Relating to the bilingual education allotment under the public school finance system.

Contracts

• Teacher Employment Agreements: Legal counsel must review compensation structures. The law amends Section 48.105(b) to allow funds to be used for "teacher salaries" rather than just "salary supplements." You may now integrate these funds into competitive base salaries rather than relying solely on stipends.
• Vendor Procurement: Ensure instructional material contracts for dual-language curriculums are explicitly coded to the bilingual allotment budget to satisfy the 55% direct spending requirement.

Hiring/Training

• Payroll Configuration: HR and Payroll departments must reconfigure financial software to allow bilingual allotment codes to fund base salary line items.
• PEIMS Staff Training: Data clerks require immediate training on the new classification codes for "alternative language education methods" once released by TEA. Misclassification will result in funding denial.

Reporting & Record-Keeping

• PEIMS Classification: You must affirmatively classify the specific alternative method used (e.g., dual language immersion, one-way or two-way) in PEIMS. Generic "exception" codes will likely disqualify the district from the new allotment weights (0.15 for EB students; 0.05 for non-EB).
• Audit Trail: Maintain a distinct budget code for these funds. You must prove that funds were spent on the specific approved alternative method to avoid clawbacks.

Fees & Costs

• Revenue Cap: This is a competitive allotment capped at $10 million per biennium statewide. It is not a guaranteed entitlement.
• Cost of Compliance: Administrative costs will increase slightly due to the requirement for granular tracking of student attendance within specific alternative method programs.