2025S0158-1 03/03/25
By: Hinojosa of Hidalgo S.B. No. 2132
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership (R-PEP)
program, including funding for that program under the Foundation
School Program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 29.912, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (c-1) to read as follows:
(c-1) A school district that has participated in the program
may continue to participate in the program regardless of the number
of students in average daily attendance in the district for the
current school year.
SECTION 2. Section 48.118, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (f) and adding Subsections (a-1),
(a-2), (a-3), and (g) to read as follows:
(a) Subject to Subsection (a-1), for [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 that meets the requirements under Subsection
(g), 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.
(a-1) A school district is eligible to receive an allotment
under Subsection (a) only if the district has adopted a school
calendar for that school year that provides for at least:
(1) 175 instructional days; or
(2) five instructional days per week for the majority
of the school year.
(a-2) The commissioner may waive the requirement under
Subsection (a-1) for a school district for the 2025-2026 school
year on application by the district if the district demonstrates
that the district has adopted a school calendar for the 2026-2027
school year that complies with that subsection. This subsection
expires September 1, 2026.
(a-3) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a school district
described by Section 29.912(c-1) may receive funding under this
section for up to 110 percent of the number of students who
qualified under Subsection (a) for the school year immediately
preceding the school year in which the district's enrollment first
reached 1,600 or more.
(f) The total amount of state funding for allotments and
outcomes bonuses under this section may not exceed $5 million per
year. If the total amount of allotments and outcomes bonuses to
which school districts are entitled under this section exceeds the
amount permitted under this subsection, the agency shall allocate
state funding to districts under this section in the following
order:
(1) allotments under Subsection (a) for which school
districts participating in partnerships prioritized under Section
29.912(h) are eligible;
(2) allotments under Subsection (a) for which school
districts that entered into a memorandum of understanding or letter
of commitment regarding a multidistrict pathway partnership, as
defined by commissioner rule, before May 1, 2023, are eligible;
(3) allotments under Subsection (a) for which school
districts that have entered into a performance agreement under
Section 29.912 with a coordinating entity that is an institution of
higher education, as defined by Section 61.003, are eligible; and
(4) allotments under Subsection (a) for which school
districts with the highest percentage of students who are
educationally disadvantaged, in descending order, are eligible[;
and
[(5) outcomes bonuses under Subsection (c) for which
school districts with the highest percentage of students who are
educationally disadvantaged, in descending order, are eligible].
(g) To be eligible for funding under this section, a
partnership under the Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership (R-PEP)
program under Section 29.912 must offer at least one of the
following programs of study through in-person instruction, remote
instruction, or a hybrid of in-person and remote instruction:
(1) computer programming and software development or
cybersecurity; or
(2) a specialized skilled trade, such as:
(A) plumbing and pipefitting;
(B) electrical;
(C) welding;
(D) diesel and heavy equipment;
(E) aviation maintenance; or
(F) applied agricultural engineering.
SECTION 3. Sections 48.118(b), (c), and (d), Education
Code, are repealed.
SECTION 4. Section 29.912, Education Code, as amended by
this Act, applies beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.
SECTION 5. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) or (c)
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, 2025.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c) of this section,
Section 48.118, Education Code, as amended by this Act, takes
effect September 1, 2025.
(c) Section 48.118(g), Education Code, as added by this Act,
takes effect September 1, 2027.