House Bill 3 (HB 3) Implementation: Census Block Group Reporting and Lookup Tool

House Bill (HB) 3 was passed by the 86th Texas Legislature, 2019, and signed into law by Governor Abbott on June 11, 2019. 

This letter is to inform you of the requirements regarding the reporting of census block groups in the 2019 PEIMS Fall submission as established in HB 3. 

State Compensatory Education (SCE) Funding will be based on each student census block group submitted in the PEIMS Fall submission. A census block group number must be submitted for every economically disadvantaged student except those students who are homeless, not enrolled, ADA ineligible or who reside in a residential facility and whose parents live outside the district. As a reminder, SCE Funding will now be provided on a spectrum of poverty as opposed to a binary decision

Additionally, HB 3 requires the agency to provide local education agencies (LEAs) with a resource for use in determining the census block group in which a student resides. TEA has published two tools to assist LEAs with determining the census block group information based on the student’s residential address. The tools and instructions for using the tools can be found on the TEA website: http://www.tea.texas.gov/Texas_Schools/General_Information/Census_Block_Group_Tools

LEAs should contact their Regional Education Service Centers (ESCs) or a certified vendor for census block group tool training and support. 
TSDS PEIMS reporting requirements regarding census block groups can be found in the Texas Education Data Standards.