By:  Leedom                                             S.B. No. 92
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to a voucher for the tuition of a student at a private or
    1-2  parochial school.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 21, Education Code, is
    1-5  amended by adding Section 21.083 to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 21.083.  EDUCATION VOUCHER PROGRAM.  (a)  On the request
    1-7  of an eligible parent or guardian of a student, the Central
    1-8  Education Agency shall issue a voucher statement to an eligible
    1-9  parent or guardian to indicate the amount it will pay to an
   1-10  eligible private or parochial school to be used for the expenses of
   1-11  education of the student.
   1-12        (b)  On behalf of an eligible parent of guardian, the Central
   1-13  Education Agency shall pay to a private or parochial school in
   1-14  which the student enrolls the lesser of either a sum equal to
   1-15  one-half the amount of the basic allotment under Subchapter C and
   1-16  the special allotments under Subchapter D, Chapter 16 of this code
   1-17  that would have been attributed to the child's enrollment in his
   1-18  local district; or the actual cost of tuition and fees charged by
   1-19  the private or parochial school.
   1-20        (c)  The Central Education Agency shall pay the remainder of
   1-21  the amount of the basic allotment under Subchapter C and the
   1-22  special allotments under Subchapter D, Chapter 16 of this code to
   1-23  the district from which the student transfers for the purpose of
    2-1  attending a private or parochial school.
    2-2        (d)  In this section:
    2-3              (1)  "eligible parent or guardian" means a person who
    2-4  is head of a household whose income does not exceed three times the
    2-5  federal poverty line as defined in Section 673(2) of the Community
    2-6  Services Block Grant Act, 42 U.S.C. 9902(2), for the forty-eight
    2-7  contiguous states and the District of Columbia.
    2-8              (2)  "eligible private or parochial school" means an
    2-9  elementary or secondary school offering grades pre-kindergarten
   2-10  through 12 or a combination thereof that includes in its course of
   2-11  study good citizenship and that does not discriminate in the
   2-12  admission of students or the employment of teachers on the basis of
   2-13  race, sex, disability, color, or economic status.
   2-14        (e)  The Central Education Agency may adopt rules to
   2-15  implement this section.
   2-16        SECTION 2.  The Central Education Agency shall issue vouchers
   2-17  under this Act beginning with the 1995-1996 school year.
   2-18        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-19  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-20  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-21  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-22  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-23  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-24  passage, and it is so enacted.