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House Bill 61 |
House Author: Guillen et al. |
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Effective: Vetoed |
Senate Sponsor: Uresti |
House Bill 61 amends the Education Code to clarify the individuals who may make, and who must act on, a written request for video surveillance equipment to be provided to a school or campus for use in a self-contained classroom or other special education setting and to limit the classrooms or other settings in which a school or campus that receives such equipment is required to place, operate, and maintain a video camera. The bill sets out requirements for a school district or open-enrollment charter school policy relating to the placement, operation, or maintenance of such video cameras and procedures for an expedited review by the Texas Education Agency of certain district actions regarding the use of such video cameras.
House Bill 61 includes among the fourth domain of indicators of achievement used to evaluate the performance of middle and junior high school and elementary school campuses and districts that include those campuses the percentage of students formerly receiving special education services who achieved satisfactory academic performance on statewide standardized tests administered in grades three through eight. The bill also includes that percentage among the criteria used by the commissioner of education to determine which districts receive an academic distinction designation.
Governor's Reason for Veto: "I have signed House Bill 22, which reforms our public school accountability system to provide additional transparency on school performance. Multiple provisions of House Bill 61 are based on the existing accountability system, which was overhauled by House Bill 22. Additionally, parts of House Bill 61 regarding the use of video cameras in special education classrooms are already adequately addressed by Senate Bill 1398, which I have signed."