81R11468 CAS-F
By: Davis, Wendy S.B. No. 2086
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the essential high school program and to the curriculum
requirements for the recommended and advanced public high school
programs.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 28.025(a), (b), (b-1), (e), and (g),
Education Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The State Board of Education by rule shall determine
curriculum requirements for the essential [minimum], recommended,
and advanced high school programs that are consistent with the
required curriculum under Section 28.002.
(b) A school district shall ensure that each student enrolls
in the courses necessary to complete the curriculum requirements
identified by the State Board of Education under Subsection (a) for
the recommended or advanced high school program unless the student,
the student's parent or other person standing in parental relation
to the student, and a school counselor or school administrator
agree that the student should be permitted to take courses under the
essential [minimum] high school program.
(b-1) The State Board of Education by rule shall require
that:
(1) [except as provided by Subsection (b-2),] the
curriculum requirements for the recommended and advanced high
school programs under Subsection (a) include a requirement that
students successfully complete:
(A) a science and mathematics curriculum that
prescribes, among other requirements established by the board,
successful completion of four courses in mathematics and four
courses in science, from among courses approved for each subject by
the board [of the foundation curriculum under Section
28.002(a)(1)];
(B) a career and technology curriculum
that prescribes, among other requirements established by the
board, successful completion of four career and technology courses,
three courses in mathematics, and three courses in science, from
among courses approved for each subject by the board; or
(C) a humanities curriculum that prescribes,
among other requirements established by the board, successful
completion of:
(i) courses in English language arts,
social studies, languages other than English, and fine arts, from
among courses approved for each subject by the board; and
(ii) three courses in mathematics and three
courses in science from among courses approved for each subject by
the board; and
(2) one or more courses offered in the required
curriculum for the recommended and advanced high school programs
include a research writing component.
(e) Each school district shall report the academic
achievement record of students who have completed an essential [a
minimum], recommended, or advanced high school program on
transcript forms adopted by the State Board of Education. The
transcript forms adopted by the board must be designed to clearly
differentiate between each of the high school programs and identify
whether a student received a diploma or a certificate of coursework
completion.
(g) If a student, other than a student permitted to take
courses under the essential [minimum] high school program as
provided by Subsection (b), is unable to complete the recommended
or advanced high school program solely because necessary courses
were unavailable to the student at the appropriate times in the
student's high school career as a result of course scheduling, lack
of enrollment capacity, or another cause not within the student's
control, the school district shall indicate that fact on the
student's transcript form described by Subsection (e).
SECTION 2. Section 39.025(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) The commissioner shall adopt rules requiring a student
participating in the recommended or advanced high school program to
be administered each end-of-course assessment instrument listed in
Section 39.023(c) and requiring a student participating in the
essential [minimum] high school program to be administered an
end-of-course assessment instrument listed in Section 39.023(c)
only for a course in which the student is enrolled and for which an
end-of-course assessment instrument is administered. A student is
required to achieve, in each subject in the foundation curriculum
under Section 28.002(a)(1), a cumulative score that is at least
equal to the product of the number of end-of-course assessment
instruments administered to the student in that subject and 70,
with each end-of-course assessment instrument scored on a scale of
100. A student must achieve a score of at least 60 on an
end-of-course assessment instrument for the score to count towards
the student's cumulative score. For purposes of this subsection, a
student's cumulative score is determined using the student's
highest score on each end-of-course assessment instrument
administered to the student. A student may not receive a high
school diploma until the student has performed satisfactorily on
the end-of-course assessment instruments in the manner provided
under this subsection. This subsection does not require a student
to demonstrate readiness to enroll in an institution of higher
education.
SECTION 3. Section 28.025(b-2), Education Code, is
repealed.
SECTION 4. Not later than January 1, 2010, the State Board
of Education shall adopt rules as required by Section 28.025(b-1),
Education Code, as amended by this Act. The rules shall provide
that the curriculum requirements for the recommended and advanced
high school programs adopted under that subsection apply to a
student regardless of the school year in which the student entered
the ninth grade.
SECTION 5. 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.