By Shields                                             H.B. No. 133
       74R1729 SMH-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to a requirement that a student enrolled in a general
    1-3  academic teaching institution serve as an assistant to a public
    1-4  school teacher.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Subchapter F, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
    1-7  amended by adding Section 51.307 to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 51.307.  ASSISTANT TO PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER.  (a)  A
    1-9  general academic teaching institution as defined by Section 61.003
   1-10  may not grant a baccalaureate degree to a person unless the person
   1-11  serves for one semester as an assistant to a teacher in a public
   1-12  elementary or secondary school.  A person who is unable to secure a
   1-13  position as an assistant to a teacher in a public elementary or
   1-14  secondary school may satisfy the requirement imposed by this
   1-15  section by performing community service for a governmental entity
   1-16  or a nonprofit organization approved by the institution that
   1-17  provides services to the general public that enhance social welfare
   1-18  and the general well-being of the community.
   1-19        (b)  The institution shall grant three semester hours of
   1-20  credit or its equivalent to a person who satisfies the requirement
   1-21  imposed by this section.
   1-22        (c)  The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board by rule
   1-23  shall adopt standards governing the requirement established by this
   1-24  section.  The rules shall require a student to serve for a number
    2-1  of hours that is equal to the average number of hours the board
    2-2  determines a student should reasonably devote to completion of an
    2-3  undergraduate course for which three semester hours of credit are
    2-4  awarded.
    2-5        (d)  This section does not apply to a person who enrolls for
    2-6  the first time in a general academic teaching institution before
    2-7  the fall semester of 1995.
    2-8        SECTION 2.  Subchapter Z, Chapter 13, Education Code, is
    2-9  amended by adding Section 13.910 to read as follows:
   2-10        Sec. 13.910.  TEACHING ASSISTANTS.  (a)  A public elementary
   2-11  or secondary school shall cooperate with a general academic
   2-12  teaching institution as defined by Section 61.003 in the placement
   2-13  of a student enrolled in the institution as an assistant to a
   2-14  teacher in the public school under Section 51.307.
   2-15        (b)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a public elementary or
   2-16  secondary school is not required to accept a student enrolled in a
   2-17  general academic teaching institution as an assistant to a teacher
   2-18  in the public school if the student's services are not needed.
   2-19        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-20  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-21  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-22  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-23  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-24  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-25  passage, and it is so enacted.