Schwertner Bill Triples Per-Student Add-On For New Tech Network Campuses

The text as introduced · 2,344 words

89R13582 KJE-D

By: Schwertner
S.B. No. 1826

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to career and technology education programs in public

schools and the Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership (R-PEP)

program, including funding for those programs under the Foundation

School Program, and to the new instructional facility allotment and

the permissible uses of funding under the Foundation School

Program.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 29.182(b), Education Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(b) The state plan must include procedures designed to

ensure that:

(1) all secondary and postsecondary students have the

opportunity to participate in career and technology education

programs;

(2) the state complies with requirements for

supplemental federal career and technology education funding;

(3) career and technology education is established as

a part of the total education system of this state and constitutes

an option for student learning that provides a rigorous course of

study consistent with the required curriculum under Section 28.002

and under which a student may receive specific education in a career

and technology program that:

(A) incorporates competencies leading to

academic and technical skill attainment;

(B) leads to:

(i) an industry-recognized license,

credential, or certificate; or

(ii) at the postsecondary level, an

associate or baccalaureate degree;

(C) includes opportunities for students to earn

college credit for coursework; and

(D) includes, as an integral part of the program,

participation by students and teachers in activities of career and

technical student organizations supported by the agency and the

State Board of Education; [ and ]

(4) a school district provides, to the greatest extent

possible, to a student participating in a career and technology

education program opportunities to enroll in dual credit courses

designed to lead to a degree, license, or certification as part of

the program ; and

(5) a course of study offered under a Junior Reserve

Officers' Training Corps program established under 10 U.S.C.

Section 2031 is considered a career and technology education

program .

SECTION 2. Section 29.190(a-1), Education Code, is amended

to read as follows:

(a-1) A student may not receive more than two subsidies [ one

subsidy ] under this section.

SECTION 3. Subchapter Z, Chapter 29, Education Code, is

amended by adding Section 29.9016 to read as follows:

Sec. 29.9016. MILITARY PATHWAY GRANT PROGRAM. (a) The

agency shall establish a grant program to provide money to school

districts to implement a program under which the district:

(1) establishes a Junior Reserve Officers' Training

Corps program under 10 U.S.C. Section 2031 for students enrolled in

high school in the district;

(2) annually administers the Armed Services

Vocational Aptitude Battery test to each student participating in

the program described by Subdivision (1); and

(3) provides career counseling at least once per year

to each student administered the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude

Battery test under Subdivision (2) based on the results of the test.

(b) The amount of each grant awarded under the grant program

is $50,000.

(c) The total amount of grants awarded under the grant

program for a school year may not exceed $2 million.

SECTION 4. Section 29.912, Education Code, is amended by

adding Subsection (c-1) and amending Subsection (j) to read as

follows:

(c-1) A school district that has participated in the program

may continue to participate in the program regardless of the number

of students in average daily attendance in the district for the

current school year.

(j) The commissioner shall make grants available for use by

a coordinating entity for a two-year period to assist with costs

associated with the planning, development, establishment, or

expansion, as applicable, of partnerships under the program using

[ a portion of state funds allocated under Section 48.118 as well as ]

money appropriated for that purpose, federal funds, and any other

funds available. The commissioner may award a grant only to a

coordinating entity that has entered into a performance agreement

approved under Subsection (i) or, if in the planning stage, has

entered into a memorandum of understanding to enter into a

performance agreement, unless the source of funds does not permit a

grant to the coordinating entity, in which case the grant shall be

made to a participating school district acting as fiscal agent.

Eligible use of grant funds shall include planning, development,

establishment, or expansion of partnerships under the program. The

commissioner may use not more than 15 percent of the money allocated

for the grants to cover the cost of administering grants awarded

under the program and to provide technical assistance and support

to partnerships under the program. The total amount of grants

awarded under this subsection for a school year may not exceed $5

million.

