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

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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-Comm_Sub.html

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By: Paxton S.B. No. 1261
(In the Senate - Filed February 27, 2023; March 9, 2023,
read first time and referred to Committee on Education;
April 24, 2023, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 12, Nays 0; April 24, 2023,
sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1261 By: Campbell

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-4), (a-5), (f), (f-1), (f-2),
(f-3), (g), (h), (i), (j), (k), and (n) and adding Subsections
(a-7), (a-8), (a-9), (a-10), (a-11), (a-12), (a-13), (b), (b-1),
(i-1), (l), (q), and (r) to read as follows:
(a) To ensure that each student achieves at least
satisfactory performance on each assessment instrument
administered under Section 39.023, a [A] school district shall
ensure that the district's curricular and instructional systems
provide instruction to all students that:
(1) is consistently aligned with the essential
knowledge and skills for the applicable subject area and grade
level; and
(2) strategically and timely addresses deficiencies
in the prerequisite essential knowledge and skills for the
applicable subject area and grade level [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
an end-of-course assessment instrument administered under Section
39.023(c), other than an assessment instrument developed or adopted
based on alternative academic achievement standards, 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 and, subject to
Subsection (a-7), 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-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:
(i) 15 hours; or
(ii) 30 hours for a student whose
performance on the applicable assessment instrument was
significantly below satisfactory, as defined by commissioner rule;
(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-5) Each school district shall establish a process
allowing for the parent or guardian of a student who fails to
perform satisfactorily on an assessment instrument specified under
Subsection (a-1) [(a)] to make a request for district consideration
that the student be assigned to a particular classroom teacher in
the applicable subject area for the subsequent school year, if more
than one classroom teacher is available.
(a-7) The requirements under Subsection (a-1)(1) or (2) 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 specified under Subsection (a-1) or was
administered a beginning-of-year assessment instrument aligned
with the essential knowledge and skills for the applicable subject
area, including a student to whom Subsection (b) applies, 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:
(1) not provide supplemental instruction to the
student; or
(2) provide supplemental instruction in a group larger
than authorized under Subsection (a-4)(6).
(a-9) A school district is not required to provide
accelerated instruction under Subsection (a-1) to a student who,
instead of being administered an assessment instrument specified
under Subsection (a-1), was administered a substitute assessment
instrument in accordance with other law or agency rule authorizing
the use of the substitute assessment instrument for purposes of
satisfying the requirements concerning the applicable assessment
instrument under Subsection (a-1).
(a-10) The agency shall approve one or more automated or
other augmented methods 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-11) For the purpose of providing tutoring services as
part of the district's accelerated instruction program, a school
district may use a service provider that is not on a list of service
providers approved by the agency if the district can demonstrate to
the commissioner that use of the service provider results in
measurable improvement in student outcomes.
(a-12) A school district that is required to provide to a
student accelerated instruction under Subsection (a-1) or
supplemental instruction under Subsection (a-1)(2) is not required
to provide additional instruction under either provision 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.
(a-13) A school district shall provide to the parent or
guardian of a student who fails to perform satisfactorily on an
assessment instrument specified under Subsection (a-1) notice that
the student is not performing on grade level in the applicable
subject area. Notwithstanding Subsection (h), the district must
provide the notice at a parent-teacher conference or, if the
district is unable to provide the notice at a parent-teacher
conference, make a good faith effort to provide the notice in
person. The agency shall develop and provide to school districts a
model notice in plain language for use under this section.
(b) For each student who does not perform satisfactorily on
an assessment instrument specified under 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).
(b-1) A school district shall make a good faith attempt to
provide to the parent or guardian of a student to whom Subsection
(b) applies a parent-teacher conference with the student's primary
teacher at the start and end of the subsequent school year. At the
conference, the district shall provide the student's parent or
guardian with:
(1) the notice required under Subsection (a-13); and
(2) an explanation of:
(A) the accelerated instruction to which the
student is entitled under this section; and
(B) the accelerated education plan that must be
developed for the student under Subsection (f) and the manner in
which the parent or guardian may participate in developing the
plan.
(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
specified under 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 specified
under 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 specified under 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).
(g) This section does not preclude the retention at a grade
level, in accordance with state law or school district policy, of a
student who performs satisfactorily on an assessment instrument
specified under Subsection (a-1) [(a)].
(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-1) [(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 school
district may determine that the student 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 district
is not required to provide the accelerated instruction to the
student for that school year.
(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.
(k) The commissioner may adopt rules as necessary to
implement this section, including rules for required reporting
necessary to support student transfers.
(l) The agency shall monitor and evaluate the effectiveness
of the accelerated instruction required under this section.
(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.
(q) The commissioner may waive the requirements under this
section regarding accelerated instruction for a school district for
each school year in which at least 60 percent of the students who
received accelerated instruction during the school year
immediately preceding the previous school year, including at least
60 percent of students whose performance on the applicable
assessment instrument was significantly below satisfactory, as
defined by commissioner rule, performed satisfactorily in the
previous school year on the assessment instrument in each subject
in which the student previously failed to perform satisfactorily.
For purposes of determining whether a school district qualifies for
a waiver under this subsection, the commissioner shall:
(1) if a student received accelerated instruction in
more than one subject during the applicable school year, consider
the student's performance on the assessment instrument in each
subject separately from the student's performance on the assessment
instrument for each other subject; and
(2) by rule provide that a school district may not
qualify for a waiver if students who are receiving special
education services or are educationally disadvantaged are
overrepresented among the students in the district who received
accelerated instruction during the school year immediately
preceding the previous school year and did not perform
satisfactorily in the previous school year on the assessment
instrument in each applicable subject.
(r) Not later than the beginning of each school year, the
commissioner shall publish a list of school districts that qualify
for a waiver under Subsection (q).
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), and (f-5); 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. (a) Notwithstanding any other section of this
Act, in a state fiscal year, the Texas Education Agency is not
required to implement a provision found in another section of this
Act that is drafted as a mandatory provision imposing a duty on the
agency to take an action unless money is specifically appropriated
to the agency for that fiscal year to carry out that duty. The Texas
Education Agency may implement the provision in that fiscal year to
the extent other funding is available to the agency to do so.
(b) If, as authorized by Subsection (a) of this section, the
Texas Education Agency does not implement the mandatory provision
in a state fiscal year, the agency, in its legislative budget
request for the next state fiscal biennium, shall certify that fact
to the Legislative Budget Board and include a written estimate of
the costs of implementing the provision in each year of that next
state fiscal biennium.
(c) This section and the suspension of the Texas Education
Agency's duty to implement a mandatory provision of this Act, as
provided by Subsection (a) of this section, expires and the duty to
implement the mandatory provision resumes on September 1, 2027.
SECTION 9. 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.
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