Texas 2025 - 89th Regular

Texas House Bill HB1209 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	89R1078 PRL-F
2	2	By: Cunningham H.B. No. 1209
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7	7	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
8	8	AN ACT
9	9	relating to the minimum number of instructional days provided by
10	10	public schools.
11	11	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
12	12	SECTION 1. Section 25.081, Education Code, is amended to
13	13	read as follows:
14	14	Sec. 25.081. OPERATION OF SCHOOLS. (a) Except as
15	15	authorized under Subsection (a-1) or (b) of this section, Section
16	16	25.0815, Section 25.084, or Section 29.0821, for each school year
17	17	each school district must operate:
18	18	(1) for a minimum of 175 instructional days; and
19	19	(2) for at least 75,600 minutes of operation,
20	20	including time allocated for instruction, intermissions, and
21	21	recesses for students.
22	22	(a-1) Subsection (a)(1) does not apply to a school district
23	23	with a student enrollment of less than 8,000.
24	24	(b) The commissioner may approve the operation of schools
25	25	for fewer than the number of instructional days or minutes of
26	26	operation required under Subsection (a) if disaster, flood, extreme
27	27	weather conditions, fuel curtailment, or another calamity causes
28	28	the closing of schools.
29	29	(c) If the commissioner does not approve reduced
30	30	instructional days or minutes of operation [time] under Subsection
31	31	(b), a school district may add additional instructional days to the
32	32	school year or minutes of operation to the end of the district's
33	33	normal school hours as necessary to compensate for instructional
34	34	days or minutes of operation lost due to school closures caused by
35	35	disaster, flood, extreme weather conditions, fuel curtailment, or
36	36	another calamity.
37	37	(d) The commissioner may adopt rules to implement this
38	38	section, including rules:
39	39	(1) [for the application, on the basis of the minimum
40	40	minutes of operation required by Subsection (a), of any provision
41	41	of this title that refers to a minimum number of days of instruction
42	42	under this section;
43	43	[(2)] to determine the minutes of operation that are
44	44	equivalent to a day;
45	45	(2) [(3)] defining minutes of operation and
46	46	instructional time; and
47	47	(3) [(4)] establishing the minimum number of minutes of
48	48	instructional time required for a full-day and a half-day program
49	49	to meet the time requirements under Subsection (a).
50	50	(e) A school district or education program is exempt from
51	51	the minimum required instructional days or minutes of operation
52	52	[requirement] if the district's or program's average daily
53	53	attendance is calculated under Section 48.005(j).
54	54	(f) The commissioner may proportionally reduce the amount
55	55	of funding a district receives under Chapter 46, 48, or 49 and the
56	56	average daily attendance calculation for the district if the
57	57	district operates on a calendar that provides fewer instructional
58	58	days or minutes of operation than required under Subsection (a).
59	59	(g) A school district may not provide student instruction on
60	60	Memorial Day. If a school district would be required to provide
61	61	student instruction on Memorial Day to compensate for instructional
62	62	days or minutes of operation [instruction] lost because of school
63	63	closures caused by disaster, flood, extreme weather conditions,
64	64	fuel curtailment, or another calamity, the commissioner shall
65	65	approve the instruction of students for fewer than the number of
66	66	instructional days or minutes of operation required under
67	67	Subsection (a).
68	68	SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 25, Education Code, is
69	69	amended by adding Section 25.0813 to read as follows:
70	70	Sec. 25.0813. MAINTENANCE OF FOUR-DAY SCHOOL WEEK SCHEDULE.
71	71	(a) Notwithstanding any other law and except as provided by
72	72	Subsection (b), a school district that adopted a four-day school
73	73	week schedule for the 2024-2025 school year may maintain a four-day
74	74	school week schedule in each subsequent school year.
75	75	(b) If a school district adopts a four-day school week and
76	76	the agency assigns an overall performance rating of D, F, or "Not
77	77	Rated" to one or more campuses in the district, the district must
78	78	adopt and maintain a five-day school week in each subsequent school
79	79	year until each campus in the district is assigned an overall
80	80	performance rating of C or higher.
81	81	SECTION 3. Sections 25.0815(a) and (b), Education Code, are
82	82	amended to read as follows:
83	83	(a) The commissioner shall provide a waiver allowing for
84	84	fewer instructional days and fewer minutes of operation [and
85	85	instructional time] than required under Section 25.081(a) for a
86	86	school district that requires each educator employed by the
87	87	district to attend an approved school safety training course.
