By Cuellar                                            H.B. No. 2011
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the administration of the Texas Academic Skills
 1-3     Program.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 51.306(w), Education Code, is amended to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           (w)(1)  The provisions of this subsection apply to high
 1-8     school students taking the test required by this section.
 1-9                 (2)  Each eligible high school student shall pay for
1-10     the cost of taking the test unless funds are appropriated for that
1-11     purpose.  If funds are appropriated for that purpose, the board and
1-12     the Texas Education Agency shall develop a mechanism for the
1-13     payment of the cost of the test, giving priority to the payment of
1-14     the cost of administering the test to an eligible high school
1-15     student shown to be financially needy under criteria established by
1-16     the board.
1-17                 (3)  The board shall arrange for the test to be offered
1-18     to high school students outside of regularly scheduled school days
1-19     and at locations throughout the state.
1-20                 (4)  Except as authorized by the student, including
1-21     student authorization to report the student's test scores to a
1-22     school administrator, test scores of a high school student shall be
1-23     reported only to the student and the student's parents.
1-24                 (5)  A high school student who fails to achieve the
 2-1     minimum required score set by the board may not be required to take
 2-2     developmental classes while in high school.  However, after
 2-3     graduation from high school, a student who enters a public
 2-4     institution of higher education must comply with the provisions of
 2-5     this section.
 2-6                 (6)  A high school student who achieves the minimum
 2-7     required score set by the board shall be deemed to have met the
 2-8     requirements of this section when enrolling at an institution of
 2-9     higher education, provided that the student enrolls in the
2-10     institution not later than five years from the date the test is
2-11     taken and the set score level is achieved.  A student enrolling for
2-12     the first time in an institution of higher education after the
2-13     five-year period has elapsed must comply with all provisions of
2-14     this section.
2-15                 (7)  The board and the Texas Education Agency shall
2-16     work together to provide high school students, their parents, and
2-17     their schools with information about the Texas Academic Skills
2-18     Program and assist them in interpreting the results of the test.
2-19           SECTION 2.  Section 51.306, Education Code, is amended by
2-20     adding Subsection (x) to read as follows:
2-21           (x)  The test required by this section must be administered
2-22     in a time period that allows a student to complete the test while
2-23     working at the student's own reasonable pace.  The board shall
2-24     prescribe the time period for administering the test.
2-25           SECTION 3.  The change in law made by this Act takes effect
2-26     beginning with the 1999 fall semester.
2-27           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-1     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-2     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-3     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-4     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 3-5     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 3-6     passage, and it is so enacted.