SECTION 5. Section 45.105(c), Education Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(c) Local school funds from district taxes, tuition fees of

students not entitled to a free education, other local sources, and

state funds not designated for a specific purpose may be used for

the purposes listed for state and county available funds and for

purchasing appliances and supplies, paying insurance premiums,

paying janitors and other employees, buying school sites, buying,

building, repairing, and renting school buildings, including

acquiring school buildings and sites by leasing through annual

payments with an ultimate option to purchase, providing advising

support as described by Section 48.0035(1), and educating students

as described by Section 48.0035(2), and, except as provided by

Subsection (c-1), for other purposes necessary in the conduct of

the public schools determined by the board of trustees. The

accounts and vouchers for county districts must be approved by the

county superintendent. If the state available school fund in any

municipality or district is sufficient to maintain the schools in

any year for at least eight months and leave a surplus, the surplus

may be spent for the purposes listed in this subsection.

SECTION 6. Subchapter A, Chapter 48, Education Code, is

amended by adding Sections 48.0035 and 48.0055 to read as follows:

Sec. 48.0035. USE OF FUNDING FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES. A school

district may use funding to which the district is entitled under

this chapter to:

(1) provide district graduates, during the first two

years after high school graduation, advising support toward the

successful completion of a certificate or degree program at a

public institution of higher education or a postsecondary

vocational training program; and

(2) educate a student who has graduated from high

school but is enrolled in the district in a program through which

the student may earn dual credit, including the Pathways in

Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) program under

Subchapter N, Chapter 29, and the Rural Pathway Excellence

Partnership (R-PEP) program under Section 29.912.

Sec. 48.0055. ENROLLMENT-BASED FUNDING. The commissioner

by rule shall establish the method for determining average

enrollment for purposes of funding provided based on average

enrollment under Chapter 46 and this chapter.

SECTION 7. Section 48.106, Education Code, is amended by

amending Subsection (a-1) and adding Subsection (a-2) to read as

follows:

(a-1) In addition to the amounts under Subsection (a), for

each student in average enrollment [ daily attendance ], a district

is entitled to $150 [ $50 ] for each of the following in which the

student is enrolled:

(1) a campus designated as a P-TECH school under

Section 29.556; or

(2) a campus that is a member of the New Tech Network

and that focuses on project-based learning and work-based

education.

(a-2) A district is entitled to funding under Subsection

(a-1) for a student who has graduated from high school but is

enrolled in the district in a program offered under Subchapter N,

Chapter 29, through which the student may earn dual credit. The

district is not entitled to any other funding under this chapter for

a student described by this subsection.

SECTION 8. Sections 48.106(b)(1) and (1-a), Education Code,

are amended to read as follows:

(1) "Approved career and technology education

program":

(A) means :

(i) a sequence of career and technology

education courses, including technology applications courses,

authorized by the State Board of Education ; and

(ii) courses offered under a Junior Reserve

Officers' Training Corps program established under 10 U.S.C.

Section 2031 ; and

(B) includes only courses that qualify for high

school credit.

(1-a) "Approved program of study" means a course

sequence that:

(A) provides students with the knowledge and

skills necessary for success in the students' chosen careers ,

including the military ; and

(B) is approved by the agency for purposes of the

Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century

Act (Pub. L. No. 115-224).

SECTION 9. Section 48.118, Education Code, is amended by

amending Subsections (a) and (f) and adding Subsections (a-1),

(a-2), (a-3), and (g) to read as follows:

(a) Subject to Subsection (a-1), for [ For ] each full-time

equivalent student in average daily attendance in grades 9 through

12 in a college or career pathway offered through a partnership

under the Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership (R-PEP) program

under Section 29.912 who meets the requirements under Subsection

(g) , a school district is entitled to an allotment equal to the

basic allotment, or, if applicable, the sum of the basic allotment

and the allotment under Section 48.101 to which the district is

entitled, multiplied by:

(1) 1.15 if the student is educationally

disadvantaged; or

(2) 1.11 if the student is not educationally

disadvantaged.

