By Gutierrez                                     H.B. No. 437

      75R3324 CAS-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to restricting written reports required of public school

 1-3     classroom teachers.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter I, Chapter 21, Education Code, is

 1-6     amended by adding Section 21.410 to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 21.410.  RESTRICTING WRITTEN REPORTS.  (a)  The board of

 1-8     trustees of each school district shall adopt a policy to limit

 1-9     redundant requests for information and the number and length of

1-10     written reports that a classroom teacher is required to prepare.

1-11     Except as provided by Subsection (b), a classroom teacher may not

1-12     be  required to prepare a written report other than:

1-13                 (1)  a report of a student's grade on a particular

1-14     assignment or examination;

1-15                 (2)  a report of a student's grades at the end of a

1-16     grade reporting period;

1-17                 (3)  a textbook report;

1-18                 (4)  a unit or weekly lesson plan report that outlines,

1-19     in a brief and general manner, the information to be presented

1-20     during each period at the secondary level or in each subject or

1-21     topic at the elementary level;

1-22                 (5)  an attendance report;

1-23                 (6)  a report required for accreditation review; or

1-24                 (7)  any other report specifically required by law or

 2-1     State Board of Education rule to be prepared by a classroom

 2-2     teacher.

 2-3           (b)  If information is required under federal or state law,

 2-4     regulation, or rule and the only reasonable manner in which to

 2-5     collect the information is with the direct involvement of a

 2-6     classroom teacher, the teacher may be required to provide the

 2-7     information.

 2-8           (c)  The board of trustees shall review paperwork

 2-9     requirements imposed on classroom teachers and shall transfer to

2-10     existing noninstructional staff a reporting task that can

2-11     reasonably be accomplished by that staff.

2-12           (d)  This section does not preclude a school district from

2-13     collecting essential information, in addition to information

2-14     specified under Subsection (a) or (b), from a classroom teacher if:

2-15                 (1)  participation is entirely at the discretion of the

2-16     teacher and the school district does not directly or indirectly

2-17     coerce  the teacher to participate;

2-18                 (2)  the decision not to participate is not held

2-19     against the teacher; and

2-20                 (3)  the commissioner promptly investigates any

2-21     allegation of the misuse of voluntary information-gathering

2-22     procedures that burden a teacher and circumvent compliance with the

2-23     statutory intent for paperwork reduction.

2-24           SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with the 1997-1998

2-25     school year.

2-26           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-27     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 3-1     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 3-2     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-3     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 3-4     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 3-5     passage, and it is so enacted.