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.