Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) Governmental Relations
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"On Tuesday, the Texas House considered SB 1718 (West), a bill that would create a statewide school district called an Achievement School District (ASD).
"Under
the bill, schools that are low-performing for two years may be seized by
the state and assigned to the ASD. The purpose of the ASD is to provide
services so that student performance improves, then once that occurs,
the school is to be returned to the local school district. The
commissioner of education appoints the superintendent for the ASD and
may assign TEA staff to support the ASD operations. Funding for the ASD
follows the student, according to SB 1718. The ASD gets access to grants
and discretionary funding that flow to the prior district as a pro rata
share of all such revenue. Finally, because the prior district remains
responsible for paying debt service and capital outlay, the prior
district receives Instructional Facilities Allotment and Existing Debt
Allotment funds for students in the ASD as well as students who remain
in the prior district. The ASD is responsible only for routine
maintenance and upkeep of the prior district’s facilities that are given
over to the ASD for its use.
"Reps.
Harold Dutton (D-Houston), Dan Huberty (R-Houston) and Ken King
(R-Canadian) fought off a slew of amendments to the bill, which ranged
from applying similar rules that public schools must follow to the ASD
to requiring school operators under the ASD to meet certain financial
and accountability standards.
"The
bill was held up on a point of order, and SB 1718 will be dead if the
House does not take it up again before the chamber ends its day as
Tuesday is the last day the House may consider Senate bills on second
reading ..."
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"The proposal by Dallas Democratic Sen. Royce West cleared the Senate May
1 but went down Tuesday night on a House parliamentary error raised by
Houston Democratic Rep. Armando Walle." Error kills new district for struggling schools - Associated Press
