A school district may offer intensive after-school or summer science instruction programs, but its board must first adopt a policy, and the commissioner must set funding and reporting rules.
Sec. 29.090. AFTER-SCHOOL AND SUMMER INTENSIVE SCIENCE INSTRUCTION PROGRAMS. (a) A school district may provide an intensive after-school program or an intensive program during the period that school is recessed for the summer to provide science instruction to: (1) students who are not performing at grade level in science to assist those students in performing at grade level; (2) students who are not performing successfully in a science course to assist those students in successfully completing the course; or (3) students other than those described by Subdivision (1) or (2), as determined by the district. (b) Before providing a program under this section, the board of trustees of a school district must adopt a policy for: (1) determining student eligibility for participating in the program that: (A) prescribes the grade level or course a student must be enrolled in to be eligible; and (B) provides for considering teacher recommendations in determining eligibility; (2) ensuring that parents of or persons standing in parental relation to eligible students are provided notice of the program; (3) ensuring that eligible students are encouraged to attend the program; (4) ensuring that the program is offered at one or more locations in the district that are easily accessible to eligible students; and (5) measuring student progress on completion of the program. (c) The commissioner by rule shall: (1) prescribe a procedure that a school district must follow to apply for and receive funding for a program under this section; (2) adopt guidelines for determining which districts receive funding if there is not sufficient funding for each district that applies; (3) require each district providing a program to report student performance results to the commissioner within the period and in the manner prescribed by the rule; and (4) based on district reports under Subdivision (3) and any required analysis and verification of those reports, disseminate to each district in this state information concerning instructional methods that have proved successful in improving student performance in science. (d) A program provided under this section shall be paid for with funds appropriated for that purpose. Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 430, Sec. 4, eff. Sept. 1, 2003. Renumbered from Education Code, Section 29.089 by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 728 (H.B. 2018), Sec. 23.001(14-a), eff. September 1, 2005.