Bill Text: TX SB591 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Relating to an adult education program provided under an adult high school diploma and industry certification charter school program, eligibility of certain students for Foundation School Program benefits, and reporting requirements regarding certain students.

Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-04-17 - Not again placed on intent calendar [SB591 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-SB591-Comm_Sub.html

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By: Watson, Campbell S.B. No. 591
(In the Senate - Filed February 1, 2019; February 21, 2019,
read first time and referred to Committee on Education;
April 9, 2019, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 10, Nays 0; April 9, 2019,
sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 591 By: Watson

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to an adult education program provided under an adult high
school diploma and industry certification charter school program,
eligibility of certain students for Foundation School Program
benefits, and reporting requirements regarding certain students.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 12.137(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) This section applies only to:
(1) an open-enrollment charter school designated as a
dropout recovery school as described by Section 12.1141(c) if the
enrollment of the school consists only of students 17 years of age
and older; and
(2) an adult education program provided under a high
school diploma and industry certification charter school [pilot]
program under Section 29.259.
SECTION 2. Sections 29.081(d) and (d-1), Education Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(d) For purposes of this section, "student at risk of
dropping out of school" includes each student who:
(1) is under 26 years of age and who:
(A) [(1)] was not advanced from one grade level
to the next for one or more school years;
(B) [(2)] if the student is in grade 7, 8, 9, 10,
11, or 12, did not maintain an average equivalent to 70 on a scale of
100 in two or more subjects in the foundation curriculum during a
semester in the preceding or current school year or is not
maintaining such an average in two or more subjects in the
foundation curriculum in the current semester;
(C) [(3)] did not perform satisfactorily on an
assessment instrument administered to the student under Subchapter
B, Chapter 39, and who has not in the previous or current school
year subsequently performed on that instrument or another
appropriate instrument at a level equal to at least 110 percent of
the level of satisfactory performance on that instrument;
(D) [(4)] if the student is in prekindergarten,
kindergarten, or grade 1, 2, or 3, did not perform satisfactorily on
a readiness test or assessment instrument administered during the
current school year;
(E) [(5)] is pregnant or is a parent;
(F) [(6)] has been placed in an alternative
education program in accordance with Section 37.006 during the
preceding or current school year;
(G) [(7)] has been expelled in accordance with
Section 37.007 during the preceding or current school year;
(H) [(8)] is currently on parole, probation,
deferred prosecution, or other conditional release;
(I) [(9)] was previously reported through the
Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) to have
dropped out of school;
(J) [(10)] is a student of limited English
proficiency, as defined by Section 29.052;
(K) [(11)] is in the custody or care of the
Department of Family and Protective Services or has, during the
current school year, been referred to the department by a school
official, officer of the juvenile court, or law enforcement
official;
(L) [(12)] is homeless, as defined by 42 U.S.C.
Section 11302, and its subsequent amendments; or
(M) [(13)] resided in the preceding school year
or resides in the current school year in a residential placement
facility in the district, including a detention facility, substance
abuse treatment facility, emergency shelter, psychiatric hospital,
halfway house, cottage home operation, specialized child-care
home, or general residential operation; or
(2) regardless of the student's age, participates in
an adult education program provided under a high school diploma and
industry certification charter school program under Section
29.259.
(d-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (d)(1)(A) [(d)(1)], a
student is not considered a student at risk of dropping out of
school if the student did not advance from prekindergarten or
kindergarten to the next grade level only as the result of the
request of the student's parent.
SECTION 3. The heading to Section 29.259, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 29.259. ADULT HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA AND INDUSTRY
CERTIFICATION CHARTER SCHOOL [PILOT] PROGRAM.
SECTION 4. Section 29.259, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (b), (g), (j), and (m) and adding Subsections
(g-1) and (i-1) to read as follows:
(b) The commissioner shall establish an adult high school
diploma and industry certification charter school [pilot] program
as provided by this section as a strategy for meeting industry needs
for a sufficiently trained workforce within the state.
(g) A person who is at least 18 [19] years of age and not
more than 50 years of age is eligible to enroll in the adult
education program under this section if the person [has not earned a
high school equivalency certificate and]:
(1) has failed to complete the curriculum requirements
for high school graduation; or
(2) has failed to perform satisfactorily on an
assessment instrument required for high school graduation.
(g-1) In admitting students to the adult education program
under this section, the nonprofit entity shall give priority to a
