BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

Senate Research Center	H.B. 1883
	By: Bhojani et al. (Kolkhorst)
	Education
	5/16/2023
	Engrossed

 

 

 

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

 

State-mandated exams, including the STAAR test and end-of-course exams, are scheduled by the State Board of Education. Testing dates are routinely scheduled on religious holy days, putting certain students in the position of having to choose between practicing the traditions of their faith, such as fasting and prayer, or scoring well on high-stakes exams.

 

H.B. 1883 seeks to ensure that exams such as the STAAR test and end-of-course exams are not scheduled on dates of holy days or periods of observation, including All Saints' Day, Christmas Day, Diwali, Eid al-Adha, Eid al-Fitr, Good Friday, Immaculate Conception, Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Vaisakhi, Holy Thursday, Reformation Day, Vesak, and Yom Kippur.

 

H.B. 1883 amends current law relating to the administration of assessment instruments to public school students on religious holy days.

 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

 

Rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Education Agency in SECTION 1 (Section 39.0238, Education Code) of this bill.

 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

 

SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter B, Chapter 39, Education Code, by adding Section 39.0238, as follows:

 

Sec. 39.0238. CONSIDERATION OF RELIGIOUS HOLY DAYS IN SCHEDULING ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS. (a) Defines "religious holy day or period of observance."

 

(b) Authorizes the board of trustees of a school district or the governing body of an open-enrollment charter school to consider the dates of religious holy days or periods of observance likely to be observed by the students enrolled in the district or school during the period set by the State Board of Education for the administration of assessment instruments required under Section 39.023 (Adoption and Administration of Instruments) in establishing:

 

(1) the district's or school's calendar for that school year; and

 

(2) the instructional days within that period on which district or school students are administered the required assessment instruments, provided that the board of trustees or governing body is prohibited from excluding more than two instructional days from that period based solely on the occurrence of a single religious holy day or period of observance.

 

(c) Requires the board of trustees of a school district or the governing body of an open-enrollment charter school, in establishing a school calendar as described in Subsection (b), to provide for alternative dates for the administration of assessment instruments required under Section 39.023 to a student who is absent from school to observe a religious holy day or period of observance on the date an assessment instrument is administered.

 

(d) Authorizes the Texas Education Agency to adopt rules as necessary to ensure a student is authorized to be administered an assessment instrument on an alternative date as necessary to comply with this section.

 

SECTION 2. Provides that this Act applies beginning with the 2023�2024 school year.

 

SECTION 3. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2023.