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House Bill 1122 |
House Author: Johnson et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-13 |
Senate Sponsor: West |
House Bill 1122 amends the Education Code to authorize a school district with an enrollment of more than 150,000 students that is located primarily in a county with a population of 2.2 million or more and that is adjacent to a county with a population of more than 600,000 to develop and implement a pilot program for students who wish to obtain a high school diploma after completing three years of high school rather than the traditional four years. The bill requires the program to include partnerships with public postsecondary institutions in Texas that offer academic or technical education or vocational training under a certificate program or an associate's degree program to facilitate a student's prompt enrollment in those institutions after graduating from high school under the program.
House Bill 1122 requires the school district to specify the program curriculum requirements, which must ensure that a graduate is capable of performing successfully in public junior college courses; to submit the district's proposal regarding the program's scope and curriculum requirements to the commissioner of education for approval; and to submit the proposed curriculum requirements to the State Board of Education for comment. The bill prohibits the district from implementing the program without the commissioner's approval.
House Bill 1122 entitles a student to a high school diploma if the student successfully complies with the program's curriculum requirements and performs satisfactorily on any end-of-course tests required for courses in which the student was enrolled. The bill requires the commissioner to determine that level of satisfactory performance, requires the school district to report a program graduate's academic achievement record on a transcript that clearly identifies and distinguishes the program from traditional four-year high school programs, and exempts a student receiving a diploma under the program from compulsory school attendance requirements.
House Bill 1122 requires the commissioner, beginning with the first school year that follows the first school year in which students receive high school diplomas under the pilot program and continuing for every subsequent school year that the district operates the program, to provide funding for the district's free prekindergarten program on a full-day basis for a number of prekindergarten students equal to twice the number of students who received a high school diploma under the program during the preceding school year. The bill's provisions expire September 1, 2023.