81R291 CAE-D
By: Raymond H.B. No. 315
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the instruction of American Sign Language in public
high schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 28.002(a) and (e), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) Each school district that offers kindergarten through
grade 12 shall offer, as a required curriculum:
(1) a foundation curriculum that includes:
(A) English language arts;
(B) mathematics;
(C) science; and
(D) social studies, consisting of Texas, United
States, and world history, government, and geography; and
(2) an enrichment curriculum that includes:
(A) to the extent possible, subject to Subsection
(e), languages other than English;
(B) health, with emphasis on the importance of
proper nutrition and exercise;
(C) physical education;
(D) fine arts;
(E) economics, with emphasis on the free
enterprise system and its benefits;
(F) career and technology education;
(G) technology applications; and
(H) religious literature, including the Hebrew
Scriptures (Old Testament) and New Testament, and its impact on
history and literature.
(e) American Sign Language is a language for purposes of
Subsection (a)(2)(A). A public high school shall [may] offer an
elective course in the language, and another public school may
offer an elective course in the language. The required elective
high school course may not be offered through teleconferencing or
another electronic means, but must be offered through in-person
instruction by a teacher in the classroom.
SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2010-2011
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.