Texas 2019 - 86th Regular

Texas House Bill HB548 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1		-	H.B. No. 548
	1	+	By: Canales (Senate Sponsor - Lucio, Zaffirini) H.B. No. 548
	2	+	(In the Senate - Received from the House April 16, 2019;
	3	+	April 17, 2019, read first time and referred to Committee on
	4	+	Education; May 17, 2019, reported adversely, with favorable
	5	+	Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 11, Nays 0;
	6	+	May 17, 2019, sent to printer.)
	7	+	Click here to see the committee vote
	8	+	COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 548 By: Lucio
2	9
3	10
	11	+	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
4	12		AN ACT
5	13		relating to reporting certain information through the Public
6	14		Education Information Management System.
7	15		BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
8	16		SECTION 1. (a) The legislature finds that children who are
9	17		deaf or hard of hearing are often at risk for language delay or
10	18		deprivation. Research indicates that there is limited success in
11	19		addressing these issues after the optimal period for language
12	20		acquisition. It is critical that the language acquisition of
13	21		children who are deaf or hard of hearing is closely monitored from
14	22		birth through age eight to enable the use of timely interventions
15	23		that support age-appropriate language skills. Therefore, the
16	24		purpose of this section is to generate and monitor data on the
17	25		language acquisition of children eight years of age or younger who
18	26		are deaf or hard of hearing by:
19	27		(1) identifying language assessment protocols that
20	28		are appropriate for the development and age of each child; and
21	29		(2) annually gathering and publishing relevant data.
22	30		(b) Nothing in this section shall operate to override the
23	31		parental consent provisions set forth in 34 C.F.R. Section 300.300.
24	32		(c) Subchapter I, Chapter 29, Education Code, is amended by
25	33		adding Section 29.316 to read as follows:
26	34		Sec. 29.316. LANGUAGE ACQUISITION. (a) In this section:
27	35		(1) "Center" means the Educational Resource Center on
28	36		Deafness at the Texas School for the Deaf.
29	37		(2) "Division" means the Division for Early Childhood
30	38		Intervention Services of the Health and Human Services Commission.
31	39		(3) "Language acquisition" includes expressive and
32	40		receptive language acquisition and literacy development in
33	41		English, American Sign Language, or both, or, if applicable, in
34	42		another language primarily used by a child's parent or guardian,
35	43		and is separate from any modality used to communicate in the
36	44		applicable language or languages.
37	45		(b) The commissioner and the executive commissioner of the
38	46		Health and Human Services Commission jointly shall ensure that the
39	47		language acquisition of each child eight years of age or younger who
40	48		is deaf or hard of hearing is regularly assessed using a tool or
41	49		assessment determined to be valid and reliable as provided by
42	50		Subsection (d).
43	51		(c) Not later than August 31 of each year, the agency, the
44	52		division, and the center jointly shall prepare and post on the
45	53		agency's, the division's, and the center's respective Internet
46	54		websites a report on the language acquisition of children eight
47	55		years of age or younger who are deaf or hard of hearing. The report
48	56		must:
49	57		(1) include:
50	58		(A) existing data reported in compliance with
51	59		federal law regarding children with disabilities; and
52	60		(B) information relating to the language
53	61		acquisition of children who are deaf or hard of hearing and also
54	62		have other disabilities;
55	63		(2) state for each child:
56	64		(A) the instructional arrangement used with the
57	65		child, as described by Section 42.151, including the time the child
58	66		spends in a mainstream instructional arrangement;
59	67		(B) the specific language acquisition services
60	68		provided to the child, including:
61	69		(i) the time spent providing those
62	70		services; and
63	71		(ii) a description of any hearing
64	72		amplification used in the delivery of those services, including:
65	73		(a) the type of hearing amplification
66	74		used;
67	75		(b) the period of time in which the
68	76		child has had access to the hearing amplification; and
69	77		(c) the average amount of time the
70	78		child uses the hearing amplification each day;
71	79		(C) the tools or assessments used to assess the
72	80		child's language acquisition and the results obtained;
73	81		(D) the preferred unique communication mode used
74	82		by the child at home; and
75	83		(E) the child's age, race, and gender, the age at
76	84		which the child was identified as being deaf or hard of hearing, and
77	85		any other relevant demographic information the commissioner
78	86		determines to likely be correlated with or have an impact on the
79	87		child's language acquisition;
80	88		(3) compare progress in English literacy made by
81	89		children who are deaf or hard of hearing to progress in that subject
82	90		made by children of the same age who are not deaf or hard of hearing,
83	91		by appropriate age range; and
84	92		(4) be redacted as necessary to comply with state and
85	93		federal law regarding the confidentiality of student medical or
86	94		educational information.
