By Garcia                                       H.B. No. 1388

      75R5112 CAS-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to school uniforms for public school students.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subchapter Z, Chapter 25, Education Code, is

 1-5     amended by adding Section 25.902 to read as follows:

 1-6           Sec. 25.902.  SCHOOL UNIFORMS.  (a)  Unless otherwise

 1-7     authorized under Subsection (b), each student in kindergarten

 1-8     through grade 12 shall wear a school uniform to class.

 1-9           (b)  The students of a school district are exempt from the

1-10     school uniform requirement if the board of trustees of the district

1-11     by resolution provides that students in the district are not

1-12     required to wear school uniforms.  Before adopting the resolution,

1-13     the board  must solicit and consider comments from district parents

1-14     and hold  one or more public hearings on the issue of school

1-15     uniforms.

1-16           (c)  The commissioner shall adopt rules as necessary to

1-17     implement the school uniform requirement under this section.

1-18           SECTION 2.  Section 11.158(c), Education Code, is amended to

1-19     read as follows:

1-20           (c)  Students may be required to furnish personal or

1-21     consumable items, including pencils, paper, pens, erasers, and

1-22     notebooks.  Students may be required to furnish[, and] school

1-23     uniforms to the extent authorized by the commissioner in rules

1-24     adopted under Section 25.902[, except that students who are

 2-1     educationally disadvantaged may be required to furnish school

 2-2     uniforms only as provided by Section 11.162].

 2-3           SECTION 3.  Section 11.162, Education Code, is repealed.

 2-4           SECTION 4.  (a)  Not later than March 1, 1998, the

 2-5     commissioner of education shall adopt rules to implement the school

 2-6     uniform requirement for public school students as required by

 2-7     Section 25.902, Education Code, as added by this Act.

 2-8           (b)  Except in a school district in which the board of

 2-9     trustees of the school district has taken the actions authorized

2-10     under Section 25.902(b), Education Code, as added by this Act, to

2-11     exempt district students from the school uniform requirement,

2-12     students shall wear school uniforms in accordance with Section

2-13     25.902, Education Code, and rules adopted under that section

2-14     beginning with the 1998-1999 school year.

2-15           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-16     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-17     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-18     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-19     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-20     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-21     passage, and it is so enacted.