82R7660 CAS-D
By: Walle H.B. No. 1740
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to providing information to parents regarding changes in
state law affecting public school students.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 26, Education Code, is amended by adding
Section 26.015 to read as follows:
Sec. 26.015. PARENT INFORMATION REGARDING CHANGES IN STATE
LAW. (a) As soon as practicable after a legislative session, the
agency shall prepare a document to inform parents of significant
changes in state law, including additions to law, made during that
legislative session that affect public school students. The
document must also include, to the greatest extent practicable,
information concerning any administrative rule adopted in
association with a change in law and provide information that is as
specific as practicable regarding dates on which
state-administered assessment instruments will be administered
during the school year during which the document will, in
accordance with Subsection (e), be distributed. The document may
also include information concerning significant changes in law
affecting public school students made during the legislative
session preceding the session concerning which information is
required by this subsection.
(b) This section applies to a special legislative session
only if the agency determines that there were significant changes
in state law made during the special legislative session that
affect public school students.
(c) The document required under Subsection (a) must:
(1) be designed to explain to parents the manner in
which state law has changed and the effect of the change on public
school students;
(2) focus on changes in law as a result of which a
parent can act to affect the education of the parent's child;
(3) be as specific as necessary to provide a parent
with the informational tools needed to affect the education of the
parent's child; and
(4) be written in language that is easy to understand.
(d) The document required under Subsection (a) may be
included as part of the student handbook.
(e) As early in each school year as practicable, each school
district and open-enrollment charter school shall:
(1) distribute, at a time the district or charter
school distributes other information for parents, the most recent
document prepared under this section; and
(2) post the document on the district's Internet
website.
(f) The agency shall prepare the initial document under this
section to be distributed by a school district or open-enrollment
charter school during the 2012-2013 school year. Notwithstanding
Subsection (a), the initial document must inform parents of
significant changes in state law that affect public school students
made:
(1) during the 82nd Regular Session of the
legislature; and
(2) during the 81st Regular Session of the legislature
under the following provisions of this code, including the
information described by this subdivision, and under any other law
as determined by the agency:
(A) Section 28.0211, which:
(i) no longer prohibits promotion to the
fourth grade of a student who fails to perform satisfactorily on the
state-administered third grade reading assessment instrument;
(ii) requires accelerated instruction for
students who fail to perform satisfactorily on the third, fourth,
fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth grade state-administered
assessment instrument; and
(iii) requires a school district to assign
a student who is promoted despite failure to perform satisfactorily
on a state-administered assessment instrument to a teacher in the
subject covered by the assessment instrument who meets all state
and federal qualifications to teach that subject and grade level;
(B) Section 28.025, which requires a student to
enroll in the courses necessary to complete the curriculum
requirements 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 in writing that the student be permitted
to take courses under the minimum high school program;
(C) Section 39.024, which adds a measure of
college readiness;
(D) Sections 39.025(a), (a-2), and (a-3), which
impose the following requirements for a student to receive a high
school diploma:
(i) requires a student to achieve, in each
subject in the foundation curriculum, a satisfactory cumulative
score on end-of-course assessment instruments;
(ii) requires a student to achieve a
minimum score on an end-of-course assessment instrument for the
score to count toward the student's cumulative score described by
Subparagraph (i);
(iii) requires a student to achieve a score
that meets or exceeds the score for satisfactory performance, as
determined by the commissioner, on English III and Algebra II
end-of-course assessment instruments to graduate under the
recommended high school program; and
(iv) requires a student to achieve a score
that meets or exceeds the score indicating college readiness, as
determined by the commissioner, on English III and Algebra II
end-of-course assessment instruments to graduate under the
advanced high school program;
(E) Section 39.025(f), which provides transition
provisions for assessment and for receipt of a high school diploma,
including, for a student entering a grade above the ninth grade
during the 2011-2012 school year, a requirement that the student:
(i) be administered exit-level assessment
instruments rather than end-of-course assessment instruments; and
(ii) be required to perform satisfactorily
on each exit-level assessment instrument to receive a high school
diploma;
(F) Section 39.027, which amends provisions for
exemptions of and other accommodations for students of limited
English proficiency concerning state-administered assessment
instruments;
(G) Section 39.106, which amends duties imposed
on a campus intervention team assigned to a campus that fails to
meet certain standards; and
(H) Section 39.116, which adds transitional
interventions and sanctions during the transition to the new public
school accreditation system established by the 81st Regular Session
of the legislature.
(g) This subsection and Subsection (f) expire September 1,
2013.
SECTION 2. 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, 2011.