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. The change in law made by this Act takes effect
2-20 beginning with the 1999 fall semester.
2-21 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-26 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-27 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2011 was passed by the House on May
8, 1999, by a non-record vote; and that the House concurred in
Senate amendments to H.B. No. 2011 on May 21, 1999, by a non-record
vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2011 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 19, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays
0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor