By Wentworth                                          S.B. No. 1140
         76R9010 KKA-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to eligibility for public prekindergarten classes.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Sections 29.153(a) and (b), Education Code, are
 1-5     amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (a)  Any school district may offer prekindergarten classes,
 1-7     but a district shall offer prekindergarten classes if the district
 1-8     identifies 15 or more [eligible] children who are at least three
 1-9     [four] years of age and who are:
1-10                 (1)  unable to speak and comprehend the English
1-11     language;
1-12                 (2)  educationally disadvantaged; or
1-13                 (3)  homeless, as defined by 42 U.S.C. Section 11302,
1-14     regardless of the residence of the child, of either parent of the
1-15     child, or of the child's guardian or other person having lawful
1-16     control of the child.  [A school district may offer prekindergarten
1-17     classes if the district identifies 15 or more eligible children who
1-18     are at least three years of age.]
1-19           (b)  A child is eligible for enrollment in a prekindergarten
1-20     class in a district that offers prekindergarten classes if the
1-21     child is at least three years of age [and is:]
1-22                 [(1)  unable to speak and comprehend the English
1-23     language;]
1-24                 [(2)  educationally disadvantaged; or]
 2-1                 [(3)  homeless, as defined by 42 U.S.C. Section 11302,
 2-2     regardless of the residence of the child, of either parent of the
 2-3     child, or of the child's guardian or other person having lawful
 2-4     control of the child].
 2-5           SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with the 1999-2000
 2-6     school year.
 2-7           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation creates an
 2-8     emergency requiring suspension of the constitutional rule
 2-9     prohibiting a law from taking effect until 90 days after
2-10     adjournment of the session at which it was enacted, and that rule
2-11     is hereby suspended.