By Culberson                                          H.B. No. 2343
         76R1542 CAS-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to certification to teach at an elementary grade level in
 1-3     public schools.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 21.044, Education Code, is amended to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 21.044. EDUCATOR PREPARATION.  The board shall propose
 1-8     rules establishing the training requirements a person must
 1-9     accomplish to obtain  a certificate, enter an internship, or enter
1-10     an induction-year program.  The board shall specify the minimum
1-11     academic qualifications required for a certificate.  The
1-12     qualifications for a certificate to teach at an elementary grade
1-13     level must include successful completion of a  course that
1-14     emphasizes teaching reading through the use of phonics.
1-15           SECTION 2.  Section 21.044, Education Code, as amended by
1-16     this Act, applies to the qualifications of a person who initially
1-17     obtains a  certificate to teach at an elementary grade level on or
1-18     after September 1, 2001.  A person who, before that date, obtained
1-19     a certificate to teach at an elementary grade level is not required
1-20     to meet the requirements of Section 21.044, Education Code, as
1-21     amended by this Act.
1-22           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 2-3     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 2-4     passage, and it is so enacted.