House Bill No. 5312 amends Section 11.1542 of the Education Code to establish new procedures for the sale, lease, or use of unused or underused school district facilities. The bill requires the board of trustees of an independent school district to provide any public school district, open-enrollment charter school, or private school approved to operate in Texas the opportunity to make an offer for the facility before it is offered to other entities. Additionally, the board must obtain an appraisal report for the facility dated within 12 months prior to offering it for sale or lease.

The bill also stipulates that during the first 90 days a facility is available for sale or lease, the board may only accept offers from public school districts, open-enrollment charter schools, or private schools, and must accept the best offer that meets or exceeds the appraised value. If no qualifying offers are received within that period, the board can then offer the facility to the general public. If an offer is accepted from the general public, the board must allow previous offerors 14 days to submit a revised offer that matches or exceeds the selected offer's financial terms. The previous requirement that the board is not obligated to accept offers from open-enrollment charter schools has been removed. The act is set to take effect on September 1, 2025.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: Education Code 11.1542 (Education Code 11)