1-1 By: Ellis S.B. No. 237
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed January 22, 1999; January 28, 1999,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Education;
1-4 March 1, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; March 1, 1999,
1-6 sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 237 By: Cain
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to providing public school students and their parents with
1-11 information about higher education and financial aid opportunities.
1-12 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 11.252, Education Code,
1-14 is amended to read as follows:
1-15 (a) Each school district shall have a district improvement
1-16 plan that is developed, evaluated, and revised annually, in
1-17 accordance with district policy, by the superintendent with the
1-18 assistance of the district-level committee established under
1-19 Section 11.251. The purpose of the district improvement plan is to
1-20 guide district and campus staff in the improvement of student
1-21 performance for all student groups in order to attain state
1-22 standards in respect to the academic excellence indicators adopted
1-23 under Section 39.051. The district improvement plan must include
1-24 provisions for:
1-25 (1) a comprehensive needs assessment addressing
1-26 district student performance on the academic excellence indicators,
1-27 and other appropriate measures of performance, that are
1-28 disaggregated by all student groups served by the district,
1-29 including categories of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sex, and
1-30 populations served by special programs;
1-31 (2) measurable district performance objectives for all
1-32 appropriate academic excellence indicators for all student
1-33 populations, appropriate objectives for special needs populations,
1-34 and other measures of student performance that may be identified
1-35 through the comprehensive needs assessment;
1-36 (3) strategies for improvement of student performance
1-37 that include:
1-38 (A) instructional methods for addressing the
1-39 needs of student groups not achieving their full potential;
1-40 (B) methods for addressing the needs of students
1-41 for special programs, such as suicide prevention, conflict
1-42 resolution, violence prevention, or dyslexia treatment programs;
1-43 (C) dropout reduction;
1-44 (D) integration of technology in instructional
1-45 and administrative programs;
1-46 (E) discipline management;
1-47 (F) staff development for professional staff of
1-48 the district;
1-49 (G) career education to assist students in
1-50 developing the knowledge, skills, and competencies necessary for a
1-51 broad range of career opportunities; and
1-52 (H) accelerated education;
1-53 (4) strategies for providing middle school, junior
1-54 high school, and high school students information about higher
1-55 education, including financial aid opportunities;
1-56 (5) resources needed to implement identified
1-57 strategies;
1-58 (6) [(5)] staff responsible for ensuring the
1-59 accomplishment of each strategy;
1-60 (7) [(6)] timelines for ongoing monitoring of the
1-61 implementation of each improvement strategy; and
1-62 (8) [(7)] formative evaluation criteria for
1-63 determining periodically whether strategies are resulting in
1-64 intended improvement of student performance.
2-1 SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 21.451, Education Code,
2-2 is amended to read as follows:
2-3 (a) The staff development provided by a school district must
2-4 be conducted in accordance with minimum standards developed by the
2-5 commissioner for program planning, preparation, and improvement.
2-6 The minimum standards must include guidelines for the cooperation
2-7 of principals, counselors, and teachers to provide middle school
2-8 students, junior high school students, high school students, and
2-9 those students' parents with information about higher education,
2-10 including financial aid opportunities. The staff development:
2-11 (1) must include technology training and training in
2-12 conflict resolution and discipline strategies; and
2-13 (2) may include instruction as to what is permissible
2-14 under law, including opinions of the United States Supreme Court,
2-15 in regard to prayers in public school.
2-16 SECTION 3. Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
2-17 amended by adding Section 61.085 to read as follows:
2-18 Sec. 61.085. INFORMATION RELATING TO HIGHER EDUCATION
2-19 PROVIDED TO PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS. (a) The board, in cooperation
2-20 with institutions of higher education and school districts, shall
2-21 develop strategies to provide information relating to higher
2-22 education, including financial aid opportunities, to middle school,
2-23 junior high school, and high school students.
2-24 (b) The strategies under this section shall be responsive to
2-25 strategies adopted by school districts under Section 11.252(a)(4)
2-26 to assist school districts in carrying out the adopted strategies.
2-27 (c) The board may designate an institution of higher
2-28 education or other entity with appropriate facilities and resources
2-29 for developing strategies to provide the higher education
2-30 information.
2-31 SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 1999-2000
2-32 school year.
2-33 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
2-34 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-35 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-36 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-37 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-38 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-39 passage, and it is so enacted.
2-40 * * * * *