1-1 By: Ogden S.B. No. 516
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 15, 1999; February 17, 1999,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Education;
1-4 April 16, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 8,
1-5 Nays 0; April 16, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to school district high school equivalency examination
1-9 programs.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 29, Education Code, is
1-12 amended by adding Section 29.086 to read as follows:
1-13 Sec. 29.086. SCHOOL DISTRICT HIGH SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY
1-14 EXAMINATION PROGRAMS. (a) The agency shall develop a program for
1-15 school districts to prepare eligible students who are at risk of
1-16 dropping out of school to take a high school equivalency
1-17 examination.
1-18 (b) A district that participates in the program shall offer
1-19 preparatory classes for the high school equivalency examination to
1-20 each eligible district student.
1-21 (c) A student is eligible to participate in the program if:
1-22 (1) the student is 16 years of age or older at the
1-23 beginning of the school year or semester;
1-24 (2) the student and the student's parent or guardian
1-25 agree to the student's participation;
1-26 (3) there is a reasonable expectation that the student
1-27 will not graduate on schedule;
1-28 (4) there is a reasonable expectation that on
1-29 completion of the program the student will be able to perform
1-30 satisfactorily on the high school equivalency examination; and
1-31 (5) any other conditions specified by the agency are
1-32 satisfied.
1-33 (d) A district shall inform each student who has completed
1-34 the program of the time and place at which the student may take the
1-35 high school equivalency examination.
1-36 (e) The agency shall adopt rules to ensure that students are
1-37 not encouraged to participate in the program solely as a means to
1-38 divert students with discipline problems or poor academic
1-39 performance into the program as an alternative to regular high
1-40 school graduation.
1-41 (f) The agency shall request permission from the General
1-42 Educational Development Testing Service to administer the service's
1-43 high school equivalency examination to students enrolled in high
1-44 school who participate in the program.
1-45 SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 7.111, Education Code, is
1-46 amended to read as follows:
1-47 (a) The board shall provide for the administration of high
1-48 school equivalency examinations. A person who does not have a high
1-49 school diploma may take the examination in accordance with rules
1-50 adopted by the board if the person is:
1-51 (1) over 17 years of age; or
1-52 (2) [: (1) is] 16 years of age or older[;] and:
1-53 (A) [(2)] a public agency providing supervision
1-54 of the person or having custody of the person under a court order
1-55 recommends that the person take the examination; or
1-56 (B) the person has completed a high school
1-57 equivalency preparation program under Section 29.086.
1-58 SECTION 3. Subsection (a), Section 25.086, Education Code,
1-59 is amended to read as follows:
1-60 (a) A child is exempt from the requirements of compulsory
1-61 school attendance if the child:
1-62 (1) attends a private or parochial school that
1-63 includes in its course a study of good citizenship;
1-64 (2) is eligible to participate in a school district's
2-1 special education program under Section 29.003 and cannot be
2-2 appropriately served by the resident district;
2-3 (3) has a physical or mental condition of a temporary
2-4 and remediable nature that makes the child's attendance infeasible
2-5 and holds a certificate from a qualified physician specifying the
2-6 temporary condition, indicating the treatment prescribed to remedy
2-7 the temporary condition, and covering the anticipated period of the
2-8 child's absence from school for the purpose of receiving and
2-9 recuperating from that remedial treatment;
2-10 (4) is expelled in accordance with the requirements of
2-11 law in a school district that does not participate in a mandatory
2-12 juvenile justice alternative education program under Section
2-13 37.011;
2-14 (5) is at least 17 years of age and:
2-15 (A) is attending a course of instruction to
2-16 prepare for the high school equivalency examination, and:
2-17 (i) has the permission of the child's
2-18 parent or guardian to attend the course;
2-19 (ii) is required by court order to attend
2-20 the course;
2-21 (iii) has established a residence separate
2-22 and apart from the child's parent, guardian, or other person having
2-23 lawful control of the child; or
2-24 (iv) is homeless as defined by 42 U.S.C.
2-25 Section 11302; or
2-26 (B) has received a high school diploma or high
2-27 school equivalency certificate;
2-28 (6) is at least 16 years of age and:
2-29 (A) is attending a course of instruction to
2-30 prepare for the high school equivalency examination, if the child
2-31 is recommended to take the course of instruction by a public agency
2-32 that has supervision or custody of the child under a court order;
2-33 or
2-34 (B) has earned a high school equivalency
2-35 certificate after completing a program under Section 29.086;
2-36 (7) is enrolled in the Texas Academy of Mathematics
2-37 and Science;
2-38 (8) is enrolled in the Texas Academy of Leadership in
2-39 the Humanities; or
2-40 (9) is specifically exempted under another law.
2-41 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-42 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-43 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-44 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-45 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-46 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-47 passage, and it is so enacted.
2-48 * * * * *