By Garcia                                             H.B. No. 2804
         76R7884 CAS-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the use of state-administered assessment instruments
 1-3     for public school students of limited English proficiency.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 39.027, Education Code, is amended by
 1-6     amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsections (f) and (g) to read
 1-7     as follows:
 1-8           (e)  Not later than September 1, 2000, the commissioner shall
 1-9     develop an assessment system that shall be used for evaluating the
1-10     progress of students exempted under Subsection (a)(3) who are
1-11     instructed in English because of a shortage of teachers with
1-12     teaching certificates and endorsements appropriate for bilingual
1-13     education instruction.  Not later than the 2000-2001 school year,
1-14     the performance under an assessment system of students to whom
1-15     Subsection (a)(3) applies must be included in the academic
1-16     excellence indicator system under Section 39.051, the campus report
1-17     card under Section 39.052, and the performance report under Section
1-18     39.053.  This subsection expires September 1, 2001.
1-19           (f)  A student of limited English proficiency who has
1-20     immigrated from a foreign country, is enrolling for the first time
1-21     in a public school in this state, and is instructed in English for
1-22     one or more school years because of a shortage of teachers with
1-23     teaching certificates and endorsements appropriate for bilingual
1-24     education instruction must be assessed for at least three school
 2-1     years using an assessment instrument developed by the commissioner
 2-2     specifically for evaluating the progress of a student of limited
 2-3     English proficiency who is instructed in English.  Assessment under
 2-4     this subsection must be completed before the student may be
 2-5     assessed using an assessment instrument adopted under Section
 2-6     39.023.  In this subsection, "student of limited English
 2-7     proficiency" has the meaning assigned by Section 29.052.
 2-8           (g)  In this section, "average daily attendance" is computed
 2-9     in the manner provided by Section 42.005.
2-10           SECTION 2.  Section 39.027(f), Education Code, as added by
2-11     this Act, applies beginning with the 2000-2001 school year.
2-12           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-17     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-18     passage, and it is so enacted.