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.

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