By: Barrientos S.B. No. 393
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to financial assistance to school districts for programs
1-2 for students who are at risk of dropping out, including students
1-3 who are pregnant and students who are parents; administration of
1-4 the equivalency examination pilot program; and notification to
1-5 school districts of births to school-age students.
1-6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-7 SECTION 1. Subsection (g), Section 16.152, Education Code,
1-8 is amended to read as follows:
1-9 (g) From the total amount of funds appropriated for
1-10 allotments under this section, the commissioner of education shall,
1-11 each fiscal year, withhold an <the> amount to be determined by the
1-12 commissioner in consultation with the Legislative Education Board
1-13 <of $10,000,000> and distribute that amount for programs under
1-14 Section 21.114 of this code. The program established under that
1-15 section is required only in school districts in which the program
1-16 is financed by funds distributed under this section and any other
1-17 funds available for the program.
1-18 SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 21.114, Education Code,
1-19 is amended to read as follows:
1-20 (a) A school district may provide an integrated program of
1-21 educational and support services for students who are pregnant or
1-22 who are parents <if at least 30 percent of the district's students
1-23 are of low socioeconomic status, as determined under rules adopted
1-24 by the State Board of Education>.
2-1 SECTION 3. Subsection (f), Section 21.557, Education Code,
2-2 is amended to read as follows:
2-3 (f) For the purposes of this section, "student at risk of
2-4 dropping out of school" includes:
2-5 (1) each student in grade levels seven through 12 who
2-6 is under 21 years of age and who:
2-7 (A) was not advanced from one grade level to the
2-8 next two or more school years;
2-9 (B) has mathematics or reading skills that are
2-10 two or more years below grade level;
2-11 (C) did not maintain an average equivalent to 70
2-12 on a scale of 100 in two or more courses during a semester, or is
2-13 not maintaining such an average in two or more courses in the
2-14 current semester, and is not expected to graduate within four years
2-15 of the date the student begins ninth grade; <or>
2-16 (D) did not perform satisfactorily on an
2-17 assessment instrument administered under this subchapter in the
2-18 seventh, ninth, or twelfth grade; or
2-19 (E) is a student who is pregnant or who is a
2-20 parent;
2-21 (2) each student in prekindergarten through grade
2-22 level six who:
2-23 (A) did not perform satisfactorily on a
2-24 readiness test or assessment instrument administered at the
2-25 beginning of the school year;
2-26 (B) did not perform satisfactorily on an
2-27 assessment instrument administered under this subchapter in the
3-1 third or fifth grade;
3-2 (C) is a student of limited English proficiency,
3-3 as defined by Section 21.452 of this code;
3-4 (D) is sexually, physically, or psychologically
3-5 abused;
3-6 (E) engages in conduct described by Section
3-7 51.03(a), Family Code; or
3-8 (F) is otherwise identified as at risk under
3-9 rules adopted by the State Board of Education; and
3-10 (3) each nonhandicapped student who resides in a
3-11 residential placement facility in a district in which the student's
3-12 parent or legal guardian does not reside, including a detention
3-13 facility, substance abuse treatment facility, emergency shelter,
3-14 psychiatric hospital, halfway house, or foster family group home.
3-15 SECTION 4. Subchapter A, Chapter 192, Health and Safety
3-16 Code, is amended by adding Section 192.0031 to read as follows:
3-17 Sec. 192.0031. INFORMATION OF BIRTH TO SCHOOL-AGE MOTHER.
3-18 (a) Notwithstanding Section 3, Chapter 424, Acts of the 63rd
3-19 Legislature, Regular Session, 1973 (Article 6252-17a, Vernon's
3-20 Texas Civil Statutes), the department shall notify the commissioner
3-21 of education of each birth to a school-age mother. The
3-22 commissioner may notify the school district in which a school-age
3-23 mother resides of each birth to a school-age mother.
3-24 (b) The department may not notify the commissioner of a
3-25 birth to a school-age mother if:
3-26 (1) the child died at birth; or
3-27 (2) the child was placed for adoption.
4-1 (c) A notification under this section must include the name
4-2 and address of the mother and the person born. Reports under this
4-3 section shall be sent at least quarterly.
4-4 SECTION 5. Subsections (f) and (g), Section 11.351,
4-5 Education Code, are repealed.
4-6 SECTION 6. This Act applies beginning with the 1993-1994
4-7 school year.
4-8 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
4-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-13 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-14 passage, and it is so enacted.