HBA-JEK H.B. 2546 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2546 By: Dutton Public Education 4/5/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Texas has made progress in the area of public school accountability. The state annually collects achievement data from the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, and requires schools to maintain an attendance rate of at least 94 percent and a dropout rate of no more than 6 percent to receive an acceptable rating. Some schools are consistently deemed low-performing, and these schools can have severe negative consequences for their students. Low-performing schools are subject to sanctions at the discretion of the commissioner of education (commissioner), but there are no stipulations regarding the hiring of teachers that could help these schools improve their performance. House Bill 2546 requires the commissioner to order a school program on a campus that has been rated as low-performing for two years to maintain a lower student to teacher ratio, and if performance remains low for two more years, to order the closure of the school program on the campus. 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. ANALYSIS House Bill 2546 amends the Education Code to authorize the commissioner of education (commissioner) to order that the school program on a campus that has been considered low-performing for two years employ only a teacher certified to teach the subject and grade level to which the teacher is assigned and maintain a ratio of one teacher for each 10 students in the average daily attendance. The bill requires the commissioner to order closure of the school program on a campus that continues to be low-performing for two years after the commissioner orders employment of teachers as provided by the bill. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001. The Act applies beginning with the 2001-2002 school year.