Texas Administrative Code › Title 19 - EDUCATION › Part 2 - TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY › Chapter 100 - CHARTERS › Subchapter AA - COMMISSIONER'S RULES CONCERNING OPEN-ENROLLMENT CHARTER SCHOOLS › Division 4 - PROPERTY OF OPEN-ENROLLMENT CHARTER SCHOOLS › Section 100.1063 - Use of Public Property by a Charter Holder

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Public property. An interest in real
					 estate or personal property acquired, improved, or maintained using state funds
					 that were received by the charter holder on or after September 1, 2001, is
					 public property for all purposes under state law. The date on which the
					 property was acquired, improved, or maintained is not determinative. An
					 interest in real estate acquired, improved, or maintained using state funds
					 that were received by the charter holder before September 1, 2001, is public
					 property only to the extent specified by §
											100.1065
					 of this title (relating to Property Acquired with State Funds Received Before
					 September 1, 2001--Special Rules). Where the property is acquired with federal
					 funds, federal law may preempt this section in whole or part.
(b) Fiduciary duty respecting public
					 property. Public property is held by the charter holder in trust for the
					 benefit of the students of the charter school. With respect to the public
					 property they manage, the members of the governing body of a charter holder,
					 and the members of the governing body and officers of a charter school, are
					 trustees under Texas law; and the students enrolled in the school are
					 beneficiaries of a trust. Each trustee shall be held to the standard of care
					 and fiduciary duties that a trustee owes the beneficiary of a trust under Texas
					 law.
(c) Use of public property.
					 Public property may be used only for a purpose for which a school district may
					 use school district property and only to implement a program that is described
					 in the open-enrollment charter and is consistent with Texas Education Code
					 (TEC), §12.107.
(1) Any use or
					 application of public property for a purpose other than implementing a program
					 that is described in the open-enrollment charter and is consistent with TEC,
					 §12.107, constitutes misuse and misapplication of such property, and is
					 subject to Texas law governing misuse or misapplication of public
					 property.
(2) The governing body of
					 a charter holder shall adopt and enforce local policies governing the use and
					 application of public property by its employees, agents, contractors, and
					 management companies. The policies shall prohibit the use or application of
					 public property for any purpose but a program described in the open-enrollment
					 charter, except that the policies may authorize charter holder employees to use
					 local telephone service, cellular phones, electronic mail, Internet
					 connections, and similar public property for incidental personal use, if the
					 policies:
(A) do not result in any direct
					 cost paid with state funds, or the charter holder is reimbursed for any direct
					 cost incurred;
(B) do not impede
					 charter school functions;
(C) do
					 not authorize incidental personal use of public property for private commercial
					 purposes; and
(D) authorize only
					 incidental amounts of employee time--time periods comparable to reasonable
					 coffee breaks during the day--for personal matters.
(3) The governing body of a charter holder
					 shall by separate vote approve any joint use of real property for charter and
					 non-charter activities. In the minutes of the vote approving the joint use, the
					 governing body of a charter holder shall set forth the methodology used to
					 allocate shared costs and the percentage allocation basis between charter and
					 non-charter activities.
(4) The
					 members of the governing body of a charter holder, and the members of the
					 governing body and officers of a charter school, shall authorize all uses and
					 applications of the public property under their control, and shall not
					 authorize any use or application that is inconsistent with the policy required
					 by paragraph (2) of this subsection.
(5) If pursuant to TEC, §12.111(9), the
					 daily management of public property is delegated to any person, including a
					 management company, the members of the governing body of the charter holder,
					 and the members of the governing body and officers of the charter school, shall
					 remain fully responsible to authorize all uses and applications of public
					 property and enforce the policy required by paragraph (2) of this
					 subsection.
(6) Nothing in this
					 section prevents a charter holder from authorizing the use of its public
					 property by a contractor for the purpose of providing goods or services under
					 the contract, if such use is an express contract term, factored into the price
					 of the contract, and the contract is duly authorized by the governing body of
					 the charter holder under this section.