Bill Text: TX SB1261 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relating to accelerated instruction provided to public school students who fail to achieve satisfactory performance on certain assessment instruments.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-04-24 - Committee report printed and distributed [SB1261 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-SB1261-Introduced.html

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88R4198 KJE-F
By: Paxton S.B. No. 1261

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to accelerated instruction provided to public school
students who fail to achieve satisfactory performance on certain
assessment instruments.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Section 28.0211, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 28.0211. [ACCELERATED LEARNING COMMITTEE;]
ACCELERATED INSTRUCTION; MODIFIED TEACHER ASSIGNMENT.
SECTION 2. Section 28.0211, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (a-1), (a-2), (a-3), (a-4), (f), (f-1),
(f-2), (f-3), (h), (i), (j), and (n) and adding Subsections (a-7),
(a-8), (a-9), (a-10), (b), (i-1), and (i-2) to read as follows:
(a) [A school district shall establish an accelerated
learning committee described by Subsection (c) for each student who
does not perform satisfactorily on:
[(1) the third grade mathematics or reading assessment
instrument under Section 39.023;
[(2) the fifth grade mathematics or reading assessment
instrument under Section 39.023; or
[(3) the eighth grade mathematics or reading
assessment instrument under Section 39.023.
[(a-1)] Each time a student fails to perform satisfactorily
on an assessment instrument administered under Section 39.023(a) or
(l) in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth grade or
on an end-of-course assessment instrument administered under
Section 39.023(c), the school district in which the student attends
school shall provide to the student accelerated instruction in the
applicable subject area during the subsequent summer or school
year.
(a-1) Subject to Subsection (a-7), each time a student fails
to perform satisfactorily on an assessment instrument specified
under Subsection (a) that is a mathematics or reading assessment
instrument or the English I, English II, or Algebra I end-of-course
assessment instrument, the school district in which the student
attends school shall [and] either:
(1) allow the student to be assigned a classroom
teacher who is certified as a master, exemplary, or recognized
teacher under Section 21.3521 for the subsequent school year in the
applicable subject area; or
(2) provide the student supplemental instruction
under Subsection (a-4).
(a-2) Accelerated instruction provided during the following
school year under Subsection (a) [(a-1)] may require participation
of the student before or after normal school hours.
(a-3) In providing accelerated instruction under Subsection
(a) [(a-1)], a district may not remove a student, except under
circumstances for which a student enrolled in the same grade level
who is not receiving accelerated instruction would be removed,
from:
(1) instruction in the foundation curriculum and
enrichment curriculum adopted under Section 28.002 for the grade
level in which the student is enrolled; or
(2) recess or other physical activity that is
available to other students enrolled in the same grade level.
(a-4) If a district receives funding under Section 29.0881
or 48.104, the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental
Appropriations Act, 2021 (Div. M, Pub. L. No. 116-260), or the
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Pub. L. No. 117-2), then
supplemental instruction provided by a school district under
Subsection (a-1)(2) must:
(1) include targeted instruction in the essential
knowledge and skills for the applicable grade levels and subject
area;
(2) be provided in addition to instruction normally
provided to students in the grade level in which the student is
enrolled;
(3) be provided [for no less than 30 total hours]
during the subsequent summer or school year:
(A) to each student for no less than 15 hours;
(B) for an average of no less than 30 hours per
student for all students receiving supplemental instruction; and
(C) [,] unless the instruction is provided to a
student fully during summer, [include instruction] no less than
once per week during the school year, except as otherwise provided
by commissioner rule to account for school holidays or shortened
school weeks;
(4) be designed to assist the student in achieving
satisfactory performance in the applicable grade level and subject
area;
(5) include effective instructional materials
designed for supplemental instruction;
(6) be provided to a student individually or in a group
of no more than four [three] students, unless the parent or guardian
of each student in the group authorizes a larger group;
(7) be provided by a person with training in the
applicable instructional materials for the supplemental
instruction and under the oversight of the school district; and
(8) to the extent possible, be provided by one person
for the entirety of the student's supplemental instruction period.
