Bill Text: TX HB2209 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: 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.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-1)
Status: (Passed) 2023-06-02 - See remarks for effective date [HB2209 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB2209-Comm_Sub.html
Bill Title: 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.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-1)
Status: (Passed) 2023-06-02 - See remarks for effective date [HB2209 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB2209-Comm_Sub.html
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 |
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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. |