HBA-MPM S.B. 596 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 596 By: Duncan Public Education 4/11/2001 Engrossed BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, Texas schools fund half-day prekindergarten programs for students with limited English proficiency or students who are homeless or low-income. In April 2000, the attorney general ruled that as a public entity, a school district may charge a fee or tuition for an educational program only if it is specifically authorized to do so, either by statute or under the constitution. The opinion concluded that a school district may not currently charge tuition for prekindergarten students not automatically eligible for the state-supported class as disadvantaged students because no statute expressly authorizes a school district to do so. Additionally, a complete evaluation of the state's prekindergarten efforts is not possible, because districts are not required to report prekindergarten data as part of a district's Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) report. Senate Bill 596 authorizes school districts to charge tuition for an optional half-day or full-day prekindergarten program for students who are not disadvantaged and requires districts to include prekindergarten data in its PEIMS report. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS Senate Bill 596 amends the Education Code to authorize a school district (district) to offer on a tuition basis or use district funds to provide an additional half-day of prekindergarten classes to children who are eligible for the required prekindergarten classes and half-day and full-day prekindergarten classes to all other children. The bill prohibits a district from adopting a tuition rate for the program that is higher than necessary to cover the added costs of providing the program, including any costs associated with collecting, reporting, and analyzing prekindergarten data for the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) report. The bill provides that a district must submit the proposed tuition rate to the commissioner of education for approval. The bill prohibits a district from charging tuition for a half-day of prekindergarten class if the child is at least three years of age and is unable to speak and comprehend English, educationally disadvantaged, or homeless, as that term is defined by federal law. S.B. 596 requires a district that offers prekindergarten classes to include in its PEIMS report: _demographic information, as determined by the commissioner of education, on students enrolled in prekindergarten classes, including the number of students eligible for the free class; _the numbers of half-day and full-day prekindergarten classes offered by the district; and _the sources of funding for the prekindergarten classes. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001. The Act applies beginning with the 2001-2002 school year.