| (2) Regardless of the campus's most recent rating,
a school district may not repurpose a facility and receive a new CDCN
if the commissioner determines that such an assignment would allow
the district or campus to evade state or federal accountability sanctions
and interventions.
(A) If a school district is determined to have requested
a new CDCN to evade state or federal accountability sanctions and
interventions, the commissioner may:
(i) deny the approval of the new CDCN or assign students
enrolled under the new CDCN to the prior CDCN; and
(ii) open a special investigation of the school district
under TEC, §39.003.
(B) Changing a CDCN to evade sanctions and interventions
may include, but is not limited to, the following scenarios:
(i) enrolling zero students in a CDCN and reassigning
students to one or more other campuses in the school district;
(ii) requesting closure of a CDCN and then serving
students in that facility under a different CDCN;
(iii) relocating the majority of students to a new
facility without prior TEA approval;
(iv) requesting closure of a CDCN and repurposing the
campus with the same grade configuration; or
(v) requesting significant modification of grade levels
at a campus with an unacceptable rating even if campus closure is
not requested.
(3) A school district that closes a campus whose most
recent academic accountability rating is acceptable or higher, including
a rating of D that meets the criteria in TEC, §39.0543(b), may
repurpose the facility that housed that campus and receive a new CDCN
unless the commissioner determines that such an assignment would allow
the district or campus to evade state or federal accountability sanctions
and interventions as described in paragraph (2)(A) of this subsection.
(4) A school district that closes a campus whose most
recent academic accountability rating is unacceptable may repurpose
a facility and receive a new CDCN if:
(A) the school district board of trustees ordered the
campus closed no later than January 31 of the school year in which
the campus could earn its second, third, or fourth consecutive unacceptable
rating, as defined in TEC, §39.0543(a) and (c), regardless of
whether the facility was used for direct educational services in the
school year prior to the proposed operation of the new campus under
a new CDCN;
(B) the campus meets all criteria in TEC, §39A.113(a)(1)(A),
subsection (c)(3) of this section, and subsection (d) of this section
related to campus repurposing; and
(C) the school district meets the following criteria
by June 30 of the year in which the operation of the campus with a
new CDCN will begin:
(i) the school district completes initial training
in a TEA-approved governance framework supporting continuous improvement
and engages in ongoing implementation for at least the duration of
the school year in which the new CDCN is open;
(ii) the school district is issued a final closure
order that is not subject to any contingency;
(iii) the school district develops and implements a
plan to ensure that the students who attended the closed campus do
not attend the repurposed campus. The plan must ensure that students
who attended the closed campus:
(I) are assigned to a campus whose most recent performance
rating is an A, B, or C or have access to nearby school choices that
are higher performing than the closed campus. For purposes of this
subsection, a higher performing campus is campus whose most recent
performance rating is an A, B, or C; and
(II) must be allowed to attend the new campus until
the student would have stopped attending the closed campus by reason
of matriculation to another campus or graduation; and
(iv) the school district timely submits all information
required by the commissioner to make a determination under this subsection.
Failure to submit information by June 30 may result in non-approval
of the new CDCN.
(5) A school district cannot close or order the closure
of a campus in the year that the fifth or higher consecutive unacceptable
accountability rating could be earned.
(g) Repurposing a campus that has not been in operation.
Regardless of school district or commissioner closure, the district
may repurpose the campus with a new CDCN if the facility has not been
used for any direct educational services for at least one complete
school year without having to meet requirements in this section.
(h) Exemptions. The commissioner may grant an exemption
allowing students assigned to a closed campus to attend the repurposed
campus if there is no other campus in the school district at which
the students may enroll.
(i) Reassignment. Notwithstanding the provisions in
this section, if the school district reassigns a majority of the students
that attended a campus that was closed due to an academically unacceptable
rating in the prior year to another campus in the district, the receiving
campus may be assigned the CDCN of the closed campus and shall be
subject to any sanction or intervention applicable to the closed campus
if the commissioner determines that this is necessary to preserve
the integrity of the accountability system.
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