Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 1130 amends the Education Code to modify the eligibility requirements for tuition and fee exemptions at a public college or university for an educational aide seeking certification as a teacher. The bill deletes requirements relating to the person's certification as an educational aide, years of experience working directly with students as a certified educational aide, and employment as an educational aide during the semester in which the person receives the exemption, and it adds a requirement that a person be a school employee serving in any capacity and have worked as an educational aide for at least one year during the five years preceding the semester in which the tuition and fees are to be waived.

            The bill requires each school district board of trustees to establish a plan to encourage the hiring of educational aides who show willingness to become certified teachers, and it requires the governing board of a public college or university that offers courses required for certification to establish a plan to increase course accessibility and to consider accessibility through evening classes, the Internet, or certain other means. The bill requires the plans to be established by January 1, 2002.

            Prior law exempted a person who received a bachelor's degree required for a teaching certificate on the basis of course work completed under the tuition and fee exemption from any student teaching internship requirements for receiving a teaching certificate, if the person had at least two years' experience working in a classroom as an educational aide. The bill removes the working experience requirement for the internship exemption.