AN ACT
1-1 relating to public school admission and attendance.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Subsection (b), Section 25.001, Education Code,
1-4 is amended to read as follows:
1-5 (b) The board of trustees of a school district or its
1-6 designee shall admit into the public schools of the district free
1-7 of tuition a person who is over five and younger than 21 years of
1-8 age on the first day of September of the school year in which
1-9 admission is sought if:
1-10 (1) the person and either parent of the person reside
1-11 in the school district;
1-12 (2) the person does not reside in the school district
1-13 but a parent of the person resides in the school district and that
1-14 parent is a joint managing conservator or the sole managing
1-15 conservator or possessory conservator of the person;
1-16 (3) the person and the person's guardian or other
1-17 person having lawful control of the person under a court order
1-18 reside within the school district;
1-19 (4) [(3)] the person has established a separate
1-20 residence under Subsection (d);
1-21 (5) [(4)] the person is homeless, as defined by 42
1-22 U.S.C. Section 11302, regardless of the residence of the person, of
1-23 either parent of the person, or of the person's guardian or other
2-1 person having lawful control of the person;
2-2 (6) [(5)] the person is a foreign exchange student
2-3 placed with a host family that resides in the school district by a
2-4 nationally recognized foreign exchange program, unless the school
2-5 district has applied for and been granted a waiver by the
2-6 commissioner under Subsection (e); or
2-7 (7) [(6)] the person resides in the school district
2-8 and is 18 years of age or older or the person's disabilities of
2-9 minority have been removed.
2-10 SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 25.085, Education Code,
2-11 is amended to read as follows:
2-12 (b) Unless specifically exempted by Section 25.086, a child
2-13 who is at least six years of age, or who is younger than six years
2-14 of age and has previously been enrolled in first grade, and who has
2-15 not yet reached [completed the academic year in which] the child's
2-16 18th [17th] birthday [occurred] shall attend school.
2-17 SECTION 3. Subsection (a), Section 25.086, Education Code,
2-18 is amended to read as follows:
2-19 (a) A child is exempt from the requirements of compulsory
2-20 school attendance if the child:
2-21 (1) attends a private or parochial school that
2-22 includes in its course a study of good citizenship;
2-23 (2) is eligible to participate in a school district's
2-24 special education program under Section 29.003 and cannot be
2-25 appropriately served by the resident district;
3-1 (3) has a physical or mental condition of a temporary
3-2 and remediable nature that makes the child's attendance infeasible
3-3 and holds a certificate from a qualified physician specifying the
3-4 temporary condition, indicating the treatment prescribed to remedy
3-5 the temporary condition, and covering the anticipated period of the
3-6 child's absence from school for the purpose of receiving and
3-7 recuperating from that remedial treatment;
3-8 (4) is expelled in accordance with the requirements of
3-9 law;
3-10 (5) is at least 17 years of age and:
3-11 (A) is attending a course of instruction to
3-12 prepare for the high school equivalency examination, and:
3-13 (i) has the permission of the child's
3-14 parent or guardian to attend the course;
3-15 (ii) is required by court order to attend
3-16 the course;
3-17 (iii) has established a residence separate
3-18 and apart from the child's parent, guardian, or other person having
3-19 lawful control of the child; or
3-20 (iv) is homeless as defined by 42 U.S.C.
3-21 Section 11302; or
3-22 (B) has received a high school diploma or high
3-23 school equivalency certificate;
3-24 (6) is at least 16 years of age and is attending a
3-25 course of instruction to prepare for the high school equivalency
4-1 examination, if the child is recommended to take the course of
4-2 instruction by a public agency that has supervision or custody of
4-3 the child under a court order;
4-4 (7) is enrolled in the Texas Academy of Mathematics
4-5 and Science;
4-6 (8) is enrolled in the Texas Academy of Leadership in
4-7 the Humanities; or
4-8 (9) is specifically exempted under another law.
4-9 SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 1997-1998
4-10 school year.
4-11 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
4-12 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-13 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-14 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-15 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-16 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-17 passage, and it is so enacted.
S.B. No. 247
________________________________ ________________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 247 passed the Senate on
March 25, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0;
May 29, 1997, Senate refused to concur in House amendments and
requested appointment of Conference Committee; May 30, 1997, House
granted request of the Senate; June 1, 1997, Senate adopted
Conference Committee Report by the following vote: Yeas 31,
Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 247 passed the House, with
amendments, on May 26, 1997, by a non-record vote; May 30, 1997,
House granted request of the Senate for appointment of Conference
Committee; June 1, 1997, House adopted Conference Committee Report
by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
________________________________
Date
________________________________
Governor