(a-1) A school district is eligible to receive an allotment

under Subsection (a) only if the district has adopted a school

calendar for that school year that provides for at least:

(1) 175 instructional days; or

(2) five instructional days per week for the majority

of the school year.

(a-2) The commissioner may waive the requirement under

Subsection (a-1) for a school district for the 2025-2026 school

year on application by the district if the district demonstrates

that the district has adopted a school calendar for the 2026-2027

school year that complies with that subsection. This subsection

expires September 1, 2026.

(a-3) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a school district

described by Section 29.912(c-1) may receive funding under this

section for up to 110 percent of the number of students who

qualified under Subsection (a) for the school year immediately

preceding the school year in which the district's enrollment first

reached 1,600 or more.

(f) The total amount of state funding for allotments and

outcomes bonuses under this section may not exceed $20 [ $5 ] million

per year. If the total amount of allotments and outcomes bonuses to

which school districts are entitled under this section exceeds the

amount permitted under this subsection, the agency shall allocate

state funding to districts under this section in the following

order:

(1) [ allotments under Subsection (a) for which school

districts participating in partnerships prioritized under Section

29.912(h) are eligible;

[ (2) ] allotments under Subsection (a) for which school

districts that entered into a memorandum of understanding or letter

of commitment regarding a multidistrict pathway partnership, as

defined by commissioner rule, before May 1, 2023, are eligible;

(2) [ (3) ] allotments under Subsection (a) for which

school districts that have entered into a performance agreement

under Section 29.912 with a coordinating entity that is an

institution of higher education, as defined by Section 61.003, are

eligible; and

(3) [ (4) ] allotments under Subsection (a) for which

school districts with the highest percentage of students who are

educationally disadvantaged, in descending order, are eligible[ ;

and

[ (5) outcomes bonuses under Subsection (c) for which

school districts with the highest percentage of students who are

educationally disadvantaged, in descending order, are eligible ].

(g) To be eligible for funding under this section, a

partnership under the Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership (R-PEP)

program under Section 29.912 must offer at least one of the

following programs of study through in-person instruction, remote

instruction, or a hybrid of in-person and remote instruction:

(1) computer programming and software development or

cybersecurity; or

(2) a specialized skilled trade, such as:

(A) plumbing and pipefitting;

(B) electrical;

(C) welding;

(D) diesel and heavy equipment;

(E) aviation maintenance; or

(F) applied agricultural engineering.

SECTION 10. Section 48.152(a)(2), Education Code, is

amended to read as follows:

(2) "New instructional facility" includes:

(A) a newly constructed instructional facility;

(B) a repurposed instructional facility; [ and ]

(C) a leased facility operating for the first

time as an instructional facility with a minimum lease term of not

less than 10 years ; and

(D) a renovated portion of an instructional

facility to be used for the first time to provide high-cost and

undersubscribed career and technology education programs, as

determined by the commissioner .

SECTION 11. Section 48.152(f), Education Code, is amended

to read as follows:

(f) The amount appropriated for allotments under this

section may not exceed $150 [ $100 ] million in a school year. If the

total amount of allotments to which districts are entitled under

this section for a school year exceeds the amount appropriated

under this subsection, the commissioner :

(1) shall reduce each district's allotment under this

section in the manner provided by Section 48.266(f) ; and

(2) for new instructional facilities described by

Subsection (a)(2)(D), may remove a career and technology education

program from the list of programs that qualify under that

subsection .

SECTION 12. Sections 29.912(h) and 48.118(b), (c), and (d),

Education Code, are repealed.

SECTION 13. Section 29.9016, Education Code, as added by

this Act, and Section 29.912, Education Code, as amended by this

Act, apply beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.

SECTION 14. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) or (c)

of this section, 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.

(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c) of this section,

the amendments by this Act to Chapter 48, Education Code, take

effect September 1, 2025.

(c) Section 48.118(g), Education Code, as added by this Act,

takes effect September 1, 2027.