1-1     By:  Duncan                                           S.B. No. 1627

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 14, 1997; March 24, 1997, read

 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Education; April 10, 1997,

 1-4     reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0;

 1-5     April 10, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the provision of certain comparison data for public

 1-9     school districts.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 42.006, Education Code, is amended by

1-12     adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:

1-13           (d)  The agency shall make available to school districts

1-14     through the Internet information on the students, student

1-15     performance, staffing, and financing of Texas public school

1-16     districts, using data from the Public Education Information

1-17     Management System.  The agency shall provide the information by

1-18     county and region to enable a district to compare its results to

1-19     those of neighboring districts, its region, and statewide averages.

1-20           SECTION 2.  The State Auditor's Office shall discontinue its

1-21     production of the annual Savings Profile System for Texas School

1-22     Districts reports.

1-23           SECTION 3.  (a)  As soon as practicable, the Texas Education

1-24     Agency shall make available through the Internet the information

1-25     required by Subsection (d), Section 42.006, Education Code, as

1-26     added by this Act.

1-27           (b)  On request by a school district, the Texas Education

1-28     Agency shall provide a report containing data comparable to that

1-29     provided by the State Auditor's Office in its Savings Profile

1-30     System for Texas School Districts reports until the information

1-31     required by Subsection (d), Section 42.006, Education Code, as

1-32     added by this Act, becomes available on the Internet.

1-33           (c)  By September 1, 1997, the Texas Education Agency shall

1-34     notify each school district of the availability of the reports

1-35     provided in Subsection (b) and inform each district of when the

1-36     school district data provided in the reports will become available

1-37     on the Internet.

1-38           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-39     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-40     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-41     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-42     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-43     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-44     passage, and it is so enacted.

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