Advisory Councils

  • Role and Duties as outlined in the Texas Education Code
    § 11.252. District-Level Planning and Decision-Making

     (a) Each school district shall have a district improvement plan that is developed, evaluated, and revised annually, in accordance with district policy, by the superintendent with the assistance of the district-level committee established under Section 11.251. The purpose of the district improvement plan is to guide district and campus staff in the improvement of student performance for all student groups in order to attain state standards in respect to the academic excellence indicators adopted under Section 39.051. The district improvement plan must include provisions for:

     (1) a comprehensive needs assessment addressing district student performance on the academic excellence indicators, and other appropriate measures of performance, that are disaggregated by all student groups served by the district, including categories of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sex, and populations served by special programs, including students in special education programs under Subchapter A, Chapter 29;

     (2) measurable district performance objectives for all appropriate academic excellence indicators for all student populations, including students in special education programs under Subchapter A, Chapter 29, and other measures of student performance that may be identified through the comprehensive needs assessment;

     (3) strategies for improvement of student performance that include:

     (A) instructional methods for addressing the needs of student groups not achieving their full potential;

     (B) methods for addressing the needs of students for special programs, such as suicide prevention, conflict resolution, violence prevention, or dyslexia treatment programs;

     (C) dropout reduction;

     (D) integration of technology in instructional and administrative programs;

     (E) discipline management;

     (F) staff development for professional staff of the district;

     (G) career education to assist students in developing the knowledge, skills, and competencies necessary for a broad range of career opportunities; and

     (H) accelerated education;

     (4) strategies for providing to middle school, junior high school, and high school students, those students' teachers and counselors, and those students' parents information about:

     (A) higher education admissions and financial aid opportunities;

     (B) the TEXAS grant program and the Teach for Texas grant program established under Subchapter M, Chapter 56;

     (C) the need for students to make informed curriculum choices to be prepared for success beyond high school; and

     (D) sources of information on higher education admissions and financial aid;

     (5) resources needed to implement identified strategies;

     (6) staff responsible for ensuring the accomplishment of each strategy;

     (7) timelines for ongoing monitoring of the implementation of each improvement strategy; and

     (8) formative evaluation criteria for determining periodically whether strategies are resulting in intended improvement of student performance.

     (b) A district's plan for the improvement of student performance is not filed with the agency, but the district must make the plan available to the agency on request.

     (c) In a district that has only one campus, the district- and campus-level committees may be one committee and the district and campus plans may be one plan.

     (d) At least every two years, each district shall evaluate the effectiveness of the district's decision-making and planning policies, procedures, and staff development activities related to district- and campus-level decision-making and planning to ensure that they are effectively structured to positively impact student performance.

     (d–1) Expired.

     (e) The district-level committee established under Section 11.251 shall hold at least one public meeting per year. The required meeting shall be held after receipt of the annual district performance report from the agency for the purpose of discussing the performance of the district and the district performance objectives. District policy and procedures must be established to ensure that systematic communications measures are in place to periodically obtain broad-based community, parent, and staff input and to provide information to those persons regarding the recommendations of the district-level committee. This section does not create a new cause of action or require collective bargaining.

     (f) A superintendent shall regularly consult the district-level committee in the planning, operation, supervision, and evaluation of the district educational program.

     Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 260, § 1, eff. May 30, 1995.

     Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1202, § 2, eff. June 18, 1999; Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1590, § 6, eff. June 19, 1999.

     § 11.253. Campus Planning and Site-Based Decision-Making

     (a) Each school district shall maintain current policies and procedures to ensure that effective planning and site-based decision-making occur at each campus to direct and support the improvement of student performance for all students.

     (b) Each district's policy and procedures shall establish campus-level planning and decision-making committees as provided for through the procedures provided by Sections 11.251(b)-(e).

     (c) Each school year, the principal of each school campus, with the assistance of the campus-level committee, shall develop, review, and revise the campus improvement plan for the purpose of improving student performance for all student populations, including students in special education programs under Subchapter A, Chapter 29, with respect to the academic excellence indicators adopted under Section 39.051 and any other appropriate performance measures for special needs populations.

     (d) Each campus improvement plan must:

     (1) assess the academic achievement for each student in the school using the academic excellence indicator system as described by Section 39.051;

     (2) set the campus performance objectives based on the academic excellence indicator system, including objectives for special needs populations, including students in special education programs under Subchapter A, Chapter 29;

     (3) identify how the campus goals will be met for each student;

     (4) determine the resources needed to implement the plan;

     (5) identify staff needed to implement the plan;

     (6) set timelines for reaching the goals;

     (7) measure progress toward the performance objectives periodically to ensure that the plan is resulting in academic improvement;

     (8) include goals and methods for violence prevention and intervention on campus; and

     (9) provide for a program to encourage parental involvement at the campus.

     (e) In accordance with the administrative procedures established under Section 11.251(b), the campus-level committee shall be involved in decisions in the areas of planning, budgeting, curriculum, staffing patterns, staff development, and school organization. The campus-level committee must approve the portions of the campus plan addressing campus staff development needs.

     (f) This section does not create a new cause of action or require collective bargaining.

     (g) Each campus-level committee shall hold at least one public meeting per year. The required meeting shall be held after receipt of the annual campus rating from the agency to discuss the performance of the campus and the campus performance objectives. District policy and campus procedures must be established to ensure that systematic communications measures are in place to periodically obtain broad-based community, parent, and staff input, and to provide information to those persons regarding the recommendations of the campus-level committees.

     (h) A principal shall regularly consult the campus-level committee in the planning, operation, supervision, and evaluation of the campus educational program.

     Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 260, § 1, eff. May 30, 1995.