By Goolsby H.B. No. 17
76R155 KKA-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to community service requirements for public high school
1-3 students.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Sections 28.025(a) and (b), Education Code, are
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 (a) The State Board of Education by rule shall determine
1-8 curriculum requirements for the minimum, recommended, and advanced
1-9 high school programs that are consistent with the required
1-10 curriculum under Section 28.002. A student may graduate and
1-11 receive a diploma only if the student successfully completes the
1-12 community service required under Section 28.026 and:
1-13 (1) the curriculum requirements identified by the
1-14 board and the exit-level assessment instrument administered under
1-15 Section 39.023(c) or each end-of-course assessment instrument
1-16 required to be adopted under Section 39.023(d); or
1-17 (2) an individualized education program developed
1-18 under Section 29.005.
1-19 (b) A school district may issue a certificate of coursework
1-20 completion to a student who successfully completes the community
1-21 service requirement and the curriculum requirements identified by
1-22 the State Board of Education under Subsection (a) but who fails
1-23 to perform satisfactorily on the assessment instruments specified
1-24 by Subsection (a). A school district may allow a student who
2-1 receives a certificate to participate in a graduation ceremony with
2-2 students receiving high school diplomas.
2-3 SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 28, Education Code, is
2-4 amended by adding Section 28.026 to read as follows:
2-5 Sec. 28.026. COMMUNITY SERVICE REQUIREMENT. (a) Except as
2-6 provided by Subsection (d) or (e), a student may graduate and
2-7 receive a diploma or certificate of coursework completion only if
2-8 the student performs at least 60 hours of unpaid community service
2-9 during the student's high school career.
2-10 (b) Each school district shall develop a list of approved
2-11 community service organizations from which a student may select one
2-12 or more organizations to supervise and document the student's
2-13 required service. In developing and maintaining the list, a school
2-14 district shall:
2-15 (1) include on the list a broad variety of
2-16 organizations that reflect diverse activities and viewpoints; and
2-17 (2) permit a student to propose a specific
2-18 organization for the district's consideration for addition to the
2-19 list.
2-20 (c) A school district shall give credit to a student for
2-21 unpaid community service hours performed while the student attended
2-22 high school in another school district of this state if the hours
2-23 were performed under the supervision of a community service
2-24 organization approved by the other district.
2-25 (d) A student who, after the ninth grade, transfers to a
2-26 school district in this state from a school not subject to this
2-27 section shall perform a reduced number of hours of unpaid community
3-1 service prorated according to the grade level at which the student
3-2 begins attendance in the district.
3-3 (e) The community service requirement applicable to a
3-4 student enrolled in a special education program shall be determined
3-5 by the committee that develops the student's individualized
3-6 education program under Section 29.005. The committee may
3-7 completely waive the requirement or modify the requirement as
3-8 necessary to reflect the student's individual circumstances. The
3-9 committee may not require the student to perform more than 60 hours
3-10 of unpaid community service.
3-11 SECTION 3. Section 28.026, Education Code, as added by this
3-12 Act, applies beginning with the 1999-2000 school year, except that
3-13 students enrolled in a school district during that school year:
3-14 (1) at the 12th grade level are exempt from
3-15 application of Section 28.026, Education Code;
3-16 (2) at the 11th grade level shall perform 30 hours of
3-17 community service to be entitled to graduate and receive a diploma
3-18 or certificate of coursework completion; and
3-19 (3) at the 10th grade level shall perform 45 hours of
3-20 community service to be entitled to graduate and receive a diploma
3-21 or certificate of coursework completion.
3-22 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-26 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-27 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-1 passage, and it is so enacted.