76R14606 E                           
         By Dukes                                               H.B. No. 618
         Substitute the following for H.B. No. 618:
         By Sadler                                          C.S.H.B. No. 618
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to written notice from superintendents to parents on
 1-3     whether teachers are appropriately certified by the state.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 21, Education Code, is
 1-6     amended by adding Section 21.057 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 21.057.  NOTICE TO PARENT OF CERTIFICATION STATUS.  (a)
 1-8     For purposes of this section:
 1-9                 (1)  "Inappropriately certified or uncertified
1-10     teacher":
1-11                       (A)  does include:
1-12                             (i)  an individual serving on an emergency
1-13     certificate issued under Section 21.041(b)(2);
1-14                             (ii)  a certified teacher assigned to teach
1-15     a class or classes outside his or her area of certification, as
1-16     determined by rules proposed by the board specifying the
1-17     certificate required for each assignment; or
1-18                             (iii)  an individual who does not hold any
1-19     certificate or permit issued under this chapter and is not employed
1-20     as specified by Subdivision (2)(E); and
1-21                       (B)  does not include an individual:
1-22                             (i)  serving on a certificate issued due to
1-23     a hearing impairment under Section 21.048;
1-24                             (ii)  serving on a certificate issued
 2-1     pursuant to enrollment in an approved alternative certification
 2-2     program under Section 21.049;
 2-3                             (iii)  certified by another state or
 2-4     country and serving on a certificate issued under Section 21.052;
 2-5                             (iv)  serving on a school district teaching
 2-6     permit issued under Section 21.055; or
 2-7                             (v)  employed under a waiver granted by the
 2-8     commissioner of education pursuant to Section 7.056.
 2-9                 (2)  "Parent" includes a guardian, conservator, or
2-10     other person having lawful control of a student.
2-11           (b)  If a superintendent anticipates that a course will be
2-12     taught by an inappropriately certified or uncertified person for 30
2-13     or more consecutive instructional days, or if in fact allows a
2-14     course to be taught by an inappropriately certified or uncertified
2-15     person for 30 or more consecutive instructional days, the
2-16     superintendent must at that time notify in writing the parents of
2-17     each student enrolled in the course.
2-18           (c)  If the primary language of a parent receiving notice
2-19     under this section is a language other than English, the
2-20     superintendent must make a good faith effort to provide the notice
2-21     in English and the parent's primary language.
2-22           (d)  A superintendent providing notice under this section
2-23     must retain copies of the notice on file for public inspection.
2-24           SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with the 1999-2000
2-25     school year.
2-26           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-27     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-1     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-2     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-3     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 3-4     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 3-5     passage, and it is so enacted.