Sec. 13.054. ACADEMICALLY UNACCEPTABLE SCHOOL DISTRICTS. (a) The commissioner by order may annex to one or more adjoining districts a school district that has been rated as academically unacceptable for a period of two years.
(b) The governing board of a district to which territory of an academically unacceptable district is annexed is the governing board for the new district.
(c) The order of the commissioner shall define by legal boundary description the territory of the new district as enlarged.
(d) Title to the real property of the academically unacceptable district vests in the district to which the property is annexed. Each district to which territory is annexed assumes and is liable for any portion of the academically unacceptable district's indebtedness that is allocated to the receiving district under Section 13.004.
(e) Before the commissioner orders an annexation under this section, the commissioner shall investigate the educational and financial impact of the annexation on the receiving district. The commissioner may order the annexation only if the commissioner finds that the annexation will not substantially impair the ability of the receiving district to educate the students located in the district before the annexation and to meet its financial obligations incurred before the annexation.
(f) For five years beginning with the school year in which the annexation occurs, the commissioner shall annually adjust the local fund assignment of a district to which territory is annexed under this section by multiplying the enlarged district's local fund assignment computed under Section 42.252 by a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of students residing in the district preceding the date of the annexation and the denominator of which is the number of students residing in the district as enlarged on the date of the annexation.
(g) A district to which territory is annexed under this section is entitled to additional state aid equal to the amount by which the annual debt service required to meet the indebtedness incurred by the district due to the annexation exceeds the additional amount of state aid that results from the adjustment under Subsection (f), if any. In determining the amount of annual debt service required, the estimated tax levy from applying the receiving district's current debt service tax rate, if any, to the territory that has been annexed shall be deducted.
Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 260, Sec. 1, eff. May 30, 1995.
Last modified: September 28, 2016