1-1     By:  Bernsen                                           S.B. No. 831
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 3, 1999; March 4, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Education; May 7, 1999,
 1-4     reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the
 1-5     following vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 7, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 831                By:  Zaffirini
 1-7                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-8                                   AN ACT
 1-9     relating to parental notification of the employment of an
1-10     inappropriately certified or uncertified teacher.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 21, Education Code, is
1-13     amended by adding Section 21.057 to read as follows:
1-14           Sec. 21.057.  PARENTAL NOTIFICATION.  (a)  A school district
1-15     that assigns an inappropriately certified or uncertified teacher to
1-16     the same classroom for more than 30 consecutive instructional days
1-17     during the same school year shall provide written notice of the
1-18     assignment to a parent or guardian of each student in that
1-19     classroom.
1-20           (b)  The superintendent of the school district shall provide
1-21     the notice required by Subsection (a) not later than the 30th
1-22     instructional day after the date of the assignment of the
1-23     inappropriately certified or uncertified teacher.
1-24           (c)  The school district shall:
1-25                 (1)  make a good-faith effort to ensure that the notice
1-26     required by this section is provided in a bilingual form to any
1-27     parent or guardian whose primary language is not English;
1-28                 (2)  retain a copy of any notice provided under this
1-29     section; and
1-30                 (3)  make information relating to teacher certification
1-31     available to the public on request.
1-32           (d)  For purposes of this section, "inappropriately certified
1-33     or uncertified teacher":
1-34                 (1)  includes:
1-35                       (A)  an individual serving on an emergency
1-36     certificate issued under Section 21.041(b)(2); or
1-37                       (B)  an individual who does not hold any
1-38     certificate or permit issued under this chapter and is not employed
1-39     as specified by Subdivision (2)(E); and
1-40                 (2)  does not include an individual:
1-41                       (A)  who is a certified teacher assigned to teach
1-42     a class or classes outside his or her area of certification, as
1-43     determined by rules proposed by the board in specifying the
1-44     certificate required for each assignment;
1-45                       (B)  serving on a certificate issued due to a
1-46     hearing impairment under Section 21.048;
1-47                       (C)  serving on a certificate issued pursuant to
1-48     enrollment in an approved alternative certification program under
1-49     Section 21.049;
1-50                       (D)  certified by another state or country and
1-51     serving on a certificate issued under Section 21.052;
1-52                       (E)  serving on a school district teaching permit
1-53     issued under Section 21.055; or
1-54                       (F)  employed under a waiver granted by the
1-55     commissioner pursuant to Section 7.056.
1-56           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect beginning with the
1-57     1999-2000 school year.
1-58           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-59     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-60     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-61     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-62     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-63     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-64     passage, and it is so enacted.
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