Highlights 77th Texas Legislature - Senate

_______________________ E DUCATION/Public
DUCATION/Public
77 th Texas Legislature
Requires OECS to obtain a criminal background check for any person the school intends to employ or use
as a volunteer and requires law enforcement agencies to release the information.
Allows charters schools to hire school attendance officers and, when a school declines to employ a school
attendance officer, requires county peace officers to perform those duties, and includes OECS in the
compulsory attendance laws.
Authorizes the commissioner to develop an alternative accreditation status pilot program for the 2001-2002
school year for districts, campuses, and OECS that primarily serve students at-risk of dropping out or that
are not required to administer TAAS tests. Requires the pilot project to evaluate student progress at each
campus using the academic excellence indicators or reading diagnosis tests in addition to the regular
accountability rating process. Authorizes the commissioner to determine additional circumstances that
require special accreditation investigations. Includes closing OECS in the list of accreditation sanctions
available to the commissioner.
Excludes OECS from allotments for instructional facilities or existing debt of public school districts.
Authorizes the Texas Public Finance Authority to establish a nonprofit corporation and create a bond
program for OECS facilities in a fund in the comptroller’s office, under which the obligation is limited to the
amount of the fund, which may accept donations but has no appropriation; does not create an obligation of
the state; and provides that the facilities are tax exempt under certain conditions.
Requires an OECS to prepare an annual financial report, submit the report to a local newspaper of general
circulation, and make the report available to the public, as do other governmental bodies.
Provides a 12-year phase-in of the new OECS funding mechanism included in this bill.
Reducing Teachers’ Written Reports - H.B. 106
by Representative Gutierrez
Senate Sponsor: Senator Zaffirini
Requires each school board to adopt a policy to reduce redundant written reports required of teachers.
Allows boards to require teachers to prepare written reports on students’ grades on particular assignments
or at the end of a grading period, a textbook report, lesson plan reports, attendance reports, reports
required for accreditation review, those required by law or State Board of Education rule, or other report
directly related to the professional duties of the classroom teacher, or report required by federal or state law
or rule that only a teacher could prepare.
Requires each school board to review required paperwork and transfer all possible reports from the
classroom teacher to a non-instructional staff person. Allows boards to request additional reports if
participation by teacher is voluntary, without coercion and no retaliation for not participating occurs.
Career and Technology Revisions - H.B. 660
by Representative Seaman, et al.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Van de Putte
Senate Research Center 95