TX HB1278

Creates a new "Professional Charter Academy" program allowing experienced educators to establish and own charter schools, with eligibility requirements including at least 5 years of classroom teaching experience with proficient ratings, or at least 3 years as a school principal

Requires professional charter academies to be 100% beneficially owned by eligible education professionals who operate or work at the academy, and may be organized under the Texas Business Organizations Code

Mandates that academy operators secure their own funding for the first full school year through bank letters of credit or other financial guarantees; state funding becomes available only after completing the first year of operations

Limits state funding per student to the lesser of the average state funding received by open-enrollment charter schools or the average maintenance and operation cost per student in the student's home school district

Subjects professional charter academies only to laws applicable to Texas Private School Accreditation Commission-accredited schools, exempting them from other state charter school regulations, and allows legal challenges to the program to be heard by a special three-judge district court