(a-7) The requirements under Subsection (a-1) do not apply
to a student who is retained at a grade level for the school year in
which those requirements would otherwise apply.
(a-8) A parent or guardian of a student to whom supplemental
instruction will be provided under Subsection (a-1)(2) and who
either was administered and failed to perform satisfactorily on an
assessment instrument described by Subsection (a) or was
administered a beginning-of-year assessment instrument aligned
with the essential knowledge and skills for the applicable subject
area may elect to reduce or remove a requirement for that
instruction under Subsection (a-4) by submitting a written request
to the school district. A school district may not encourage or
direct a parent or guardian to make an election under this
subsection that would allow the district to not provide
supplemental instruction to the student.
(a-9) The agency shall approve an automated or other
augmented method for providing supplemental instruction under
Subsection (a-1)(2) that may be used in lieu of some or all of the
individual or group instruction required under Subsection
(a-4)(6), as appropriate for the applicable grade level and subject
area and a student's academic deficiency. The agency may approve a
method under this subsection only if evidence indicates that the
method is more effective than the individual or group instruction
required under Subsection (a-4)(6). The commissioner shall adopt
rules regarding when a method approved under this subsection may be
used and the requirements under Subsection (a-4) for which the
method may be substituted.
(a-10) A school district that is required to provide to a
student accelerated instruction under Subsection (a) or
supplemental instruction under Subsection (a-1)(2) is not required
to provide additional instruction under either subsection to the
student based on the student's failure to perform satisfactorily on
an assessment instrument administered as an optional assessment in
the same subject area in which the district is required to provide
the student the accelerated or supplemental instruction.
(b) For each student who does not perform satisfactorily on
an assessment instrument described by Subsection (a-1) for two or
more consecutive school years, the school district the student
attends shall develop an accelerated education plan as described by
Subsection (f).
(f) Not [An accelerated learning committee described by
Subsection (c) shall, not] later than the start of the subsequent
school year, a school district shall develop an accelerated
education [educational] plan for each [the] student to whom
Subsection (b) applies that provides the necessary accelerated
instruction to enable the student to perform at the appropriate
grade level by the conclusion of the school year. The plan:
(1) must:
(A) identify the reason the student did not
perform satisfactorily on the applicable assessment instrument
described by Subsection (a-1); and
(B) notwithstanding Subsections (a-4)(3)(A) and
(B), require the student to be provided with no less than 30 hours,
or a greater number of hours if appropriate, of supplemental
instruction under Subsection (a-4) for each consecutive school year
in which the student does not perform satisfactorily on the
assessment instrument in the applicable subject area described by
Subsection (a-1); and
(2) may require that, as appropriate to ensure the
student performs satisfactorily on the assessment instrument in the
applicable subject area described by Subsection (a-1) at the next
administration of the assessment instrument:
(A) notwithstanding Subsection (a-4)(6), the
student be provided supplemental instruction under Subsection
(a-4) individually or in a group of fewer than four students;
(B) the district expand the times in which
supplemental instruction under Subsection (a-4) is available to the
student;
(C) the student be assigned for the school year
to a specific teacher who is better able to provide accelerated
instruction; and
(D) the district provide any necessary
additional resources to the student.
(f-1) The accelerated education [educational] plan under
Subsection (f) must be documented in writing, and a copy must be
provided to the student's parent or guardian.
(f-2) During the school year, the student shall be monitored
to ensure that the student is progressing in accordance with the
accelerated education plan developed under Subsection (f). The
district shall administer to the student the assessment instrument
for the grade level in which the student is placed at the time the
district regularly administers the assessment instruments for that
school year.
(f-3) The board of trustees of each school district shall
adopt a policy consistent with the grievance procedure adopted
under Section 26.011 to allow a parent to contest the content or
implementation of an accelerated education [educational] plan
developed under Subsection (f).