88	88	(b) A waiver under this section:
89	89	(1) must allow sufficient time for the school
90	90	district's educators to attend the school safety training course;
91	91	and
92	92	(2) may not:
93	93	(A) result in an inadequate number of minutes of
94	94	instructional time for students; or
95	95	(B) reduce:
96	96	(i) the number of instructional days by
97	97	more than one day; or
98	98	(ii) the number of minutes of operation
99	99	[and instructional time] by more than 420 minutes.
100	100	SECTION 4. Section 29.0822(c), Education Code, is amended
101	101	to read as follows:
102	102	(c) Except in the case of a course designed for a student
103	103	described by Subsection (a)(3) or enrolled in a course described by
104	104	Subsection (b)(4), a course offered in a program under this section
105	105	must provide for at least the same number of instructional hours as
106	106	required for a course offered in a program that meets the required
107	107	minimum number of instructional days [minutes of operation] under
108	108	Section 25.081.
109	109	SECTION 5. Section 29.162(a), Education Code, is amended to
110	110	read as follows:
111	111	(a) The commissioner may adopt rules for this subchapter,
112	112	including rules establishing full-day and half-day instructional
113	113	days and minutes of operation requirements as provided by Section
114	114	25.081.
115	115	SECTION 6. Section 37.011(f), Education Code, is amended to
116	116	read as follows:
117	117	(f) A juvenile justice alternative education program must
118	118	operate at least seven hours per day and 175 [180] days per year,
119	119	except that a program may apply to the Texas Juvenile Justice
120	120	Department for a waiver of the 175-day [180-day] requirement. The
121	121	department may not grant a waiver to a program under this subsection
122	122	for a number of days that exceeds the highest number of
123	123	instructional days waived by the commissioner during the same
124	124	school year for a school district served by the program.
125	125	SECTION 7. Sections 48.005(i), (j), and (m), Education
126	126	Code, are amended to read as follows:
127	127	(i) A district or a charter school operating under Chapter
128	128	12 that operates a prekindergarten program is eligible to receive
129	129	one-half of average daily attendance under Subsection (a) if the
130	130	district's or charter school's prekindergarten program provides at
131	131	least 32,400 minutes of instructional time to students over the
132	132	minimum required number of instructional days.
133	133	(j) A district or charter school is eligible to earn full
134	134	average daily attendance under Subsection (a) if the district or
135	135	school provides at least 43,200 minutes of instructional time
136	136	during a school year to students enrolled in:
137	137	(1) a dropout recovery school or program operating
138	138	under Section 12.1141(c) or Section 39.0548;
139	139	(2) an alternative education program operating under
140	140	Section 37.008;
141	141	(3) a school program located at a day treatment
142	142	facility, residential treatment facility, psychiatric hospital, or
143	143	medical hospital;
144	144	(4) a school program offered at a correctional
145	145	facility; or
146	146	(5) a school operating under Subchapter G, Chapter 12.
147	147	(m) The commissioner shall adopt rules necessary to
148	148	implement this section, including rules that:
149	149	(1) establish the minimum amount of instructional time
150	150	per day that allows a school district or charter school to be
151	151	eligible for full average daily attendance, which may differ based
152	152	on the instructional program offered by the district or charter
153	153	school;
154	154	(2) establish the requirements necessary for a school
155	155	district or charter school to be eligible for one-half of average
156	156	daily attendance, which may differ based on the instructional
157	157	program offered by the district or charter school;
158	158	(3) proportionally reduce the average daily
159	159	attendance for a school district if any campus or instructional
160	160	program in the district provides to students fewer than the
161	161	required minimum number of instructional days or minutes of
162	162	operation [instruction to students]; and
163	163	(4) allow a grade or course repeated under Section
164	164	28.02124 to qualify for average daily attendance even if the
165	165	student previously passed or earned credit for the grade or course,
166	166	if the grade or course would otherwise be eligible.
167	167	SECTION 8. Section 48.0051(a), Education Code, is amended
168	168	to read as follows:
169	169	(a) The [Subject to Subsection (a-1), the] commissioner
170	170	shall adjust the average daily attendance of a school district or
171	171	open-enrollment charter school under Section 48.005 in the manner
172	172	provided by Subsection (b) if the district or school:
173	173	(1) provides the minimum number of minutes of
174	174	operational and instructional time required under Section 25.081
175	175	and commissioner rules adopted under that section over the minimum
176	176	required number of instructional days or minutes of operation [at
177	177	least 180 days of instruction]; and
178	178	(2) offers an additional 30 days of half-day
179	179	instruction for students enrolled in prekindergarten through fifth
180	180	grade.
181	181	SECTION 9. This Act applies beginning with the 2025-2026
182	182	school year.
183	183	SECTION 10. This Act takes effect immediately if it
184	184	receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each
185	185	house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.
186	186	If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate
187	187	effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2025.