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Senate Bill 1882 Updates

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January 26, 2018

TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:

SUBJECT: Senate Bill 1882 Updates

The purpose of this TAA letter is to provide a high-level overview of Senate Bill 1882, inform districts of important timelines, notify districts of the agency’s SB 1882 information webpage, and encourage districts that intend to pursue benefits under SB 1882 for school year 2018-2019 to submit a letter of intent to TEA.

SB 1882 Overview

SB 1882 is an Act relating to a school district contract to partner with an open-enrollment charter school or other eligible entity to operate a district campus.
The bill states that to be eligible to access the benefits described in SB 1882, the partnered campus must be granted a charter under Subchapter C, Chapter 12. The district may partner with two types of entities to operate the charter:

  • A State-Authorized Open-Enrollment Charter School in good standing. State-authorized open-enrollment charter schools are also known as Subchapter D open-enrollment charters. To be eligible for the benefits associated with SB 1882 the open-enrollment charter partner may not have been previously revoked and must have received acceptable academic and financial accountability ratings for the three preceding school years.
  • On approval by the Commissioner, other entities. These other entities include institutions of higher education, non-profits, or government entities that have been granted a charter under Subchapter C, Chapter 12.

The bill states that to access the benefits associated with SB 1882 the partner entity must operate the campus. TEA is writing final rules defining what it means “to contract to partner to operate” the campus.

The bill provides incentives for districts to enter into such partnerships. Partnerships that meet eligibility requirements will qualify for:

  • A potential increase in state funding for the partnered campus. Each campus is entitled to receive for each student in average daily attendance at the campus the greater of either the amount of state funding to which the district would be entitled or the amount of state funding to which an open-enrollment charter school would be entitled.
  • An exemption from certain accountability interventions for two years. Specifically, the agency may not impose that the campus prepares and submit a turnaround plan, as outlined in TEC §39.107(a), appoint a board of managers, as outlined in TEC 39.107(e)(1), and/or close the campus, as outlined in TEC §39.107(e)(2).

Agency SB 1882 Webpage

  • The webpage will be updated regularly with information and resources, such as timelines, final rules, rule summaries, materials to use to apply for access to benefits associated with SB 1882, related guidance, model policies, and related materials.

Important Dates

Please be aware of the following dates:

  • TEA intends to publish the following rule sets for SB 1882 on or by Monday, February 26th:
    • TAC §97.1075 - Contract to Partner to Operate a Campus under TEC §11.174
    • TAC §97.1077 - School Year Under Contract Operating School District Campus
    • TAC §97.1079 - Determining Processes and Criteria for Eligible Entity Approval
  • TEA intends to post a draft timeline to the website for the SB 1882 finance and funding rule sets on or by Friday, February 9th:
  • Districts intending to pursue a SB 1882 partnership for school year 2018-2019 are asked to submit a non-binding letter of intent to TEA by February 15th. See below for more information.
  • Districts requesting SB 1882 benefits will be asked to submit eligibility approval requests and associated materials on or by Monday, April 30th. The associated materials will include an executed performance contract as required by required by TEC, §12.0531. Eligible approval request forms and related materials will be posted on the Agency SB 1882 Webpage shortly after the final rules have been posted.

District Letters of Intent

If your district intends to pursue benefits associated with SB 1882 for school year 2018-2019, we strongly encourage you to submit a Letter of Intent to TEA by February 15th. This non-binding Letter of Intent will help TEA plan for the SB 1882 benefit application process and better support interested districts. The process for submitting a Letter of Intent can be found on the SB 1882 webpage listed above.

For additional information or assistance, please contact Doug Dawson at doug.dawson@tea.texas.gov.

Sincerely,

 

Joe Siedlecki
Associate Commissioner
 

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