87	95		(d) The commissioner, the executive commissioner of the
88	96		Health and Human Services Commission, and the center shall enter
89	97		into a memorandum of understanding regarding:
90	98		(1) the identification of experts in deaf education;
91	99		and
92	100		(2) the determination, in consultation with those
93	101		experts, of the tools and assessments that are valid and reliable,
94	102		in both content and administration, for use in assessing the
95	103		language acquisition of children eight years of age or younger who
96	104		are deaf or hard of hearing.
97	105		(e) The agency shall use existing collected data and data
98	106		collected and transferred from the Department of State Health
99	107		Services and the Health and Human Services Commission, as agreed
100	108		upon in the memorandum of understanding, for the report under this
101	109		section.
102	110		(f) The commissioner and the executive commissioner of the
103	111		Health and Human Services Commission jointly shall adopt rules as
104	112		necessary to implement this section, including rules for:
105	113		(1) assigning each child eight years of age or younger
106	114		who is deaf or hard of hearing a unique identification number for
107	115		purposes of the report required under Subsection (c) and to enable
108	116		the tracking of the child's language acquisition, and factors
109	117		affecting the child's language acquisition, over time; and
110	118		(2) implementing this section in a manner that
111	119		complies with federal law regarding confidentiality of student
112	120		medical or educational information, including the Health Insurance
113	121		Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. Section 1320d
114	122		et seq.) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974
115	123		(20 U.S.C. Section 1232g), and any state law relating to the privacy
116	124		of student information.
117	125		SECTION 2. Section 42.006, Education Code, is amended by
118	126		adding Subsection (a-6) to read as follows:
119	127		(a-6) The commissioner by rule shall require each school
120	128		district and open-enrollment charter school to report through the
121	129		Public Education Information Management System information
122	130		disaggregated by campus and grade regarding:
123	131		(1) the number of children who are required to attend
124	132		school under Section 25.085, are not exempted under Section 25.086,
125	133		and fail to attend school without excuse for 10 or more days or
126	134		parts of days within a six-month period in the same school year;
127	135		(2) the number of students for whom the district
128	136		initiates a truancy prevention measure under Section 25.0915(a-4);
129	137		and
130	138		(3) the number of parents of students against whom an
131	139		attendance officer or other appropriate school official has filed a
132	140		complaint under Section 25.093.
133	141		SECTION 3. (a) In this section:
134	142		(1) "Agency" means the Texas Education Agency.
135	143		(2) "Center" means the Educational Resource Center on
136	144		Deafness at the Texas School for the Deaf.
137	145		(3) "Division" means the Division for Early Childhood
138	146		Intervention Services of the Health and Human Services Commission.
139	147		(b) Not later than December 1, 2019, the commissioner of
140	148		education, the executive commissioner of the Health and Human
141	149		Services Commission, and the center jointly shall determine the
142	150		tools and assessments that are valid and reliable for use in
143	151		assessing the language acquisition of children eight years of age
144	152		or younger who are deaf or hard of hearing as required under Section
145	153		29.316(d), Education Code, as added by this Act.
146	154		(c) Notwithstanding Section 29.316(c), Education Code, as
147	155		added by this Act, the agency, the division, and the center jointly
148	156		shall prepare and post on the agency's, division's, and center's
149	157		respective Internet websites the initial report required under that
150	158		subsection not later than December 1, 2020.
151	159		SECTION 4. The Texas Education Agency and the Health and
152	160		Human Services Commission are required to implement Section 29.316,
153	161		Education Code, as added by this Act, only if the legislature
154	162		appropriates money specifically for that purpose. If the
155	163		legislature does not appropriate money specifically for that
156	164		purpose, the agency and commission may, but are not required to,
157	165		implement Section 29.316, Education Code, as added by this Act,
158	166		using other appropriations available for the purpose.
159	167		SECTION 5. Not later than January 1, 2020, the commissioner
160	168		of education shall adopt rules required by Section 42.006(a-6),
161	169		Education Code, as added by this Act.
162	170		SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
163		-	______________________________ ______________________________
164		-	President of the Senate Speaker of the House
165		-	I certify that H.B. No. 548 was passed by the House on April
166		-	16, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 137, Nays 0, 1 present, not
167		-	voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
168		-	No. 548 on May 23, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 142, Nays 0, 1
169		-	present, not voting.
170		-	______________________________
171		-	Chief Clerk of the House
172		-	I certify that H.B. No. 548 was passed by the Senate, with
173		-	amendments, on May 20, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
174		-	0.
175		-	______________________________
176		-	Secretary of the Senate
177		-	APPROVED: __________________
178		-	Date
179		-	__________________
180		-	Governor
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