Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 975 amends the Education Code to require the commissioner of education to implement a program that would allow school districts to offer Internet or other electronic courses to their students or to students in other districts under an interdistrict agreement. The bill requires the commissioner to select districts to participate in the program based on district applications and allows the commissioner to determine the number of districts that can participate, provided the commissioner, to the extent possible, permits the participation of rural and urban districts with higher than average dropout rates or numbers of at-risk students or underserved gifted and talented students. The bill establishes application deadlines, procedures, and requirements; allows interagency cooperation between the commissioner and other agencies in the adoption of technical standards for auditing or verifying student attendance in electronic courses; and requires the commissioner to submit a report to the legislature's presiding officers not later than December 1, 2002, regarding course funding, accountability measures, security or privacy issues, educational benefits, and other related matters.