HBA-JRA C.S.S.B. 1784 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.S.B. 1784 By: Gallegos Public Education 5/19/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The United States has one of the highest university dropout rates in the industrialized world -- 37 percent. Among the 29 member nations of the OECD, the U.S. high school graduation rate, at 72 percent, is next to last, surpassing only Mexico. The study also reported Americans are among the industrialized world's least literate populations. Yet U.S. spending per pupil is among the highest in the group at all levels of education. C.S.S.B. 1784 establishes provisions to be used in a private or public community-based dropout recovery education program to provide alternative education programs for students at risk of dropping out of school. 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 Section 29.081(e), Education Code, to set forth provisions for a private or public community-based dropout recovery education program that is used by a school district for students at risk of dropping out of school. Establishes that the programs must provide not less than four hours of instructional time per day, employ as faculty and administrators persons with baccalaureate or advanced degrees, provide at least one instructor for each 28 students, perform satisfactorily according to specific performance indicators and accountability standards, and comply with this title (Public Education) and rules adopted under this title, except as otherwise provided by this subsection. Deletes existing text which provides that the program must grade students' work, offer course credit, modify instructional time requirements, and establish methods of evaluating subject mastery. SECTION 2. Makes application of this Act prospective beginning with the 1999-2000 school year. SECTION 3.Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE The substitute makes conforming changes in the caption. The substitute modifies the original in SECTION 1 by further amending Section 29.081(e), Education Code. Section 29.081(e) of the substitute sets forth provisions for a private or public community-based dropout recovery education program that is used by a school district for students at risk of dropping out of school. The substitute specifies that the programs must provide not less than four hours of instructional time per day, employ as faculty and administrators persons with baccalaureate or advanced degrees, provide at least one instructor for each 28 students, perform satisfactorily according to specific performance indicators and accountability standards, and comply with this title (Public Education) and rules adopted under this title, except as otherwise provided by this subsection. The original required a school district, when utilizing a community-based dropout recovery education program, to develop goals, objectives, and guidelines that best address the needs of students at risk of dropping out of school. The original set forth requirements for the guidelines. The substitute modifies the original in SECTION 2 to make the application of this Act prospective beginning with the 1999-2000 school year, rather than setting forth the effective date. The substitute modifies the original in SECTION 3 by using the long emergency clause in the substitute, rather than the short emergency clause.