Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 1918 amends Education Code provisions relating to the operation and administration of the Texas School for the Deaf. The act requires the school to cooperate with public and private agencies and organizations serving the deaf and hearing impaired in the planning, development, and implementation of educational and rehabilitative service delivery systems, and it requires the school and the Texas Education Agency to adopt a memorandum of understanding relating to the establishment of an accountability system for the school.

            Senate Bill 1918 allows the school's governing board to license school facilities if the board determines that sufficient public benefit will result. It also allows the school to lease available building space on the school's campus to a private provider to provide a day-care center for children of the school's employees, other state employees, and private customers. The act provides for the admission of a student who has been referred to the school by a person legally authorized to act in place of the student's parent or legal guardian, or a self-referred student, if the student is 18 years of age or older.

            The act provides for the employment of teachers under either term or probationary contracts and extends certain provisions relating to the criminal history records of employees to apply to student teachers, educational interns, and persons performing ongoing educational projects at the school.