Bill Text: TX HB108 | 2023 | 88th Legislature 4th Special Session | Introduced

Texas House Bill 108 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Relating to the minimum number of instructional days provided by public schools.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-11-14 - Filed [HB108 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB108-Introduced.html

	88S40097 PRL-F

	By: Cunningham	H.B. No. 108



	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to the minimum number of instructional days provided by
	public schools.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1. Section 25.081, Education Code, is amended to
	read as follows:
	Sec. 25.081. OPERATION OF SCHOOLS. (a) Except as
	authorized under Subsection (a-1) or (b) of this section, Section
	25.0815, Section 25.084, or Section 29.0821, for each school year
	each school district must operate:
	(1) for a minimum of 175 instructional days; and
	(2) for at least 75,600 minutes of operation,
	including time allocated for instruction, intermissions, and
	recesses for students.
	(a-1) Subsection (a)(1) does not apply to a school district
	with a student enrollment of less than 8,000.
	(b) The commissioner may approve the operation of schools
	for fewer than the number of instructional days or minutes of
	operation required under Subsection (a) if disaster, flood, extreme
	weather conditions, fuel curtailment, or another calamity causes
	the closing of schools.
	(c) If the commissioner does not approve reduced
	instructional days or minutes of operation [~~time~~] under Subsection
	(b), a school district may add additional instructional days to the
	school year or minutes of operation to the end of the district's
	normal school hours as necessary to compensate for instructional
	days or minutes of operation lost due to school closures caused by
	disaster, flood, extreme weather conditions, fuel curtailment, or
	another calamity.
	(d) The commissioner may adopt rules to implement this
	section, including rules:
	(1) [~~for the application, on the basis of the minimum~~
	~~minutes of operation required by Subsection (a), of any provision~~
	~~of this title that refers to a minimum number of days of instruction~~
	~~under this section;~~
	[~~(2)~~] to determine the minutes of operation that are
	equivalent to a day;
	(2) [~~(3)~~] defining minutes of operation and
	instructional time; and
	(3) [~~(4)~~] establishing the minimum number of minutes of
	instructional time required for a full-day and a half-day program
	to meet the time requirements under Subsection (a).
	(e) A school district or education program is exempt from
	the minimum required instructional days or minutes of operation
	[~~requirement~~] if the district's or program's average daily
	attendance is calculated under Section 48.005(j).
	(f) The commissioner may proportionally reduce the amount
	of funding a district receives under Chapter 46, 48, or 49 and the
	average daily attendance calculation for the district if the
	district operates on a calendar that provides fewer instructional
	days or minutes of operation than required under Subsection (a).
	(g) A school district may not provide student instruction on
	Memorial Day. If a school district would be required to provide
	student instruction on Memorial Day to compensate for instructional
	days or minutes of operation [~~instruction~~] lost because of school
	closures caused by disaster, flood, extreme weather conditions,
	fuel curtailment, or another calamity, the commissioner shall
	approve the instruction of students for fewer than the number of
	instructional days or minutes of operation required under
	Subsection (a).
	SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 25, Education Code, is
	amended by adding Section 25.0813 to read as follows:
	Sec. 25.0813. MAINTENANCE OF FOUR-DAY SCHOOL WEEK SCHEDULE.
	(a) Notwithstanding any other law and except as provided by
	Subsection (b), a school district that adopted a four-day school
	week schedule for the 2022-2023 school year may maintain a four-day
	school week schedule in each subsequent school year.
	(b) If a school district adopts a four-day school week and
	the agency assigns a performance rating of D or F to one or more
	campuses in the district, the district must adopt and maintain a
	five-day school week in each subsequent school year until each
	campus in the district is assigned a performance rating of C or
	higher.
	SECTION 3. Sections 25.0815(a) and (b), Education Code, are
	amended to read as follows:
	(a) The commissioner shall provide a waiver allowing for
	fewer instructional days and fewer minutes of operation [~~and~~
	~~instructional time~~] than required under Section 25.081(a) for a
	school district that requires each educator employed by the
	district to attend an approved school safety training course.
	(b) A waiver under this section:
	(1) must allow sufficient time for the school
	district's educators to attend the school safety training course;
	and
	(2) may not:
	(A) result in an inadequate number of minutes of
	instructional time for students; or
	(B) reduce:
	(i) the number of instructional days by
	more than one day; or
	(ii) the number of minutes of operation
	[~~and instructional time~~] by more than 420 minutes.
	SECTION 4. Section 29.0822(c), Education Code, is amended
	to read as follows:
	(c) Except in the case of a course designed for a student
	described by Subsection (a)(3) or enrolled in a course described by
	Subsection (b)(4), a course offered in a program under this section
	must provide for at least the same number of instructional hours as
	required for a course offered in a program that meets the required
	minimum number of instructional days [~~minutes of operation~~] under
	Section 25.081.
	SECTION 5. Section 29.162(a), Education Code, is amended to
	read as follows:
	(a) The commissioner may adopt rules for this subchapter,
	including rules establishing full-day and half-day instructional
	days and minutes of operation requirements as provided by Section
	25.081.
	SECTION 6. Section 37.011(f), Education Code, is amended to
	read as follows:
	(f) A juvenile justice alternative education program must
	operate at least seven hours per day and 175 [~~180~~] days per year,
	except that a program may apply to the Texas Juvenile Justice
	Department for a waiver of the 175-day [~~180-day~~] requirement. The
	department may not grant a waiver to a program under this subsection
	for a number of days that exceeds the highest number of
	instructional days waived by the commissioner during the same
	school year for a school district served by the program.
	SECTION 7. Sections 48.005(i), (j), and (m), Education
	Code, are amended to read as follows:
	(i) A district or a charter school operating under Chapter
	12 that operates a prekindergarten program is eligible to receive
	one-half of average daily attendance under Subsection (a) if the
	district's or charter school's prekindergarten program provides at
	least 32,400 minutes of instructional time to students over the
	minimum required number of instructional days.
	(j) A district or charter school is eligible to earn full
	average daily attendance under Subsection (a) if the district or
	school provides at least 43,200 minutes of instructional time
	during a school year to students enrolled in:
	(1) a dropout recovery school or program operating
	under Section 12.1141(c) or Section 39.0548;
	(2) an alternative education program operating under
	Section 37.008;
	(3) a school program located at a day treatment
	facility, residential treatment facility, psychiatric hospital, or
	medical hospital;
	(4) a school program offered at a correctional
	facility; or
	(5) a school operating under Subchapter G, Chapter 12.
	(m) The commissioner shall adopt rules necessary to
	implement this section, including rules that:
	(1) establish the minimum amount of instructional time
	per day that allows a school district or charter school to be
	eligible for full average daily attendance, which may differ based
	on the instructional program offered by the district or charter
	school;
	(2) establish the requirements necessary for a school
	district or charter school to be eligible for one-half of average
	daily attendance, which may differ based on the instructional
	program offered by the district or charter school;
	(3) proportionally reduce the average daily
	attendance for a school district if any campus or instructional
	program in the district provides to students fewer than the
	required minimum number of instructional days or minutes of
	operation [~~instruction to students~~]; and
	(4) allow a grade or course repeated under Section
	28.02124 to qualify for average daily attendance even if the
	student previously passed or earned credit for the grade or course,
	if the grade or course would otherwise be eligible.
	SECTION 8. Section 48.0051(a), Education Code, is amended
	to read as follows:
	(a) The [~~Subject to Subsection (a-1), the~~] commissioner
	shall adjust the average daily attendance of a school district or
	open-enrollment charter school under Section 48.005 in the manner
	provided by Subsection (b) if the district or school:
	(1) provides the minimum number of minutes of
	operational and instructional time required under Section 25.081
	and commissioner rules adopted under that section over the minimum
	required number of instructional days or minutes of operation [at
	~~least 180 days of instruction~~]; and
	(2) offers an additional 30 days of half-day
	instruction for students enrolled in prekindergarten through fifth
	grade.
	SECTION 9. This Act applies beginning with the 2024-2025
	school year.
	SECTION 10. This Act takes effect on the 91st day after the
	last day of the legislative session.