81R23684 PAM-F
By: Martinez Fischer H.B. No. 2759
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2759:
By: Farias C.S.H.B. No. 2759
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to transfer of a student of limited English proficiency
out of a public school bilingual education or special language
program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 29.056(g), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(g) A district may transfer a student of limited English
proficiency out of a bilingual education or special language
program for the first time or a subsequent time if the student is
able to participate equally in a regular all-English instructional
program as determined by:
(1) agency-approved tests administered at the end of
each school year to determine the extent to which the student has
developed oral and written language proficiency and specific
language skills in:
(A) English; and
(B) Spanish, if the student is enrolled in a
bilingual education program and the student's primary language is
Spanish;
(2) satisfactory performance on the reading
assessment instrument under Section 39.023(a) or an English
language arts assessment instrument under Section 39.023(c), as
applicable, with the assessment instrument administered in
English, [or,] if the student is enrolled in the third or fourth
[first or second] grade[, an achievement score at or above the 40th
percentile in the reading and language arts sections of an English
standardized test approved by the agency]; and
(3) other indications of a student's overall progress,
including [agency-approved] criterion-referenced test scores,
[tests and the results of a] subjective teacher evaluation, and
parental evaluation.
SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2009-2010
school year.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.