Commissioner's Rules
Adopted Amendment to 19 TAC Chapter 61, School Districts, Subchapter AA, Commissioner's Rules on School Finance, §61.1012, Contracts and Tuition for Education Outside District
Attachments:
I. Statutory Citations (PDF)
II. Text of Adopted Amendment to 19 TAC Chapter 61, School Districts, Subchapter AA, Commissioner's Rules on School Finance, §61.1012, Contracts and Tuition for Education Outside District (PDF)
III. Summary of Public Comments and Agency Responses
SUMMARY:
The rule action presented in this item will be filed as adopted with the Texas Register under the commissioner's rulemaking authority. This item adopts an amendment to 19 TAC Chapter 61, School Districts, Subchapter AA, Commissioner's Rules on School Finance, §61.1012, Contracts and Tuition for Education Outside District. The adopted amendment modifies the existing rule to reflect changes in law made by House Bill (HB) 1, 79th Texas Legislature, Third Called Session, 2006.
STATUTORY AUTHORITY:
Texas Education Code (TEC), §25.039 and §42.106, as amended by HB 1619, 78th Texas Legislature, 2003; and House Bill 1, Section 1.22, 79th Texas Legislature, Third Called Session, 2006.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
May 4, 2008.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND SIGNIFICANT ISSUES:
Through 19 TAC §61.1012, adopted to be effective September 7, 2000, the commissioner exercised rulemaking authority relating to contracts for tuition outside a school district. In accordance with TEC, §25.039 and §42.106, the current rule establishes definitions, explains tuition charges for transfer students, and describes the maximum tuition amount allowed for property value adjustment. The rule was last amended to be effective March 28, 2004, to reflect changes in statute made by HB 1619, 78th Texas Legislature, 2003. These changes modified TEC, §25.039 and §42.106, to allow a district to charge tuition at a rate higher than the rate limit established in statute, yet limited a district's tuition-related adjustments to property value to adjustments prescribed by the calculated limit.
The adopted amendment to 19 TAC §61.1012 incorporates new elements of the state funding system that were adopted in HB 1, 79th Texas Legislature, Third Called Session, 2006, and delineates the revised tuition calculation to reflect those changes. The adopted amendment permits a district to continue receiving the adjustment to property values to the extent that the district is reimbursed for its tuition costs. The adopted amendment limits the use of the adjusted property values so that a district is not reimbursed for tuition costs more than once.
The adopted amendment also removes several expired provisions and updates references to statutory citations.
A non-substantive, technical correction was made at adoption in subsection (b)(2) to lowercase the word "fund" in the phrase "interest and sinking fund." This correction is consistent with other references to the phrase in 19 TAC Chapter 61.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The TEA has determined that there are no fiscal implications to persons or entities required to comply with the proposed rule action, including local school districts and open-enrollment charter schools. In addition, there is no economic impact for small businesses and microbusinesses; therefore, no regulatory flexibility analysis, specified in Texas Government Code, §2006.002, is required.
PUBLIC AND STUDENT BENEFIT:
The tuition rates for school districts will be based on current law.
PROCEDURAL AND REPORTING IMPLICATIONS:
None.
LOCALLY MAINTAINED PAPERWORK REQUIREMENTS:
None.
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
The public comment period on the proposal began on January 25, 2008, and ended February 24, 2008. A summary of public comments and corresponding agency responses can be found in Attachment III.
ALTERNATIVES:
None.
OTHER COMMENTS AND RELATED ISSUES:
None.
Staff Members Responsible:
Adam Jones, Deputy Commissioner, Finance and Administration
Shirley Beaulieu, Associate Commissioner, Finance / CFO
Lisa Dawn-Fisher, Deputy Associate Commissioner, School Finance
For additional information, email rules@tea.state.tx.us.