1-1 By: Cuellar (Senate Sponsor - Zaffirini) H.B. No. 2011 1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 10, 1999; 1-3 May 10, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on 1-4 Education; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: 1-5 Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.) 1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-7 AN ACT 1-8 relating to the administration of the Texas Academic Skills 1-9 Program. 1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-11 SECTION 1. Section 51.306(w), Education Code, is amended to 1-12 read as follows: 1-13 (w)(1) The provisions of this subsection apply to high 1-14 school students taking the test required by this section. 1-15 (2) Each eligible high school student shall pay for 1-16 the cost of taking the test unless funds are appropriated for that 1-17 purpose. If funds are appropriated for that purpose, the board and 1-18 the Texas Education Agency shall develop a mechanism for the 1-19 payment of the cost of the test, giving priority to the payment of 1-20 the cost of administering the test to an eligible high school 1-21 student shown to be financially needy under criteria established by 1-22 the board. 1-23 (3) The board shall arrange for the test to be offered 1-24 to high school students outside of regularly scheduled school days 1-25 and at locations throughout the state. 1-26 (4) Except as authorized by the student, including 1-27 student authorization to report the student's test scores to a 1-28 school administrator, test scores of a high school student shall be 1-29 reported only to the student and the student's parents. 1-30 (5) A high school student who fails to achieve the 1-31 minimum required score set by the board may not be required to take 1-32 developmental classes while in high school. However, after 1-33 graduation from high school, a student who enters a public 1-34 institution of higher education must comply with the provisions of 1-35 this section. 1-36 (6) A high school student who achieves the minimum 1-37 required score set by the board shall be deemed to have met the 1-38 requirements of this section when enrolling at an institution of 1-39 higher education, provided that the student enrolls in the 1-40 institution not later than five years from the date the test is 1-41 taken and the set score level is achieved. A student enrolling for 1-42 the first time in an institution of higher education after the 1-43 five-year period has elapsed must comply with all provisions of 1-44 this section. 1-45 (7) The board and the Texas Education Agency shall 1-46 work together to provide high school students, their parents, and 1-47 their schools with information about the Texas Academic Skills 1-48 Program and assist them in interpreting the results of the test. 1-49 SECTION 2. Section 51.306, Education Code, is amended by 1-50 adding Subsection (x) to read as follows: 1-51 (x) The test required by this section must be administered 1-52 in a time period that allows a student to complete the test while 1-53 working at the student's own reasonable pace. The board shall 1-54 prescribe the time period for administering the test. 1-55 SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act takes effect 1-56 beginning with the 1999 fall semester. 1-57 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the 1-58 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-59 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-60 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-61 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 1-62 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 1-63 passage, and it is so enacted. 2-1 * * * * *