H.B. No. 638
AN ACT
relating to the issuance of posthumous high school diplomas to
certain students.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 28.0254(a), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, but
subject to Subsection (b), on request of the student's parent, a
school district shall issue a high school diploma posthumously to
each student who died while enrolled in the district [at grade level
12, provided that the student was academically on track at the time
of death to receive a diploma] at the end of the school year in which
the student was expected to graduate under the regular schedule of
school attendance [in which the student died]. The high school
diploma may not be issued before the graduation date of the class in
which the student was enrolled at the time of death [For purposes
of this subsection, "school year" includes any summer session
following the spring semester].
SECTION 2. Section 28.0254(a), Education Code, as amended
by this Act, applies beginning with students who would have
graduated at the end of the 2019-2020 school year.
SECTION 3. 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, 2019.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 638 was passed by the House on March
27, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 148, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 638 was passed by the Senate on May
13, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor