Current through Reg. 50, No. 13; March 28, 2025
(a) Action prohibiting management contract.
The commissioner of education may prohibit, deny renewal of, suspend, or revoke
a contract between an open-enrollment charter school and a management company
providing management services to the school if the commissioner determines that
the management company has:
(1) failed to
provide educational or related services in compliance with the company's
contractual or other legal obligation to any open-enrollment charter school in
Texas or to any other similar school in another state;
(2) failed to protect the health, safety, or
welfare of the students enrolled at an open-enrollment charter school served by
the company;
(3) violated this
subchapter or a rule adopted under this subchapter; or
(4) otherwise failed to comply with any
contractual or other legal obligation to provide services to the
school.
(b) Procedures
for making determination. A determination under subsection (a) of this section
shall be made through a final investigative report issued by the Texas
Education Agency. In making this determination:
(1) the commissioner may rely on one or more
of the following:
(A) any finding or
determination made by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction,
whether in Texas or in any other state, or by the United States, if the order
or judgment is final under the rules governing such proceedings;
(B) any finding or determination made by the
commissioner under §§
100.1049,
100.1045,
100.1047,
100.1041, or
100.1037 of this title (relating
to Revocation and Modification of Governance of an Open-Enrollment Charter;
Intervention Based on Charter Violations; Intervention Based on Health, Safety,
or Welfare of Students; Accountability Ratings and Sanctions; and Renewal of an
Open-Enrollment Charter), if the finding or determination is final under the
rules governing such proceedings; or
(C) any finding or determination made by a
court in an action for declaratory judgment or other action pertaining to the
commissioner's determination under this section, if the order or judgment is
final under the rules governing such proceedings; and
(2) to the extent that a finding or
determination under paragraph (1) of this subsection pertains to a charter
holder or charter school served by a management company, but does not directly
pertain to the management company, the focus shall be on the question of
whether the relevant contract for management services creates a legal duty for
the management company to provide services to the charter school in areas of
performance that are the subject of the finding or determination against the
charter holder or charter school.
(c) Review of proposed management contract. A
proposed management contract shall be submitted for commissioner approval
through the non-expansion amendment process.
(1) A contract for management services is
unenforceable, void, and of no force or effect until the non-expansion
amendment containing the management contract is approved by the commissioner.
In addition, performance under the contract prior to approval by the
commissioner is a material charter violation.
(2) Notwithstanding this section, if an
affected contract for management services was executed prior to September 1,
2001, then the management contract may continue in effect past September 1,
2001, if each of the following conditions is met:
(A) no state funds are used to pay any
amounts due the management company under the management contract, and all such
amounts are paid from a clearly identified source of non-state funds;
and
(B) the terms of the management
contract have not been renewed, modified, or otherwise altered since September
1, 2001.