Enrolled Bill Summary

Senate Bill 759	Senate Author:  Williams
Effective:  6-19-09	House Sponsor:  Eissler

            Senate Bill 759 amends the Education Code to raise the maximum age of data that may be used to compute state and national norms of averages of achievement test results from not more than six years old to not more than eight years old at the time the test is administered and requires the standardization norms to be updated at least every eight years, rather than every six years. The bill makes an exception to the eight-year limit on the age of data to compute norms if only data older than eight years is available for a test and authorizes the commissioner of education by rule to limit such exception based on the type of test.

            The bill repeals provisions that prohibited a company or organization from distributing to, selling to, or grading for the same school district the same test form for more than three school years and prohibited a district from using the same test form for more than three years; that required a company or organization grading a test to report the results to the district and to the Texas Education Agency by campus and district and in comparison to state and national averages; and that made a company or organization that failed to comply with the provisions above liable to the state in an amount equal to three times the amount of actual damages.