By Keffer H.B. No. 1705
75R5714 ESH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to eligibility for high school equivalency examinations.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 7.111(a), Education Code, is amended to
1-5 read as follows:
1-6 (a) The board shall provide for the administration of high
1-7 school equivalency examinations. A person who does not have a high
1-8 school diploma may take the examination in accordance with rules
1-9 adopted by the board if:
1-10 (1) the person is over 17 years of age; or
1-11 (2) the person [: (1)] is 16 years of age or older[;]
1-12 and:
1-13 (A) [(2)] a public agency providing supervision
1-14 of the person or having custody of the person under a court order
1-15 recommends that the person take the examination; or
1-16 (B) a district judge, statutory county court
1-17 judge, justice of the peace, or municipal court judge orders the
1-18 person to take the examination.
1-19 SECTION 2. Section 25.086(a), Education Code, is amended to
1-20 read as follows:
1-21 (a) A child is exempt from the requirements of compulsory
1-22 school attendance if the child:
1-23 (1) attends a private or parochial school that
1-24 includes in its course a study of good citizenship;
2-1 (2) is eligible to participate in a school district's
2-2 special education program under Section 29.003 and cannot be
2-3 appropriately served by the resident district;
2-4 (3) has a physical or mental condition of a temporary
2-5 and remediable nature that makes the child's attendance infeasible
2-6 and holds a certificate from a qualified physician specifying the
2-7 temporary condition, indicating the treatment prescribed to remedy
2-8 the temporary condition, and covering the anticipated period of the
2-9 child's absence from school for the purpose of receiving and
2-10 recuperating from that remedial treatment;
2-11 (4) is expelled in accordance with the requirements of
2-12 law;
2-13 (5) is at least 17 years of age and:
2-14 (A) is attending a course of instruction to
2-15 prepare for the high school equivalency examination; or
2-16 (B) has received a high school diploma or high
2-17 school equivalency certificate;
2-18 (6) is at least 16 years of age and:
2-19 (A) is attending a course of instruction to
2-20 prepare for the high school equivalency examination, if the child
2-21 is recommended to take the course [of instruction] by a public
2-22 agency that has supervision or custody of the child under a court
2-23 order or is attending the course under order of a district judge,
2-24 statutory county court judge, justice of the peace, or municipal
2-25 court judge; or
2-26 (B) has received a high school equivalency
2-27 certificate;
3-1 (7) is enrolled in the Texas Academy of Mathematics
3-2 and Science;
3-3 (8) is enrolled in the Texas Academy of Leadership in
3-4 the Humanities; or
3-5 (9) is specifically exempted under another law.
3-6 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-11 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-12 passage, and it is so enacted.