19 Tex. Admin. Code § 89.1207 - Bilingual Program Exceptions and English as a Second Language (ESL) Program Waivers
(a) Purpose. A school
district that is unable to provide a bilingual and/or an English as a second
language (ESL) program as required by §89.1205(a) and
(c) of this title (relating to Required
Bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) Programs) because of an
insufficient number of appropriately certified teachers shall request from the
commissioner of education an exception to the bilingual program and/or a waiver
for the ESL program and the approval of temporary alternative methods as
defined in §89.1203(1) of
this title (relating to Definitions) that align as closely as possible to the
required bilingual or ESL program.
(b) Funding. Emergent bilingual (EB) students
with parental approval for program participation under a bilingual exception or
an ESL waiver will be included in the bilingual education allotment (BEA)
designated for temporary alternative methods.
(c) Duration. The approval of a bilingual
exception or an ESL waiver shall be valid only during the school year for which
it was granted, which includes summer school.
(d) Application requirements. The bilingual
exception and/or ESL waiver application shall be submitted by November 1 and
shall include:
(1) a statement of the reasons
the school district is unable to provide a sufficient number of appropriately
certified teachers to offer the bilingual and/or ESL program with supporting
documentation as described in Texas Education Code (TEC), §29.054(b)(1), (2),
and (3);
(2) a description of the
temporary alternative methods to meet the affective, linguistic, and cognitive
needs of EB students, including the manner through which the students will be
given opportunity to master the essential knowledge and skills required by
Chapter 74 of this title (relating to Curriculum Requirements) to include
foundation and enrichment areas, English language proficiency standards (ELPS),
and college and career readiness standards (CCRS);
(3) an assurance that appropriately certified
teachers available in the school district will be assigned to ensure that the
affective, linguistic, and cognitive needs of EB students with beginning and
intermediate levels of English proficiency are served on a priority basis by
doing the following:
(A) in a bilingual
program, assigning appropriately certified teachers beginning in
prekindergarten followed successively by subsequent grade levels to ensure
effective early literacy development; or
(B) in an ESL program, assigning
appropriately certified teachers to serve students with the highest linguistic
needs at any grade level;
(4) an assurance that the school district
will implement a comprehensive professional development plan that:
(A) is ongoing and targets the development of
the knowledge, skills, and competencies needed to serve the needs of EB
students;
(B) includes the teachers
who are not certified or not appropriately certified who are assigned to
implement the temporary alternative methods that align closely to the required
bilingual or ESL program; and
(C)
may include additional teachers who work with EB students;
(5) an assurance that at least 10% of the
total BEA shall be used to fund the comprehensive professional development plan
required under paragraph (4) of this subsection when applying for a bilingual
exception and/or an ESL waiver;
(6)
an assurance that the school district will develop an action plan to ensure
that the programs required under §89.1205(a) and
(c) of this title will be provided the
subsequent year, including its plans for recruiting an adequate number of
appropriately certified teachers to eliminate the need for subsequent exception
waivers and measurable targets for the subsequent year as required by TEC,
§29.054(b)(4);
and
(7) an assurance that the
school district shall satisfy the additional reporting requirements described
in §89.1265(c) of
this title (relating to Program Evaluation).
(e) School district responsibilities. A
school district submitting a bilingual education exception and/or an ESL waiver
shall maintain written records of all documents supporting the submission and
assurances listed in subsection (d) of this section, including:
(1) a description of the temporary
alternative methods designed to meet the affective, linguistic, and cognitive
needs of the EB students;
(2) the
number of teachers for whom a bilingual exception or an ESL waiver is needed by
grade level and per campus;
(3) a
copy of the school district's comprehensive professional development
plan;
(4) a copy of the BEA budget
documenting that a minimum of 10% of the funds were used to fund the
comprehensive professional development plan; and
(5) a description of the actions taken to
recruit an adequate number of appropriately certified
teachers.
(f) Approval of
bilingual exceptions and ESL waivers. A bilingual exception and/or an ESL
waiver will be granted by the commissioner if the following criteria are met
for each program.
(1) For a bilingual
exception, the school district meets the requirements and measurable targets of
the action plan described in subsection (d)(6) of this section submitted the
previous year and approved by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and also meets
one of the following criteria:
(A) meets or
exceeds the state average for EB student performance on the required state
assessments; or
(B) reduces by 25%
the number of teachers under the bilingual exception when compared to the
number of teachers under the bilingual exception the previous
year.
(2) For an ESL
waiver, the school district meets the requirements and measurable targets of
the action plan described in subsection (d)(6) of this section submitted the
previous year and approved by TEA and also meets one of the following criteria.
(A) meets or exceeds the state average for EB
student performance on the required state assessments; or
(B) reduces by 25% the number of teachers
under the ESL waiver when compared to the number of teachers under the ESL
waiver the previous year.
(g) Denial of bilingual exceptions and ESL
waivers. A school district denied a bilingual exception and/or an ESL waiver
shall submit to the commissioner a detailed action plan for complying with
required regulations for the following school year.
(h) Appeals. A school district denied a
bilingual exception and/or an ESL waiver may appeal to the commissioner or the
commissioner's designee. The decision of the commissioner or commissioner's
designee is final and may not be appealed further.
(i) Special accreditation investigation. The
commissioner may authorize a special accreditation investigation under TEC,
§39.003, if a school
district is denied a bilingual exception and/or an ESL waiver for more than
three consecutive years.
(j)
Sanctions. Based on the results of a special accreditation investigation, the
commissioner may take appropriate action under TEC, §39A.002.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.