By Flores H.B. No. 373
76R2108 BDH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to appointment of members to the State Board for Educator
1-3 Certification.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 21.033, Education Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 21.033. STATE BOARD FOR EDUCATOR CERTIFICATION.
1-8 (a) The State Board for Educator Certification is composed of 15
1-9 members. The commissioner of education shall appoint an employee
1-10 of the agency to represent the commissioner as a nonvoting member.
1-11 The commissioner of higher education shall appoint an employee of
1-12 the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to represent the
1-13 commissioner as a nonvoting member. The governor shall appoint a
1-14 dean of a college of education in this state as a nonvoting member.
1-15 The remaining 12 members are appointed by the governor with the
1-16 advice and consent of the senate, as follows:
1-17 (1) four members must be teachers employed in public
1-18 schools;
1-19 (2) two members must be public school administrators;
1-20 (3) one member must be a public school counselor; and
1-21 (4) five members must be citizens, three of whom are
1-22 not and have not, in the five years preceding appointment, been
1-23 employed by a public school district or by an educator preparation
1-24 program in an institution of higher education and two of whom are
2-1 not and have not been employed by a public school district or by an
2-2 educator preparation program in an institution of higher education.
2-3 (b) The governor shall appoint members under Subsections
2-4 (a)(1), (2), and (3) from a slate of candidates nominated by
2-5 teachers, administrators, and counselors employed in public schools
2-6 through an election conducted by the board.
2-7 (c) The board shall adopt rules governing the election. The
2-8 rules may:
2-9 (1) specify the number of candidates to be included in
2-10 a slate presented to the governor; and
2-11 (2) limit eligibility for nominating or voting for a
2-12 candidate to individuals in the same category of employment as the
2-13 candidate.
2-14 (d) To provide for the nomination of candidates in
2-15 accordance with Subsections (b) and (c), the board shall send to
2-16 each person eligible to nominate and vote for a candidate:
2-17 (1) notice of the deadline for nomination;
2-18 (2) information on procedures to follow in nominating
2-19 a candidate; and
2-20 (3) a written ballot.
2-21 (e) Appointments to the board shall be made without regard
2-22 to the race, color, disability, sex, religion, age, or national
2-23 origin of the person appointed.
2-24 (f) [(c)] A board member is immune from civil suit for any
2-25 act performed in good faith in the execution of duties as a board
2-26 member.
2-27 SECTION 2. Section 21.034(b), Education Code, is amended to
3-1 read as follows:
3-2 (b) In the event of a vacancy during a term of a member
3-3 appointed by the governor, the governor shall appoint a replacement
3-4 who meets the qualifications of the vacated office to fill the
3-5 unexpired portion of the term. If the vacated office was occupied
3-6 by a member appointed from a slate of candidates nominated in
3-7 accordance with Section 21.033, the governor shall appoint a
3-8 replacement from another slate of candidates nominated in
3-9 accordance with that section.
3-10 SECTION 3. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-11 (b) The changes in law made by this Act apply only to a
3-12 person appointed to the board on or after the effective date of
3-13 this Act. A person appointed to the board before the effective
3-14 date of this Act serves for the term to which the person was
3-15 appointed unless the person is otherwise removed from office.
3-16 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.