a)(1) does not apply to a school district
with a student enrollment of less than 8,000.
(b) The commissioner may approve the operation of schools
for fewer than the number of instructional days or minutes of
operation required under Subsection (a) if disaster, flood, extreme
weather conditions, fuel curtailment, or another calamity causes
the closing of schools.
(c) If the commissioner does not approve reduced
instructional days or minutes of operation [time] under Subsection
(b), a school district may add additional instructional days to the
school year or minutes of operation to the end of the district's
normal school hours as necessary to compensate for instructional
days or minutes of operation lost due to school closures caused by
disaster, flood, extreme weather conditions, fuel curtailment, or
another calamity.
(d) The commissioner may adopt rules to implement this
section, including rules:
(1) [for the application, on the basis of the minimum
minutes of operation required by Subsection (a), of any provision
of this title that refers to a minimum number of days of instruction
under this section;
[(2)] to determine the minutes of operation that are
equivalent to a day;
(2) [(3)] defining minutes of operation and
instructional time; and
(3) [(4)] establishing the minimum number of minutes of
instructional time required for a full-day and a half-day program
to meet the time requirements under Subsection (a).
(e) A school district or education program is exempt from
the minimum required instructional days or minutes of operation
[requirement] if the district's or program's average daily
attendance is calculated under Section 48.005(j).
(f) The commissioner may proportionally reduce the amount
of funding a district receives under Chapter 46, 48, or 49 and the
average daily attendance calculation for the district if the
district operates on a calendar that provides fewer instructional
days or minutes of operation than required under Subsection (a).
(g) A school district may not provide student instruction on
Memorial Day. If a school district would be required to provide
student instruction on Memorial Day to compensate for instructional
days or minutes of operation [instruction] lost because of school
closures caused by disaster, flood, extreme weather conditions,
fuel curtailment, or another calamity, the commissioner shall
approve the instruction of students for fewer than the number of
instructional days or minutes of operation required under
Subsection (a).
SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 25, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 25.0813 to read as follows:
Sec. 25.0813. MAINTENANCE OF FOUR-DAY SCHOOL WEEK SCHEDULE.
(a) Notwithstanding any other law and except as provided by
Subsection (b), a school district that adopted a four-day school
week schedule for the 2022-2023 school year may maintain a four-day
school week schedule in each subsequent school year.
(b) If a school district adopts a four-day school week and
the agency assigns a performance rating of D or F to one or more
campuses in the district, the district must adopt and maintain a
five-day school week in each subsequent school year until each
campus in the district is assigned a performance rating of C or
higher.
SECTION 3. Sections 25.0815(a) and (b), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) The commissioner shall provide a waiver allowing for
fewer instructional days and fewer minutes of operation [and
instructional time] than required under Section 25.081(a) for a
school district that requires each educator employed by the
district to attend an approved school safety training course.
(b) A waiver under this section:
(1) must allow sufficient time for the school
district's educators to attend the school safety training course;
and
(2) may not:
(A) result in an inadequate number of minutes of
instructional time for students; or
(B) reduce:
(i) the number of instructional days by
more than one day; or
(ii) the number of minutes of operation
[and instructional time] by more than 420 minutes.
SECTION 4. Section 29.0822(c), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(c) Except in the case of a course designed for a student
described by Subsection (a)(3) or enrolled in a course described by
Subsection (b)(4), a course offered in a program under this section
must provide for at least the same number of instructional hours as
required for a course offered in a program that meets the required
minimum number of instructional days [minutes of operation] under
Section 25.081.
SECTION 5. Section 29.162(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) The commissioner may adopt rules for this subchapter,
including rules establishing full-day and half-day instructional
days and minutes of operation requirements as provided by Section
25.081.
SECTION 6. Section 37.011(f), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(f) A juvenile justice alternative education program must
operate at least seven hours per day and 175 [180] days per year,
except that a program may apply to the Texas Juvenile Justice
Department for a waiver of the 175-day [180-day] requirement. The
department may not grant a waiver to a program under this subsection
for a number of days that exceeds the highest number of
instructional days waived by the commissioner during the same
school year for a school district served by the program.
SECTION 7. Sections 48.005(i), (j), and (m), Education
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(i) A district or a charter school operating under Chapter
12 that operates a prekindergarten program is eligible to receive
one-half of average daily attendance under Subsection (a) if the
district's or charter school's prekindergarten program provides at
least 32,400 minutes of instructional time to students over the
minimum required number of instructional days.
(j) A district or charter school is eligible to earn full
average daily attendance under Subsection (a) if the district or
school provides at least 43,200 minutes of instructional time
during a school year to students enrolled in:
(1) a dropout recovery school or program operating
under Section 12.1141(c) or Section 39.0548;
(2) an alternative education program operating under
Section 37.008;
(3) a school program located at a day treatment
facility, residential treatment facility, psychiatric hospital, or
medical hospital;
(4) a school program offered at a correctional
facility; or
(5) a school operating under Subchapter G, Chapter 12.
(m) The commissioner shall adopt rules necessary to
implement this section, including rules that:
(1) establish the minimum amount of instructional time
per day that allows a school district or charter school to be
eligible for full average daily attendance, which may differ based
on the instructional program offered by the district or charter
school;
(2) establish the requirements necessary for a school
district or charter school to be eligible for one-half of average
daily attendance, which may differ based on the instructional
program offered by the district or charter school;
(3) proportionally reduce the average daily
attendance for a school district if any campus or instructional
program in the district provides to students fewer than the
required minimum number of instructional days or minutes of
operation [instruction to students]; and
(4) allow a grade or course repeated under Section
28.02124 to qualify for average daily attendance even if the
student previously passed or earned credit for the grade or course,
if the grade or course would otherwise be eligible.
SECTION 8. Section 48.0051(a), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The [Subject to Subsection (a-1), the] commissioner
shall adjust the average daily attendance of a school district or
open-enrollment charter school under Section 48.005 in the manner
provided by Subsection (b) if the district or school:
(1) provides the minimum number of minutes of
operational and instructional time required under Section 25.081
and commissioner rules adopted under that section over the minimum
required number of instructional days or minutes of operation [at
least 180 days of instruction]; and
(2) offers an additional 30 days of half-day
instruction for students enrolled in prekindergarten through fifth
grade.
SECTION 9. This Act applies beginning with the 2024-2025
school year.
SECTION 10. This Act takes effect on the 91st day after the
last day of the legislative session.