H.B. No. 548
AN ACT
relating to reporting certain information through the Public
Education Information Management System.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. (a) The legislature finds that children who are
deaf or hard of hearing are often at risk for language delay or
deprivation. Research indicates that there is limited success in
addressing these issues after the optimal period for language
acquisition. It is critical that the language acquisition of
children who are deaf or hard of hearing is closely monitored from
birth through age eight to enable the use of timely interventions
that support age-appropriate language skills. Therefore, the
purpose of this section is to generate and monitor data on the
language acquisition of children eight years of age or younger who
are deaf or hard of hearing by:
(1) identifying language assessment protocols that
are appropriate for the development and age of each child; and
(2) annually gathering and publishing relevant data.
(b) Nothing in this section shall operate to override the
parental consent provisions set forth in 34 C.F.R. Section 300.300.
(c) Subchapter I, Chapter 29, Education Code, is amended by
adding Section 29.316 to read as follows:
Sec. 29.316. LANGUAGE ACQUISITION. (a) In this section:
(1) "Center" means the Educational Resource Center on
Deafness at the Texas School for the Deaf.
(2) "Division" means the Division for Early Childhood
Intervention Services of the Health and Human Services Commission.
(3) "Language acquisition" includes expressive and
receptive language acquisition and literacy development in
English, American Sign Language, or both, or, if applicable, in
another language primarily used by a child's parent or guardian,
and is separate from any modality used to communicate in the
applicable language or languages.
(b) The commissioner and the executive commissioner of the
Health and Human Services Commission jointly shall ensure that the
language acquisition of each child eight years of age or younger who
is deaf or hard of hearing is regularly assessed using a tool or
assessment determined to be valid and reliable as provided by
Subsection (d).
(c) Not later than August 31 of each year, the agency, the
division, and the center jointly shall prepare and post on the
agency's, the division's, and the center's respective Internet
websites a report on the language acquisition of children eight
years of age or younger who are deaf or hard of hearing. The report
must:
(1) include:
(A) existing data reported in compliance with
federal law regarding children with disabilities; and
(B) information relating to the language
acquisition of children who are deaf or hard of hearing and also
have other disabilities;
(2) state for each child:
(A) the instructional arrangement used with the
child, as described by Section 42.151, including the time the child
spends in a mainstream instructional arrangement;
(B) the specific language acquisition services
provided to the child, including:
(i) the time spent providing those
services; and
(ii) a description of any hearing
amplification used in the delivery of those services, including:
(a) the type of hearing amplification
used;
(b) the period of time in which the
child has had access to the hearing amplification; and
(c) the average amount of time the
child uses the hearing amplification each day;
(C) the tools or assessments used to assess the
child's language acquisition and the results obtained;
(D) the preferred unique communication mode used
by the child at home; and
(E) the child's age, race, and gender, the age at
which the child was identified as being deaf or hard of hearing, and
any other relevant demographic information the commissioner
determines to likely be correlated with or have an impact on the
child's language acquisition;
(3) compare progress in English literacy made by
children who are deaf or hard of hearing to progress in that subject
made by children of the same age who are not deaf or hard of hearing,
by appropriate age range; and
(4) be redacted as necessary to comply with state and
federal law regarding the confidentiality of student medical or
educational information.
(d) The commissioner, the executive commissioner of the
Health and Human Services Commission, and the center shall enter
into a memorandum of understanding regarding:
(1) the identification of experts in deaf education;
and
(2) the determination, in consultation with those
experts, of the tools and assessments that are valid and reliable,
in both content and administration, for use in assessing the
language acquisition of children eight years of age or younger who
are deaf or hard of hearing.
(e) The agency shall use existing collected data and data
collected and transferred from the Department of State Health
Services and the Health and Human Services Commission, as agreed
upon in the memorandum of understanding, for the report under this
section.
(f) The commissioner and the executive commissioner of the
Health and Human Services Commission jointly shall adopt rules as
necessary to implement this section, including rules for:
(1) assigning each child eight years of age or younger
who is deaf or hard of hearing a unique identification number for
purposes of the report required under Subsection (c) and to enable
the tracking of the child's language acquisition, and factors
affecting the child's language acquisition, over time; and
(2) implementing this section in a manner that
complies with federal law regarding confidentiality of student
medical or educational information, including the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. Section 1320d
et seq.) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974
(20 U.S.C. Section 1232g), and any state law relating to the privacy
of student information.
SECTION 2. Section 42.006, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (a-6) to read as follows:
(a-6) The commissioner by rule shall require each school
district and open-enrollment charter school to report through the
Public Education Information Management System information
disaggregated by campus and grade regarding:
(1) the number of children who are required to attend
school under Section 25.085, are not exempted under Section 25.086,
and fail to attend school without excuse for 10 or more days or
parts of days within a six-month period in the same school year;
(2) the number of students for whom the district
initiates a truancy prevention measure under Section 25.0915(a-4);
and
(3) the number of parents of students against whom an
attendance officer or other appropriate school official has filed a
complaint under Section 25.093.
SECTION 3. (a) In this section:
(1) "Agency" means the Texas Education Agency.
(2) "Center" means the Educational Resource Center on
Deafness at the Texas School for the Deaf.
(3) "Division" means the Division for Early Childhood
Intervention Services of the Health and Human Services Commission.
(b) Not later than December 1, 2019, the commissioner of
education, the executive commissioner of the Health and Human
Services Commission, and the center jointly shall determine the
tools and assessments that are valid and reliable for use in
assessing the language acquisition of children eight years of age
or younger who are deaf or hard of hearing as required under Section
29.316(d), Education Code, as added by this Act.
(c) Notwithstanding Section 29.316(c), Education Code, as
added by this Act, the agency, the division, and the center jointly
shall prepare and post on the agency's, division's, and center's
respective Internet websites the initial report required under that
subsection not later than December 1, 2020.
SECTION 4. The Texas Education Agency and the Health and
Human Services Commission are required to implement Section 29.316,
Education Code, as added by this Act, only if the legislature
appropriates money specifically for that purpose. If the
legislature does not appropriate money specifically for that
purpose, the agency and commission may, but are not required to,
implement Section 29.316, Education Code, as added by this Act,
using other appropriations available for the purpose.
SECTION 5. Not later than January 1, 2020, the commissioner
of education shall adopt rules required by Section 42.006(a-6),
Education Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 548 was passed by the House on April
16, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 137, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 548 on May 23, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 142, Nays 0, 1
present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 548 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 20, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor