S.B. No. 2248
AN ACT
relating to public school students placed in substitute care.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 25, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 25.007 to read as follows:
Sec. 25.007. TRANSITION ASSISTANCE FOR STUDENTS IN
SUBSTITUTE CARE. (a) The legislature finds that:
(1) students in substitute care are faced with
numerous transitions during their formative years; and
(2) students in substitute care who move from one
school to another are faced with special challenges to learning and
future achievement.
(b) In recognition of the challenges faced by students in
substitute care, the agency shall assist the transition of
substitute care students from one school to another by:
(1) ensuring that school records for a student in
substitute care are transferred to the student's new school not
later than the 14th day after the date the student begins enrollment
at the school;
(2) developing systems to ease transition of a student
in substitute care during the first two weeks of enrollment at a new
school;
(3) developing procedures for awarding credit for
course work, including electives, completed by a student in
substitute care while enrolled at another school;
(4) promoting practices that facilitate access by a
student in substitute care to extracurricular programs, summer
programs, credit transfer services, electronic courses provided
under Chapter 30A, and after-school tutoring programs at nominal or
no cost;
(5) establishing procedures to lessen the adverse
impact of the movement of a student in substitute care to a new
school;
(6) entering into a memorandum of understanding with
the Department of Family and Protective Services regarding the
exchange of information as appropriate to facilitate the transition
of students in substitute care from one school to another;
(7) encouraging school districts and open-enrollment
charter schools to provide services for a student in substitute
care in transition when applying for admission to postsecondary
study and when seeking sources of funding for postsecondary study;
(8) requiring school districts, campuses, and
open-enrollment charter schools to accept a referral for special
education services made for a student in substitute care by a school
previously attended by the student; and
(9) providing other assistance as identified by the
agency.
SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 30A.002, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(b) A student is eligible to enroll full-time in courses
provided through the state virtual school network only if:
(1) the student was enrolled in a public school in this
state in the preceding school year; [or]
(2) the student:
(A) is a dependent of a member of the United
States military;
(B) was previously enrolled in high school in
this state; and
(C) does not reside in this state due to a
military deployment or transfer; or
(3) the student has been placed in substitute care in
this state, regardless of whether the student was enrolled in a
public school in this state in the preceding school year.
SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 2009-2010
school year.
SECTION 4. 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.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 2248 passed the Senate on
April 30, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 2248 passed the House on
May 27, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 148, Nays 0, one
present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor