By: Ellis S.B. No. 237
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to providing public school students and their parents with
1-2 information about higher education and financial aid opportunities.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 11.252, Education Code,
1-5 is amended to read as follows:
1-6 (a) Each school district shall have a district improvement
1-7 plan that is developed, evaluated, and revised annually, in
1-8 accordance with district policy, by the superintendent with the
1-9 assistance of the district-level committee established under
1-10 Section 11.251. The purpose of the district improvement plan is to
1-11 guide district and campus staff in the improvement of student
1-12 performance for all student groups in order to attain state
1-13 standards in respect to the academic excellence indicators adopted
1-14 under Section 39.051. The district improvement plan must include
1-15 provisions for:
1-16 (1) a comprehensive needs assessment addressing
1-17 district student performance on the academic excellence indicators,
1-18 and other appropriate measures of performance, that are
1-19 disaggregated by all student groups served by the district,
1-20 including categories of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sex, and
1-21 populations served by special programs;
1-22 (2) measurable district performance objectives for all
1-23 appropriate academic excellence indicators for all student
1-24 populations, appropriate objectives for special needs populations,
2-1 and other measures of student performance that may be identified
2-2 through the comprehensive needs assessment;
2-3 (3) strategies for improvement of student performance
2-4 that include:
2-5 (A) instructional methods for addressing the
2-6 needs of student groups not achieving their full potential;
2-7 (B) methods for addressing the needs of students
2-8 for special programs, such as suicide prevention, conflict
2-9 resolution, violence prevention, or dyslexia treatment programs;
2-10 (C) dropout reduction;
2-11 (D) integration of technology in instructional
2-12 and administrative programs;
2-13 (E) discipline management;
2-14 (F) staff development for professional staff of
2-15 the district;
2-16 (G) career education to assist students in
2-17 developing the knowledge, skills, and competencies necessary for a
2-18 broad range of career opportunities; and
2-19 (H) accelerated education;
2-20 (4) strategies for providing middle school, junior
2-21 high school, and high school students information about higher
2-22 education, including financial aid opportunities and information
2-23 about the military service academies of the United States;
2-24 (5) resources needed to implement identified
2-25 strategies;
2-26 (6) [(5)] staff responsible for ensuring the
3-1 accomplishment of each strategy;
3-2 (7) [(6)] timelines for ongoing monitoring of the
3-3 implementation of each improvement strategy; and
3-4 (8) [(7)] formative evaluation criteria for
3-5 determining periodically whether strategies are resulting in
3-6 intended improvement of student performance.
3-7 SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 21.451, Education Code,
3-8 is amended to read as follows:
3-9 (a) The staff development provided by a school district must
3-10 be conducted in accordance with minimum standards developed by the
3-11 commissioner for program planning, preparation, and improvement.
3-12 The minimum standards must include guidelines for the cooperation
3-13 of principals, counselors, and teachers to provide middle school
3-14 students, junior high school students, high school students, and
3-15 those students' parents with information about higher education,
3-16 including financial aid opportunities and information about the
3-17 military service academies of the United States. The staff
3-18 development:
3-19 (1) must include technology training and training in
3-20 conflict resolution and discipline strategies; and
3-21 (2) may include instruction as to what is permissible
3-22 under law, including opinions of the United States Supreme Court,
3-23 in regard to prayers in public school.
3-24 SECTION 3. Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
3-25 amended by adding Section 61.085 to read as follows:
3-26 Sec. 61.085. INFORMATION RELATING TO HIGHER EDUCATION
4-1 PROVIDED TO PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS. (a) The board, in cooperation
4-2 with institutions of higher education and school districts, shall
4-3 develop strategies to provide information relating to higher
4-4 education, including financial aid opportunities and information
4-5 about the military service academies of the United States, to
4-6 middle school, junior high school, and high school students.
4-7 (b) The strategies under this section shall be responsive to
4-8 strategies adopted by school districts under Section 11.252(a)(4)
4-9 to assist school districts in carrying out the adopted strategies.
4-10 (c) The board may designate an institution of higher
4-11 education or other entity with appropriate facilities and resources
4-12 for developing strategies to provide the higher education
4-13 information.
4-14 SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 1999-2000
4-15 school year.
4-16 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
4-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-21 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-22 passage, and it is so enacted.