By Bivins                                        S.B. No. 936

      75R5856 ESH-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to public education.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 7.022(b), Education Code, is amended to

 1-5     read as follows:

 1-6           (b)  The state auditor shall review the quality and

 1-7     effectiveness of the agency's process for auditing internal

 1-8     operations and shall report the state auditor's findings to the

 1-9     commissioner, [and] the board, the governor, and the Legislative

1-10     Budget Board.

1-11           SECTION 2.  Section 11.159(a), Education Code, is amended to

1-12     read as follows:

1-13           (a)  The State Board of Education shall provide a training

1-14     course for independent school district trustees to be offered by

1-15     the regional education service centers or other providers approved

1-16     by and registered with the commissioner.  Registration for a course

1-17     must be open to any interested person, including current and

1-18     prospective board members, and the state board may prescribe a

1-19     registration fee designed to offset the costs of providing that

1-20     course.

1-21           SECTION 3.   Section 11.253(b), Education Code, is amended to

1-22     read as follows:

1-23           (b)  Each district's policy and procedures shall establish

1-24     campus-level planning and decision-making committees as provided

 2-1     for through the procedures provided by Sections 11.251(b)-(e),

 2-2     except that a campus-level committee is not required to include

 2-3     district-level professional staff members.

 2-4           SECTION 4.  Sections 28.023(b) and (c), Education Code, are

 2-5     amended to read as follows:

 2-6           (b)  A school district shall give a student in a primary

 2-7     grade level credit for a grade level and advance the student one

 2-8     grade level on the basis of a board-approved examination for

 2-9     acceleration if:

2-10                 (1)  the student scores the equivalent of 90 [in the

2-11     90th percentile] or above on a scale of 100 on each section of the

2-12     examination;

2-13                 (2)  a district representative recommends that the

2-14     student be advanced; and

2-15                 (3)  the student's parent or guardian gives written

2-16     approval of the advancement.

2-17           (c)  A school district shall give a student in grade level

2-18     six or above credit for a subject on the basis of a board-approved

2-19     examination for credit in the subject if the student scores the

2-20     equivalent of 90 [in the 90th percentile] or above on a scale of

2-21     100 on the examination.  If a student is given credit in a subject

2-22     on the basis of an examination, the district shall enter the

2-23     examination score on the student's transcript.

2-24           SECTION 5.  (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this

2-25     section, this Act takes effect immediately.

2-26           (b)  Section 4 of this Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-27           SECTION 6.  (a)  Section 11.253(b), Education Code, as

 3-1     amended by this Act, applies beginning with the 1997-1998 school

 3-2     year.

 3-3           (b)  Sections 28.023(b) and (c), Education Code, as amended

 3-4     by this Act, apply only to an examination taken on or after

 3-5     September 1, 1997.

 3-6           SECTION 7.  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 according to its

3-12     terms, and it is so enacted.