Representative Hochberg stated, "I've been surprised by the number of board member/superintendents who are not aware of this relatively new legislation, or thought there were barriers to implementation that do not exist." 

Did you know that the state will now fund a program that will:
- give a true second chance to students who have dropped out;
- increase the number of students who earn diplomas from your district;
- does not require new or expanded facilities;
- increases your WADA (and the resulting state funding);
- brings students to your school with virtually no discipline  issues;
- does not require a competitive application to receive funding?
It's true!

Two recent changes to the Education Code are encouraging districts to start evening/weekend high school programs, offering the classes students need to complete their diplomas at times that don't conflict with their work or childcare demands.

First, the law now allows students on nontraditional schedules to count toward WADA in proportion to the number of hours they attend class. Under the optional flexible day legislation  (Section 29.0822, Education Code), districts can offer a variety of schedules to suit the needs of their students, free from the 180-day requirement. That means you can structure a schedule of evening and weekend courses, much like a community college.

And, the Code now allows districts to admit students up through the age of 25 and count those students for funding.

Put those two changes together, and you have the chance to "recover" hundreds of dropouts, as several districts have already found out.

At Liberty High School in Houston ISD, several hundred students attend nights and weekends to finish courses they need to graduate. I've visited the school and learned that many of these students are not just looking for terminal high school diplomas, but plan to go on to attend college. Ironically, once they finish their high school courses, it's easy for them to find college courses to take at night.

A similar program in Alief ISD has been particularly successful in providing opportunities for young moms to finish their schooling. Finding these young parents was easy - AISD simply let parents know about the program when they came to school to enroll their children for pre-k. The AISD program, which started only last fall, has already seen some students complete their graduation requirements, with more than a hundred more making progress toward graduation.

The schools report few challenges in operating these programs. One principal told me the only problem he could think of is that the central office asked him to "correct" his report of zero discipline problems. "They didn't understand that these students have grown up," he told me, "and they don't still find it funny to put gum on teacher's chair."

TEA requires an application to begin a nontraditional hours schedule, but this is NOT a competitive grant. Rather, the agency wants to be sure that you have sufficient systems in place to count attendance on an hourly basis, which is required for these students. (You don't have to convert your entire attendance system. Attendance for everyone else remains a daily count.)