Sec. 11.251.  PLANNING AND DECISION-MAKING PROCESS.  (a)  The board of trustees of each independent school district shall ensure that a district improvement plan and improvement plans for each campus are developed, reviewed, and revised annually for the purpose of improving the performance of all students.  The board shall annually approve district and campus performance objectives and shall ensure that the district and campus plans:
(1)  are mutually supportive to accomplish the identified objectives;  and
(2)  at a minimum, support the state goals and objectives under Chapter 4.
(b)  The board shall adopt a policy to establish a district- and campus-level planning and decision-making process that will involve the professional staff of the district, parents, and community members in establishing and reviewing the district's and campuses' educational plans, goals, performance objectives, and major classroom instructional programs.  The board shall establish a procedure under which meetings are held regularly by district- and campus-level planning and decision-making committees that include representative professional staff, including, if practicable, at least one representative with the primary responsibility for educating students with disabilities, parents of students enrolled in the district, business representatives, and community members.  The committees shall include a business representative without regard to whether the representative resides in the district or whether the business the person represents is located in the district.  The board, or the board's designee, shall periodically meet with the district-level committee to review the district-level committee's deliberations.
(c)  For purposes of establishing the composition of committees under this section:
(1)  a person who stands in parental relation to a student is considered a parent;
(2)  a parent who is an employee of the school district is not considered a parent representative on the committee;
(3)  a parent is not considered a representative of community members on the committee;  and
(4)  community members must reside in the district and must be at least 18 years of age.
(d)  The board shall also ensure that an administrative procedure is provided to clearly define the respective roles and responsibilities of the superintendent, central office staff, principals, teachers, district-level committee members, and campus-level committee members in the areas of planning, budgeting, curriculum, staffing patterns, staff development, and school organization.  The board shall ensure that the district-level planning and decision-making committee will be actively involved in establishing the administrative procedure that defines the respective roles and responsibilities pertaining to planning and decision-making at the district and campus levels.
(e)  The board shall adopt a procedure, consistent with Section 21.407(a), for the professional staff in the district to nominate and elect the professional staff representatives who shall meet with the board or the board designee as required under this section.  At least two-thirds of the elected professional staff representatives must be classroom teachers.  The remaining staff representatives shall include both campus- and district-level professional staff members.  If practicable, the committee membership shall include at least one professional staff representative with the primary responsibility for educating students with disabilities.  Board policy must provide procedures for:
(1)  the selection of parents to the district-level and campus-level committees; and
(2)  the selection of community members and business representatives to serve on the district-level committee in a manner that provides for appropriate representation of the community's diversity.
(f)  The district policy must provide that all pertinent federal planning requirements are addressed through the district- and campus-level planning process.
(g)  This section does not:
(1)  prohibit the board from conducting meetings with teachers or groups of teachers other than the meetings described by this section;
(2)  prohibit the board from establishing policies providing avenues for input from others, including students or paraprofessional staff, in district- or campus-level planning and decision-making;
(3)  limit or affect the power of the board to govern the public schools;  or
(4)  create a new cause of action or require collective bargaining.
Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 260, Sec. 1, eff. May 30, 1995.  Amended by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 61, Sec. 1, eff. May 16, 2003.
Amended by: 
Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 626 (S.B. 778), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2011.