HBA-LCA H.B. 3672 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3672 By: Goolsby Public Education 4/20/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In the past year, one sixth of the public schools rated by the Texas Education Agency as lowperforming were in the Dallas Independent School District (DISD). Less than 60 percent of DISD students passed all TAAS tests administered, compared to a statewide average of more than 75 percent passage, and only 52 percent of graduating students in the class of 1997 took the SAT or ACT. During the 1997-1998 school year, more than 1,500 students in the district dropped out of grades 7 through 12. The DISD superintendent was recently convicted of embezzlement, leaving the district without a chief administrator. An additional problem is the strong public perception that the members of the school board are unable to cooperate with one another or to make unified decisions. Both local and state leaders support taking immediate action with regard to educating Dallas schoolchildren. H.B. 3672, which applies to Dallas, requires the division of DISD into three separate districts, each retaining at least 20 percent of the previous year's enrollment, with property and debt distributed equally among each new district. The bill provides for the election of three new boards of trustees. Under this bill, the current board of trustees will administer the division, and remain on the board until the election of the new boards of trustees. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter C, Chapter 13, Education Code, by adding Section 13.106, as follows: Sec. 13.106. DIVISION OF CERTAIN DISTRICTS. (a) Provides that a school district (district) with less than 200,000 students located in whole or part in a county with a population of more than 1.8 million shall divide into three districts under this section. (b) Requires the board of trustees of the school district (board) to initiate division of the district by resolution adopted by a majority of the board. Requires the resolution to state metes and bounds of each new district, and allocate the property and debt of the former district equitably among the three districts. Provides that each new district must contain at least 20 percent of the previous year's enrollment. (c) Authorizes a member of the board of trustees to appeal the boundaries and allocations adopted to the commissioner of education (commissioner) under Section 7.057, Education Code (Appeals). Authorizes the commissioner to adjust the boundaries and allocations to the extent necessary to provide adequate resources to each new district for the education of students who reside within its boundaries. Provides that such an appeal must be made within 10 days of the resolution, and that the commissioner's decision under this section is final and may not be appealed. (d) Entitles an employee of a district divided under this section to the same contractual rights, if any, with one of the new districts. Requires the board resolution to specify which employees are assigned to each new district, provided that an employee currently assigned to a campus may not be transferred by action of the board's resolution. (e) Requires the board of the former district to administer the affairs of the district until the next regular election, when new boards are elected in the same manner as provided for the election of the former board. (f) Requires the commissioner, upon the disallowance of a division of a school district under this section by court order, by administrative disapproval by the U.S. Department of Justice, or upon the board's failure to adopt a resolution within the time limit, to develop a division of the district and its assets and liabilities, including employee assignment, which must take effect at the next regularly scheduled election at which trustees may be selected. (g) Requires a board subject to this section to adopt a resolution in compliance with this section no later than 90 days after the date on which the district becomes subject to this section. SECTION 2. Emergency clause. Effective date: 90 days after adjournment.