person who has not earned a high school equivalency certificate.
(i-1) The adult education program offered under this
section must:
(1) use an instructional model in which at least 75
percent of instruction is delivered by a teacher in an in-person,
interactive classroom setting; and
(2) provide support services to students, including:
(A) child care at no cost to students;
(B) life coaching services, at a ratio not to
exceed one life coach for every 100 students, that use strategic and
holistic interventions designed to facilitate graduation planning
and assist students in overcoming life obstacles to achieve
academic and career goals;
(C) mental health counseling; and
(D) for students with identified disabilities or
impairments, instructional support services.
(j) Funding for an adult education program under this
section is [provided based on the following:
[(1) for participants who are 26 years of age and
older, an amount per participant from available general revenue
funds appropriated for the pilot program equal to the statewide
average amount of state funding per student in weighted average
daily attendance that would be allocated under the Foundation
School Program to an open-enrollment charter school under Section
12.106 were the student under 26 years of age; and
[(2) for participants who are at least 19 years of age
and under 26 years of age,] an amount per participant through the
Foundation School Program equal to the amount of state funding per
student in weighted average daily attendance that would be
allocated under the Foundation School Program for the student's
attendance at an open-enrollment charter school in accordance with
Section 12.106.
(m) The commissioner shall adopt rules necessary to
administer the [pilot] program under this section. In adopting
rules, the commissioner may modify charter school requirements only
to the extent necessary for the administration of a charter school
under this section that provides for adult education.
SECTION 5. Section 29.259(d), Education Code, as amended by
Chapter 98 (S.B. 276), Acts of the 85th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2017, is reenacted and amended to read as follows:
(d) Notwithstanding any other law and in addition to the
number of charters allowed under Subchapter D, Chapter 12, the
commissioner may, on the basis of an application submitted, grant a
charter under the [pilot] program to a single nonprofit entity
described by Subsection (e) to provide an adult education program
for individuals described by Subsection (g) to successfully
complete:
(1) a high school program that can lead to a diploma;
and
(2) career and technology education courses that can
lead to industry certification.
SECTION 6. Section 39.053, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (g-4) to read as follows:
(g-4) For purposes of the computation of dropout and
completion rates such as high school graduation rates under
Subsection (c)(1)(B)(ix), the commissioner shall exclude a student
who was reported as having dropped out of school under Section
42.006(a-9), and the student may not be considered to have dropped
out from the school district or campus in which the student was last
enrolled.
SECTION 7. Section 42.003(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) A student is entitled to the benefits of the Foundation
School Program if, on September 1 of the school year, the student:
(1) is 5 years of age or older and under 21 years of age
and has not graduated from high school, or is at least 21 years of
age and under 26 years of age and has been admitted by a school
district to complete the requirements for a high school diploma; or
(2) is [at least 19 years of age and under 26 years of
age and is] enrolled in an adult high school diploma and industry
certification charter school [pilot] program under Section 29.259.
SECTION 8. Section 42.006, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (a-8) and (a-9) to read as follows:
(a-8) The commissioner by rule shall require each school
district and open-enrollment charter school to annually report
through the Public Education Information Management System
information regarding the number of students who are enrolled in a
high school equivalency program, a dropout recovery school, or an
adult education program provided under a high school diploma and
industry certification charter school program provided by the
district or school and who:
(1) are at least 18 years of age and under 26 years of
age;
(2) have not previously been reported to the agency as
dropouts; and
(3) enroll in the program at the district or school
after not attending school for a period of at least nine months.
(a-9) A student reported under Subsection (a-8) as having
enrolled in a high school equivalency program, a dropout recovery
school, or an adult education program provided under a high school
diploma and industry certification charter school program must be
reported through the Public Education Information Management
System as having previously dropped out of school.
SECTION 9. This Act applies beginning with the 2019-2020
school year.
SECTION 10. To ensure accurate funding for students
enrolled in an adult high school diploma and industry certification
charter school program under Section 29.259, Education Code, as
amended by this Act, and the accurate collection, analysis, and
reporting of information regarding those students, as soon as
practicable after the effective date of this Act, the commissioner
of education shall update the Public Education Information
Management System as necessary to accommodate the reporting through
the system of information regarding students who are at least 26
years of age and not more than 50 years of age enrolled in such
programs.
SECTION 11. 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, 2019.
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