By Garcia H.B. No. 2051
75R6629 CAS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the use of state-administered assessment instruments
1-3 for public school students of limited English proficiency.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 39.027, Education Code, is amended by
1-6 amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsection (d) to read as
1-7 follows:
1-8 (c) Not later than September 1, 1998 [December 1, 1996], the
1-9 commissioner shall develop [and propose to the legislature] an
1-10 assessment system that shall be used for evaluating the progress of
1-11 students exempted under Subsection (a)(2) who are instructed in
1-12 English because of a shortage of teachers with teaching
1-13 certificates appropriate for bilingual education instruction. Not
1-14 later than the 1998-1999 school year, the performance [of those
1-15 students] under an assessment system of students to whom Subsection
1-16 (a) applies must be included in the academic excellence indicator
1-17 system under Section 39.051, the campus report card under Section
1-18 39.052, and the performance report under Section 39.053. This
1-19 subsection expires September 1, 1999.
1-20 (d) A student of limited English proficiency who has
1-21 immigrated from a foreign country, is enrolling for the first time
1-22 in a public school in this state, and is instructed in English
1-23 for one or more school years because of a shortage of teachers
1-24 with teaching certificates appropriate for bilingual education
2-1 instruction must be assessed for at least three school years using
2-2 an assessment instrument developed by the commissioner specifically
2-3 for evaluating the progress of a student of limited English
2-4 proficiency who is instructed in English. Assessment under this
2-5 subsection must be completed before the student may be assessed
2-6 using an assessment instrument adopted under Section 39.023. In
2-7 this subsection, "student of limited English proficiency" has the
2-8 meaning assigned by Section 29.052.
2-9 SECTION 2. Section 39.027(d), Education Code, as added by
2-10 this Act, applies beginning with the 1998-1999 school year.
2-11 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-12 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-13 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-14 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-15 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-16 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-17 passage, and it is so enacted.