1-1 By: Dukes (Senate Sponsor - Bernsen) H.B. No. 618 1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 11, 1999; 1-3 May 12, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on 1-4 Education; May 14, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable 1-5 Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; 1-6 May 14, 1999, sent to printer.) 1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 618 By: West 1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-9 AN ACT 1-10 relating to parental notification of the employment of an 1-11 inappropriately certified or uncertified teacher. 1-12 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-13 SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 21, Education Code, is 1-14 amended by adding Section 21.057 to read as follows: 1-15 Sec. 21.057. PARENTAL NOTIFICATION. (a) A school district 1-16 that assigns an inappropriately certified or uncertified teacher to 1-17 the same classroom for more than 30 consecutive instructional days 1-18 during the same school year shall provide written notice of the 1-19 assignment to a parent or guardian of each student in that 1-20 classroom. 1-21 (b) The superintendent of the school district shall provide 1-22 the notice required by Subsection (a) not later than the 30th 1-23 instructional day after the date of the assignment of the 1-24 inappropriately certified or uncertified teacher. 1-25 (c) The school district shall: 1-26 (1) make a good-faith effort to ensure that the notice 1-27 required by this section is provided in a bilingual form to any 1-28 parent or guardian whose primary language is not English; 1-29 (2) retain a copy of any notice provided under this 1-30 section; and 1-31 (3) make information relating to teacher certification 1-32 available to the public on request. 1-33 (d) For purposes of this section, "inappropriately certified 1-34 or uncertified teacher": 1-35 (1) includes: 1-36 (A) an individual serving on an emergency 1-37 certificate issued under Section 21.041(b)(2); or 1-38 (B) an individual who does not hold any 1-39 certificate or permit issued under this chapter and is not employed 1-40 as specified by Subdivision (2)(E); and 1-41 (2) does not include an individual: 1-42 (A) who is a certified teacher assigned to teach 1-43 a class or classes outside his or her area of certification, as 1-44 determined by rules proposed by the board in specifying the 1-45 certificate required for each assignment; 1-46 (B) serving on a certificate issued due to a 1-47 hearing impairment under Section 21.048; 1-48 (C) serving on a certificate issued pursuant to 1-49 enrollment in an approved alternative certification program under 1-50 Section 21.049; 1-51 (D) certified by another state or country and 1-52 serving on a certificate issued under Section 21.052; 1-53 (E) serving on a school district teaching permit 1-54 issued under Section 21.055; or 1-55 (F) employed under a waiver granted by the 1-56 commissioner pursuant to Section 7.056. 1-57 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect beginning with the 1-58 1999-2000 school year. 1-59 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 1-60 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-61 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-62 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-63 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 1-64 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 2-1 passage, and it is so enacted. 2-2 * * * * *