By Brown                                              S.B. No. 1026
         76R8654 CAS-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to cooperative programs between school districts or
 1-3     institutions of higher education and the Texas Space Grant
 1-4     Consortium.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter F, Chapter 29, Education Code, is
 1-7     amended by adding Section 29.187 to read as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 29.187.  TEXAS SPACE GRANT CONSORTIUM COOPERATIVE
 1-9     PROGRAM.  (a)  The Texas Space Grant Consortium may establish and
1-10     coordinate a cooperative program with one or more school districts
1-11     under which students enrolled in a high school in the district are
1-12     employed by the consortium on a part-time basis during or after the
1-13     school day to work at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center of the
1-14     National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
1-15           (b)  The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center shall place,
1-16     supervise, and evaluate each student who participates in the
1-17     cooperative program.
1-18           (c)  The school district in which a student who participates
1-19     in the cooperative program is enrolled shall:
1-20                 (1)  ensure that the student performs work related to
1-21     the study of science, mathematics, or engineering to encourage
1-22     students to study those courses after high school graduation at an
1-23     institution of higher education; and
1-24                 (2)  in consultation with the State Board of Education,
 2-1     determine the number of and type of credits toward academic course
 2-2     requirements for high school graduation the student is given for
 2-3     participation in the program based on the type of work and the
 2-4     number of hours of work in which the student participates.
 2-5           (d)  In establishing and coordinating the cooperative
 2-6     program, the consortium may use state funds appropriated for that
 2-7     purpose and gifts, grants, and donations solicited for that
 2-8     purpose.  The consortium shall use money it receives in accordance
 2-9     with this subsection to pay the wages of students who participate
2-10     in the cooperative program.
2-11           (e)  A student who participates in the cooperative program is
2-12     considered to be attending school for purposes of Section 25.085
2-13     during the time the student is required under the program to be and
2-14     is at work for the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.
2-15           SECTION 2.  Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
2-16     amended by adding Section 51.9305 to read as follows:
2-17           Sec. 51.9305.  TEXAS SPACE GRANT CONSORTIUM COOPERATIVE
2-18     PROGRAM.  (a)  The Texas Space Grant Consortium may establish and
2-19     coordinate a cooperative program with one or more institutions of
2-20     higher education under which students enrolled in  the institution
2-21     of higher education are employed by the consortium during the
2-22     academic year or between academic terms to work at the Lyndon B.
2-23     Johnson Space Center of the National Aeronautics and Space
2-24     Administration.
2-25           (b)  The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center shall place,
2-26     supervise, and evaluate each student who participates in the
2-27     cooperative program.
 3-1           (c)  The institution of higher education in which a student
 3-2     who participates in the cooperative program is enrolled and the
 3-3     Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall jointly establish
 3-4     guidelines for the cooperative program, including guidelines
 3-5     concerning academic course credit for participation in the program.
 3-6           (d)  In establishing and coordinating the cooperative
 3-7     program, the consortium may use state funds appropriated for that
 3-8     purpose and gifts, grants, and donations solicited for that
 3-9     purpose.  The consortium shall use money it receives in accordance
3-10     with this subsection to pay the wages of students who participate
3-11     in the cooperative program.
3-12           (e)  In this section, "institution of higher education" has
3-13     the meaning assigned by Section 61.003.
3-14           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
3-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-19     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-20     passage, and it is so enacted.