By Cuellar                                            H.B. No. 2011
         76R7886 KEL-D                           
                                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)  The cost of administering the test to an eligible
1-10     high school student shown to be financially needy under criteria
1-11     established by the board shall be borne by the state through
1-12     appropriation to the board for that purpose or other sources of
1-13     funds.  An [Each] eligible high school student not shown to be
1-14     financially needy shall pay for the cost of taking the test unless
1-15     funds are appropriated to pay for that cost [for that purpose].
1-16     The [If funds are appropriated for that purpose, the] board and the
1-17     Texas Education Agency shall develop a mechanism for the payment of
1-18     the cost of the test.
1-19                 (3)  The board shall arrange for the test to be offered
1-20     to high school students outside of regularly scheduled school days
1-21     and at locations throughout the state.
1-22                 (4)  Except as authorized by the student, test scores
1-23     of a high school student shall be reported only to the student and
1-24     the student's parents.
 2-1                 (5)  A high school student who fails to achieve the
 2-2     minimum required score set by the board may not be required to take
 2-3     developmental classes while in high school.  However, after
 2-4     graduation from high school, a student who enters a public
 2-5     institution of higher education must comply with the provisions of
 2-6     this section.
 2-7                 (6)  A high school student who achieves the minimum
 2-8     required score set by the board shall be deemed to have met the
 2-9     requirements of this section when enrolling at an institution of
2-10     higher education, provided that the student enrolls in the
2-11     institution not later than five years from the date the test is
2-12     taken and the set score level is achieved.  A student enrolling for
2-13     the first time in an institution of higher education after the
2-14     five-year period has elapsed must comply with all provisions of
2-15     this section.
2-16                 (7)  The board and the Texas Education Agency shall
2-17     work together to provide high school students, their parents, and
2-18     their schools with information about the Texas Academic Skills
2-19     Program and assist them in interpreting the results of the test.
2-20           SECTION 2.  Section 51.306, Education Code, is amended by
2-21     adding Subsection (x) to read as follows:
2-22           (x)  The test required by this section must be administered
2-23     in a time period that allows a student to complete the test while
2-24     working at the student's own reasonable pace.  The board shall
2-25     prescribe the time period for administering the test.
2-26           SECTION 3.  The change in law made by this Act takes effect
2-27     beginning with the 1999 fall semester.
 3-1           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-2     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-3     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-4     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-5     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 3-6     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 3-7     passage, and it is so enacted.