Bill Text: TX SB175 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to providing free prekindergarten for certain children.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-11-12 - Filed [SB175 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-SB175-Introduced.html

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89R4350 PRL-D
By: Menéndez S.B. No. 175

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to providing free prekindergarten for certain children.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 28.02124(a), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) Subject to Subsection (c), a parent or guardian may
elect for a student to:
(1) repeat prekindergarten;
(2) enroll in prekindergarten, if the student would
have been eligible to enroll in prekindergarten during the previous
school year under Section 29.153 [29.153(b)] and the student has
not yet enrolled in kindergarten;
(3) repeat kindergarten;
(4) enroll in kindergarten, if the student would have
been eligible to enroll in kindergarten in the previous school year
and has not yet enrolled in first grade; or
(5) for grades one through eight, repeat the grade in
which the student was enrolled during the previous school year.
SECTION 2. Section 29.153(a-1), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a-1) A district shall offer prekindergarten classes to any
child [if the district identifies 15 or more children] who is [are
eligible under Subsection (b) and are] at least four years of age.
A school district may offer prekindergarten classes to any child
[if the district identifies 15 or more eligible children] who is
[are] at least three years of age. A district may not charge tuition
for a prekindergarten class offered under this section.
SECTION 3. Section 29.1543, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 29.1543. EARLY EDUCATION REPORTS. The agency shall
produce and make available to the public on the agency's Internet
website annual district and campus-level reports containing
information from the previous school year on early education in
school districts and open-enrollment charter schools. A report
under this section must contain:
(1) the information required by Section 29.1532(c) to
be reported through the Public Education Information Management
System (PEIMS);
(2) a description of the diagnostic reading
instruments administered in accordance with Section 28.006(c) or
(c-2);
(3) the number of students who were administered a
diagnostic reading instrument administered in accordance with
Section 28.006(c) or (c-2);
(4) the number of students whose scores from a
diagnostic reading instrument administered in accordance with
Section 28.006(c) or (c-2) indicate reading proficiency;
(5) the number of kindergarten students who were
enrolled in a prekindergarten program in the previous school year
in the same district or school as the district or school in which
the student attends kindergarten;
(6) the number and percentage of students who perform
satisfactorily on the third grade reading or mathematics assessment
instrument administered under Section 39.023[, disaggregated by
whether the student was eligible for free prekindergarten under
Section 29.153];
(7) the number of students described by Subdivision
(6) who attended kindergarten in the district, disaggregated by:
(A) whether the student met the kindergarten
readiness standard on the reading instrument adopted under Section
28.006;
(B) whether the student attended prekindergarten
in the district; and
(C) the type of prekindergarten the student
attended, if applicable; and
(8) the information described by Subdivisions (6) and
(7) disaggregated by whether the student is educationally
disadvantaged.
SECTION 4. Sections 48.005(a) and (i), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) In this chapter, average daily attendance is:
(1) the quotient of the sum of attendance for each day
of the minimum number of days of instruction as described under
Section 25.081(a) divided by the minimum number of days of
instruction;
(2) for a district that operates under a flexible year
program under Section 29.0821, the quotient of the sum of
attendance for each actual day of instruction as permitted by
Section 29.0821(b)(1) divided by the number of actual days of
instruction as permitted by Section 29.0821(b)(1);
(3) for a district that operates under a flexible
school day program under Section 29.0822, the average daily
attendance as calculated by the commissioner in accordance with
Sections 29.0822(d) and (d-1); or
(4) for a district that operates a prekindergarten
[half-day program or a full-day] program under Section 29.153(c):
(A) for a half-day program, one-half of the
average daily attendance calculated under Subdivision (1); or
(B) for a full-day program, the average daily
attendance calculated under Subdivision (1).
(i) A district or a charter school operating under Chapter
12 that operates a half-day 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.
SECTION 5. Sections 29.153(b), (e-1), and (f), Education
Code, are repealed.
SECTION 6. This Act applies beginning with the 2025-2026
school year.
SECTION 7. 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, 2025.