By Shields H.B. No. 635
75R725 CAS-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to public school admission and attendance; providing a
1-3 criminal penalty.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Sections 25.001(a) and (b), Education Code, are
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 (a) A person who is at least five years of age and under 20
1-8 [21] years of age on the first day of September of any school year
1-9 is entitled to the benefits of the available school fund for that
1-10 year. Any other person enrolled in a prekindergarten class under
1-11 Section 29.153 is entitled to the benefits of the available school
1-12 fund. A person who is 20 years of age or older on the first day of
1-13 September of any school year is entitled to the benefits of the
1-14 available school fund for that year only to the extent entitlement
1-15 to those benefits is required by federal law.
1-16 (b) The board of trustees of a school district or its
1-17 designee shall admit into the public schools of the district free
1-18 of tuition a person who is entitled to the benefits of the
1-19 available school fund under Subsection (a) [over five and younger
1-20 than 21 years of age on the first day of September of the school
1-21 year in which admission is sought] if:
1-22 (1) the person and either parent of the person reside
1-23 in the school district;
1-24 (2) the person and the person's guardian or other
2-1 person having lawful control of the person under a court order
2-2 reside within the school district;
2-3 (3) the person has established a separate residence
2-4 under Subsection (d);
2-5 (4) the person is homeless, as defined by 42 U.S.C.
2-6 Section 11302, regardless of the residence of the person, of either
2-7 parent of the person, or of the person's guardian or other person
2-8 having lawful control of the person;
2-9 (5) the person is a foreign exchange student placed
2-10 with a host family that resides in the school district by a
2-11 nationally recognized foreign exchange program, unless the school
2-12 district has applied for and been granted a waiver by the
2-13 commissioner under Subsection (e); or
2-14 (6) the person resides in the school district and is
2-15 18 years of age or older or the person's disabilities of minority
2-16 have been removed.
2-17 SECTION 2. Section 25.002(f), Education Code, is amended to
2-18 read as follows:
2-19 (f) Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, for a
2-20 child to be enrolled in a public school, the child must be enrolled
2-21 by the child's parent or by the child's guardian or other person
2-22 with legal control of the child under a court order. A school
2-23 district may require the person who enrolls the child to provide
2-24 school district employees with identification, including the
2-25 person's driver's license. The school district may retain a copy
2-26 of the identification provided. If a person with legal authority
2-27 to enroll the child in school cannot be identified and located, the
3-1 school district that receives the child's application for
3-2 enrollment shall notify the Department of Protective and Regulatory
3-3 Services and shall admit the child as provided by Section 25.001.
3-4 The district shall direct any communication that is required with a
3-5 parent to the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services
3-6 unless that department specifies otherwise. In this subsection,
3-7 "child" has the meaning assigned by Section 101.003, Family Code.
3-8 SECTION 3. Section 25.085, Education Code, is amended by
3-9 adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
3-10 (e) A person who voluntarily enrolls in school after
3-11 completing the academic year in which the person's 17th birthday
3-12 occurred shall attend school each school day for the entire period
3-13 the program of instruction is offered.
3-14 SECTION 4. Section 25.087(a), Education Code, is amended to
3-15 read as follows:
3-16 (a) A person [child] required to attend school, including a
3-17 person to whom Section 25.085(e) applies, may be excused for
3-18 temporary absence resulting from any cause acceptable to the
3-19 teacher, principal, or superintendent of the school in which the
3-20 person [child] is enrolled.
3-21 SECTION 5. Subchapter C, Chapter 25, Education Code, is
3-22 amended by adding Section 25.097 to read as follows:
3-23 Sec. 25.097. FAILURE OF PERSON VOLUNTARILY ENROLLED IN
3-24 SCHOOL TO ATTEND. (a) A school attendance officer shall warn a
3-25 person in writing that school attendance is immediately required
3-26 if:
3-27 (1) the person has completed the academic year in
4-1 which the person's 17th birthday occurred and is enrolled in
4-2 school; and
4-3 (2) the person fails to attend school as required
4-4 under Section 25.085(e), and the absence is not excused under
4-5 Section 25.087.
4-6 (b) A person commits an offense if:
4-7 (1) the person fails to attend school for a school day
4-8 or a part of a school day after a warning under Subsection (a); and
4-9 (2) the absence is not excused under Section 25.087.
4-10 (c) The attendance officer shall file a complaint against
4-11 the person in justice court in the precinct in which the person
4-12 resides or in the precinct in which the central administrative
4-13 office of the school district is located.
4-14 (d) An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor.
4-15 (e) A fine collected under this section shall be deposited
4-16 in the same manner provided for depositing a fine collected under
4-17 Section 25.093(f).
4-18 (f) At the trial of a person charged with an offense under
4-19 this section, any authorized employee of the school district may
4-20 present the attendance records of the person.
4-21 (g) If a person is found by a justice court to have
4-22 committed more than one offense under this section during a
4-23 semester, a school district may:
4-24 (1) withdraw the person from enrollment; and
4-25 (2) prohibit the person from reenrolling in the
4-26 district until the following semester.
4-27 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect beginning with the
5-1 1997-1998 school year.
5-2 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
5-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-7 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-8 passage, and it is so enacted.