By Wise                                         H.B. No. 1593

      75R6935 ESH-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to grounds for special accreditation investigations of

 1-3     school districts.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 39.075(a), Education Code, is amended to

 1-6     read as follows:

 1-7           (a)  The commissioner shall authorize special accreditation

 1-8     investigations to be conducted under the following circumstances:

 1-9                 (1)  when excessive numbers of absences of students

1-10     eligible to be tested on state assessment instruments are

1-11     determined;

1-12                 (2)  when excessive numbers of allowable exemptions

1-13     from the required state assessment are determined;

1-14                 (3)  in response to complaints submitted to the agency

1-15     with respect to alleged violations of civil rights or other

1-16     requirements imposed on the state by federal law or court order;

1-17                 (4)  in response to established compliance reviews of

1-18     the district's financial accounting practices and state and federal

1-19     program requirements;

1-20                 (5)  when extraordinary numbers of student placements

1-21     in alternative education programs, other than placements under

1-22     Sections 37.006 and 37.007, are determined; [or]

1-23                 (6)  in response to an allegation involving a conflict

1-24     between members of the board of trustees or between the board and

 2-1     the district administration if it appears that the conflict

 2-2     involves a violation of a role or duty of the board members or the

 2-3     administration clearly defined by this code; or

 2-4                 (7)  in response to allegations that the district-level

 2-5     and site-based decision-making process under Subchapter F, Chapter

 2-6     11, is not properly functioning, if the person making the

 2-7     allegation has exhausted the person's remedies through the

 2-8     district's grievance process.

 2-9           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-10           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-11     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-12     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-13     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-14     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.