The agency must help military students transition between schools and must collect annual enrollment data from school districts and open-enrollment charter schools.
Sec. 25.006. TRANSITION ASSISTANCE FOR MILITARY DEPENDENTS. (a) The legislature finds that: (1) school-age dependents of military personnel are faced with numerous transitions during their formative years; and (2) military dependents who move from one school to another during the high school years are faced with special challenges to learning and future achievement. (b) In recognition of the challenges faced by military dependents and the importance of military families to our community and economy, the agency shall assist the transition of military students from one school to another by: (1) improving the timely transfer of student records; (2) developing systems to ease student transition during the first two weeks of enrollment at a new school; (3) promoting practices that foster student access to extracurricular programs; (4) establishing procedures to lessen the adverse impact of student moves to a new school after the end of the student's junior year of high school; (5) encouraging or maintaining partnerships between military bases and affected school districts; (6) encouraging school districts to provide services for military students in transition when applying for admission to postsecondary study and when seeking sources of funding for postsecondary study; and (7) providing other assistance as identified by the agency. (c) The agency shall collect data each year from school districts and open-enrollment charter schools through the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) relating to the enrollment of military-connected students. The data relating to the enrollment of military-connected students under this section: (1) must include the number of active duty military-connected students and the number of National Guard or reserve military-connected students enrolled in the school district or open-enrollment charter school on a date at the beginning of the school year specified by the agency and a date at the end of the school year specified by the agency; and (2) may not be used for purposes of determining a campus or district performance rating under Section 39.054. (d) In this section, "military-connected student" means a student enrolled in a school district or open-enrollment charter school who: (1) is a dependent of a current or former member of: (A) the United States military; (B) the Texas National Guard; or (C) a reserve force of the United States military; or (2) was a dependent of a member of a military or reserve force described by Subdivision (1) who was killed in the line of duty. Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 164 (H.B. 25), Sec. 1, eff. May 27, 2005. Amended by: Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 173 (H.B. 525), Sec. 1, eff. May 25, 2013. Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 269 (S.B. 1557), Sec. 1, eff. May 28, 2019.