1-1 By: Bivins S.B. No. 138 1-2 (In the Senate - Filed December 16, 1996; January 14, 1997, 1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Education; 1-4 February 27, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 1-5 9, Nays 0; February 27, 1997, sent to printer.) 1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-7 AN ACT 1-8 relating to mandatory public school attendance by certain expelled 1-9 students. 1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-11 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 25.086, Education Code, 1-12 is amended to read as follows: 1-13 (a) A child is exempt from the requirements of compulsory 1-14 school attendance if the child: 1-15 (1) attends a private or parochial school that 1-16 includes in its course a study of good citizenship; 1-17 (2) is eligible to participate in a school district's 1-18 special education program under Section 29.003 and cannot be 1-19 appropriately served by the resident district; 1-20 (3) has a physical or mental condition of a temporary 1-21 and remediable nature that makes the child's attendance infeasible 1-22 and holds a certificate from a qualified physician specifying the 1-23 temporary condition, indicating the treatment prescribed to remedy 1-24 the temporary condition, and covering the anticipated period of the 1-25 child's absence from school for the purpose of receiving and 1-26 recuperating from that remedial treatment; 1-27 (4) is expelled in accordance with the requirements of 1-28 law in a school district that does not participate in a juvenile 1-29 justice alternative education program under Section 37.011; 1-30 (5) is at least 17 years of age and: 1-31 (A) is attending a course of instruction to 1-32 prepare for the high school equivalency examination; or 1-33 (B) has received a high school diploma or high 1-34 school equivalency certificate; 1-35 (6) is at least 16 years of age and is attending a 1-36 course of instruction to prepare for the high school equivalency 1-37 examination, if the child is recommended to take the course of 1-38 instruction by a public agency that has supervision or custody of 1-39 the child under a court order; 1-40 (7) is enrolled in the Texas Academy of Mathematics 1-41 and Science; 1-42 (8) is enrolled in the Texas Academy of Leadership in 1-43 the Humanities; or 1-44 (9) is specifically exempted under another law. 1-45 SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 1997-1998 1-46 school year. 1-47 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 1-48 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-49 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-50 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-51 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 1-52 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 1-53 passage, and it is so enacted. 1-54 * * * * *