88(3) HB 198 - Introduced version - Bill Text
  88S30797 PRL-F
 
  By:  Cunningham H.B.  No.  198
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the minimum number of instructional days provided by
  public schools.
               BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
               SECTION  1.    Section 25.081, Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
               Sec.  25.081.    OPERATION OF SCHOOLS.    (a)    Except as
  authorized under Subsection (a-1) or  (b) of this section, Section
  25.0815, Section 25.084, or Section 29.0821, for each school year
  each school district must operate:
                           (1)    for a minimum of 175 instructional days; and  
                           (2)    for at least 75,600 minutes of operation,
  including time allocated for instruction, intermissions, and
  recesses for students.
               (a-1)    Subsection (a)(1) does not apply to a school district
  with a student enrollment of less than 8,000.
               (b)    The commissioner may approve the operation of schools
  for fewer than the number of instructional days or minutes of
  operation required under Subsection (a)  if disaster, flood, extreme
  weather conditions, fuel curtailment, or another calamity causes
  the closing of schools.
               (c)    If the commissioner does not approve reduced
  instructional days or minutes of operation [time] under Subsection
  (b), a school district may add additional instructional days to the
  school year or minutes of operation to the end of the district's
  normal school hours as necessary to compensate for instructional
  days or minutes of operation lost due to school closures caused by
  disaster, flood, extreme weather conditions, fuel curtailment, or
  another calamity.
               (d)    The commissioner may adopt rules to implement this
  section, including rules:
                           (1)    [for the application, on the basis of the minimum
  minutes of operation required by Subsection (a), of any provision
  of this title that refers to a minimum number of days of instruction
  under this section;
                           [(2)]    to determine the minutes of operation that are
  equivalent to a day;
                           (2)  [(3)]    defining minutes of operation and
  instructional time; and
                           (3)  [(4)] establishing the minimum number of minutes of
  instructional time required for a full-day and a half-day program
  to meet the time requirements under Subsection (a).
               (e)    A school district or education program is exempt from
  the minimum required instructional days or minutes of operation
  [requirement] if the district's or program's average daily
  attendance is calculated under Section 48.005(j).
               (f)    The commissioner may proportionally reduce the amount
  of funding a district receives under Chapter 46, 48, or 49 and the
  average daily attendance calculation for the district if the
  district operates on a calendar that provides fewer instructional
  days or minutes of operation than required under Subsection (a).
               (g)    A school district may not provide student instruction on
  Memorial Day.  If a school district would be required to provide
  student instruction on Memorial Day to compensate for instructional
  days or minutes of operation [instruction] lost because of school
  closures caused by disaster, flood, extreme weather conditions,
  fuel curtailment, or another calamity, the commissioner shall
  approve the instruction of students for fewer than the number of
  instructional days or minutes of operation  required under
  Subsection (a).
               SECTION  2.    Subchapter C, Chapter 25, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 25.0813 to read as follows:
               Sec.  25.0813.    MAINTENANCE OF FOUR-DAY SCHOOL WEEK SCHEDULE.
  (a) Notwithstanding any other law and except as provided by
  Subsection (b), a school district that adopted a four-day school
  week schedule for the 2022-2023 school year may maintain a four-day
  school week schedule in each subsequent school year.
               (b)    If a school district adopts a four-day school week and
  the agency assigns a performance rating of D or F to one or more
 

Statutes affected:
Introduced: Education Code 25.081, Education Code 25.0815, Education Code 29.0822, Education Code 29.162, Education Code 37.011, Education Code 48.005, Education Code 48.0051 (Education Code 25, Education Code 37, Education Code 29, Education Code 48)