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.