(h) In each instance under this section in which a school
district is specifically required to provide notice or a written
copy to a parent or guardian of a student, the district shall make a
good faith effort to ensure that such notice or copy is provided
either in person or by regular mail and that the notice or copy is
clear and easy to understand and is written in English or the parent
or guardian's native language.
(i) The admission, review, and dismissal committee of a
student who participates in a district's special education program
under Subchapter A, Chapter 29, and who does not perform
satisfactorily on an assessment instrument specified under
Subsection (a) [and administered under Section 39.023(a) or (b)]
must [meet to] determine the manner in which the student will
participate in an accelerated instruction program under this
section. For a student for whom the committee determines
participation in the required tutoring model for supplemental
instruction under Subsection (a-4) is not appropriate, the
committee must review the student's individualized education plan
and adjust the plan as appropriate to target the areas in which the
student did not perform satisfactorily on the assessment
instrument.
(i-1) If a student who attends school in a homebound or
other off-campus instructional arrangement is unable to
participate in an accelerated instruction program required under
this section due to the student's medical condition, the student's
admission, review, and dismissal committee or committee
established under Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29
U.S.C. Section 794), as applicable, may determine that the student
may be provided the accelerated instruction when the student
attends school in an on-campus instructional setting. If the
student's medical condition prevents the student from attending
school in an on-campus instructional setting for the school year
during which the accelerated instruction is required to be provided
to the student, the school district is not required to provide the
accelerated instruction to the student for that school year.
(i-2) The admission, review, and dismissal committee of a
student who participates in a district's special education program
under Subchapter A, Chapter 29, and for whom an accelerated
education plan is required under Subsection (b) shall develop the
accelerated education plan for the student and must determine the
manner in which the student will participate in an accelerated
instruction program under this section. To the extent consistent
with federal law, the accelerated education plan may not be
considered to be part of the student's individualized education
program and is not subject to the requirements of Section 29.005 or
20 U.S.C. Section 1414(d) relating to the development of an
individualized education program. A parent or guardian of a
student for whom an accelerated education plan is developed under
this subsection may contest the content or implementation of the
plan only through the grievance procedure adopted under Subsection
(f-3).
(j) A school district or open-enrollment charter school
shall provide students required to attend accelerated programs
under this section with transportation to those programs if the
programs occur outside of regular school hours, unless the district
or school does not operate, or contract or agree with another entity
to operate, a transportation system.
(n) Except as requested under Subsection (a-5) or provided
by Subsection (n-1), a student for whom an accelerated education
plan must be developed [who fails to perform satisfactorily on an
assessment instrument specified] under Subsection (b) [(a) and is
promoted to the next grade level] must be assigned, in each [the
subsequent] school year and [in each] subject covered by the
accelerated education plan, [in which the student failed to perform
satisfactorily on an assessment instrument specified under
Subsection (a)] to an appropriately certified teacher who meets all
state and federal qualifications to teach that subject and grade.
SECTION 3. Section 29.0881(e), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(e) A school district or open-enrollment charter school
that receives grant funds under this section may use the funds to:
(1) financially support or train or otherwise prepare
educators and other staff;
(2) pay for agreements with other entities to provide
prekindergarten services; or
(3) pay for accelerated instruction provided under
Section 28.0211 [or 28.0217].
SECTION 4. Section 39.025(b-1), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b-1) A school district shall provide each student who fails
to perform satisfactorily as determined by the commissioner under
Section 39.0241(a) on an end-of-course assessment instrument with
accelerated instruction under Section 28.0211 [28.0217] in the
subject assessed by the assessment instrument.
SECTION 5. The following provisions of the Education Code
are repealed:
(1) Sections 28.0211(c), (f-4), (f-5), (o), and (p);
and
(2) Section 28.0217.
SECTION 6. The changes in law made by this Act to Section
28.0211, Education Code, apply beginning with assessment
instruments administered during the 2023 spring semester.
SECTION 7. The repeal by this Act of Section 28.0217,
Education Code, applies beginning with the 2023-2024 school year.
SECTION 8. 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.