By Truan                                               S.B. No. 296
       74R1925 KKA-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to entitlement to high school diplomas.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subchapter S, Chapter 21, Education Code, is
    1-5  amended by adding Section 21.725 to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 21.725.  ENTITLEMENT TO HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA.  (a)  A
    1-7  student is entitled to receive a high school diploma from the last
    1-8  high school attended by the student if the student:
    1-9              (1)  obtains an associate degree from a public junior
   1-10  college as defined by Section 61.003; or
   1-11              (2)  is enrolled in good standing in the junior year of
   1-12  any public or private college or university that grants
   1-13  baccalaureate degrees and is accredited by a recognized accrediting
   1-14  agency.
   1-15        (b)  A student entitled to a diploma under this section is
   1-16  not required to meet any testing requirement in order to obtain a
   1-17  diploma.
   1-18        SECTION 2.  Section 35.025(a), Education Code, is amended to
   1-19  read as follows:
   1-20        (a)  Except as provided by Section 21.725, a <A> student may
   1-21  not receive a high school diploma until the student has performed
   1-22  satisfactorily on:
   1-23              (1)  the secondary exit-level assessment instruments
   1-24  for reading, writing, and mathematics; and
    2-1              (2)  <.  The State Board of Education shall adopt a
    2-2  schedule for the addition of satisfactory performance on> secondary
    2-3  exit-level assessment instruments in other subject areas as adopted
    2-4  by the State Board of Education <a requirement for receipt of a
    2-5  high school diploma>.
    2-6        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-7  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-8  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-9  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-10  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-11  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-12  passage, and it is so enacted.