By Flores H.B. No. 648
76R3475 BDH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to providing public school students and their parents with
1-3 information about higher education and financial aid opportunities.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 11.252(a), Education Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 (a) Each school district shall have a district improvement
1-8 plan that is developed, evaluated, and revised annually, in
1-9 accordance with district policy, by the superintendent with the
1-10 assistance of the district-level committee established under
1-11 Section 11.251. The purpose of the district improvement plan is to
1-12 guide district and campus staff in the improvement of student
1-13 performance for all student groups in order to attain state
1-14 standards in respect to the academic excellence indicators adopted
1-15 under Section 39.051. The district improvement plan must include
1-16 provisions for:
1-17 (1) a comprehensive needs assessment addressing
1-18 district student performance on the academic excellence indicators,
1-19 and other appropriate measures of performance, that are
1-20 disaggregated by all student groups served by the district,
1-21 including categories of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sex, and
1-22 populations served by special programs;
1-23 (2) measurable district performance objectives for all
1-24 appropriate academic excellence indicators for all student
2-1 populations, appropriate objectives for special needs populations,
2-2 and other measures of student performance that may be identified
2-3 through the comprehensive needs assessment;
2-4 (3) strategies for improvement of student performance
2-5 that include:
2-6 (A) instructional methods for addressing the
2-7 needs of student groups not achieving their full potential;
2-8 (B) methods for addressing the needs of students
2-9 for special programs, such as suicide prevention, conflict
2-10 resolution, violence prevention, or dyslexia treatment programs;
2-11 (C) dropout reduction;
2-12 (D) integration of technology in instructional
2-13 and administrative programs;
2-14 (E) discipline management;
2-15 (F) staff development for professional staff of
2-16 the district;
2-17 (G) career education to assist students in
2-18 developing the knowledge, skills, and competencies necessary for a
2-19 broad range of career opportunities; and
2-20 (H) accelerated education;
2-21 (4) strategies for providing middle school, junior
2-22 high school, and high school students information about higher
2-23 education, including financial aid opportunities;
2-24 (5) resources needed to implement identified
2-25 strategies;
2-26 (6) [(5)] staff responsible for ensuring the
2-27 accomplishment of each strategy;
3-1 (7) [(6)] timelines for ongoing monitoring of the
3-2 implementation of each improvement strategy; and
3-3 (8) [(7)] formative evaluation criteria for
3-4 determining periodically whether strategies are resulting in
3-5 intended improvement of student performance.
3-6 SECTION 2. Section 21.451(a), Education Code, is amended to
3-7 read as follows:
3-8 (a) The staff development provided by a school district must
3-9 be conducted in accordance with minimum standards developed by the
3-10 commissioner for program planning, preparation, and improvement.
3-11 The minimum standards must include guidelines for the cooperation
3-12 of principals, counselors, and teachers to provide middle school
3-13 students, junior high school students, high school students, and
3-14 those students' parents with information about higher education,
3-15 including financial aid opportunities. The staff development:
3-16 (1) must include technology training and training in
3-17 conflict resolution and discipline strategies; and
3-18 (2) may include instruction as to what is permissible
3-19 under law, including opinions of the United States Supreme Court,
3-20 in regard to prayers in public school.
3-21 SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 1999-2000
3-22 school year.
3-23 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-24 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-25 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-26 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-27 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-1 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-2 passage, and it is so enacted.