By Johnson                                            H.B. No. 2332
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the creation of special purpose public schools and
    1-3  school districts.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 11.28, Education Code, is amended by
    1-6  amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (j) to read as
    1-7  follows:
    1-8        (a)  On the recommendation of the commissioner of education
    1-9  and after consulting with the local school districts involved and
   1-10  obtaining the approval of a majority of those districts, the <The
   1-11  power of the> State Board of Education may <to> create and
   1-12  establish a special purpose public school or <independent> school
   1-13  district for the education of students in special situations whose
   1-14  educational needs are not adequately met by regular school
   1-15  districts.  The board may impose duties or limitations on the
   1-16  school or district as necessary for the special purpose of the
   1-17  school or district.  The board <districts has been abolished, but
   1-18  the State Board of Education> shall <continue to> exercise the
   1-19  powers as provided in this section in relation to the schools and
   1-20  districts created under the authority of this subsection and in
   1-21  relation to those independent school districts which were created
   1-22  by the board under its former authority to create independent
   1-23  school districts.
   1-24        (j)  The independent or common school district that is
    2-1  responsible for providing education services to a student who is
    2-2  enrolled in a special purpose school or school district created
    2-3  under Subsection (a) of this section shall share the cost of the
    2-4  student's education in the manner provided under Section 21.507 of
    2-5  this code for students enrolled in the Texas School for the Blind
    2-6  and Visually Impaired or the Texas School for the Deaf unless the
    2-7  State Board of Education finds that the student's education in a
    2-8  particular special purpose school or school district should not be
    2-9  the responsibility of the independent or common school district.
   2-10        SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with the 1993-1994
   2-11  school year.
   2-12        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-13  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-14  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-15  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-16  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-17  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-18  passage, and it is so enacted.