By Talton                                             H.B. No. 1044
         76R1295 CAS-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the total amount of time a student may spend in a
 1-3     bilingual education or special language program.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 29.053(c), Education Code, is amended to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           (c)  Each district with an enrollment of 20 or more students
 1-8     of limited English proficiency in any language classification in
 1-9     the same grade level who have been in a bilingual education or
1-10     special language program for a total of two school years or less
1-11     shall offer a bilingual education or special language program.
1-12           SECTION 2.  Sections 29.056(c) and (g), Education Code, are
1-13     amended to read as follows:
1-14           (c)  The language proficiency assessment committee may
1-15     classify a student as limited English proficiency if the student
1-16     has been in a bilingual education or special language program for a
1-17     total of two school years or less and:
1-18                 (1)  the student's ability in English is so limited or
1-19     the student's disabilities are so severe that assessment procedures
1-20     cannot be administered;
1-21                 (2)  the student's score or relative degree of
1-22     achievement on the agency-approved English proficiency test is
1-23     below the levels established by the agency as indicative of
1-24     reasonable proficiency;
 2-1                 (3)  the student's primary language proficiency score
 2-2     as measured by an agency-approved test is greater than the
 2-3     student's proficiency in English; or
 2-4                 (4)  the language proficiency assessment committee
 2-5     determines, based on other information, including a teacher
 2-6     evaluation, parental viewpoint, or student interview, that the
 2-7     student's primary language proficiency is greater than the
 2-8     student's proficiency in English or that the student is not
 2-9     reasonably proficient in English.
2-10           (g)  A district shall [may] transfer a student of limited
2-11     English proficiency out of a bilingual education or special
2-12     language program if the student:
2-13                 (1)  has been in a bilingual education or special
2-14     language program for a total of two or more school years; or
2-15                 (2)  is able to participate equally in a regular
2-16     all-English instructional program as determined by:
2-17                       (A) [(1)]  tests administered at the end of each
2-18     school year to determine the extent to which the student has
2-19     developed oral and written language proficiency and specific
2-20     language skills in both the student's primary language and English;
2-21                       (B) [(2)]  an achievement score at or above the
2-22     40th percentile in the reading and language arts sections of an
2-23     English standardized test approved by the agency; and
2-24                       (C) [(3)]  other indications of a student's
2-25     overall progress, including criterion-referenced test scores,
2-26     subjective teacher evaluation, and parental evaluation.
2-27           SECTION 3.  Section 29.060, Education Code, is amended by
 3-1     adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
 3-2           (g)  The time a student spends in a program under this
 3-3     section is not included in computing the amount of time the student
 3-4     has spent in a bilingual education or special language program for
 3-5     purposes of Section 29.053 or 29.056.
 3-6           SECTION 4.  In computing the amount of time a student has
 3-7     spent in a bilingual education or special language program for
 3-8     purposes of Section 29.053(c) or 29.056(c) or (g), Education Code,
 3-9     as amended by this Act, the time a student has spent in such a
3-10     program before the effective date of this Act is included.
3-11           SECTION 5.  This Act applies beginning with the 1999-2000
3-12     school year.
3-13           SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
3-14     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-15     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-16     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-17     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-18     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-19     passage, and it is so enacted.