By: Bivins S.B. No. 1472
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the age at which a student may take the high school
1-2 equivalency examination and the age of compulsory attendance in
1-3 public school.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 7.111, Education Code, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 (a) The board shall provide for the administration of high
1-8 school equivalency examinations. A person who does not have a high
1-9 school diploma may take the examination in accordance with rules
1-10 adopted by the board if the person is:
1-11 (1) over 17 years of age; or[:]
1-12 (2) [(1) is] 16 years of age or older and:
1-13 (A) is enrolled in a Job Corps training program
1-14 under the Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. Section 1501 et
1-15 seq.), and its subsequent amendments; or [and]
1-16 (B) [(2)] a public agency providing supervision
1-17 of the person or having custody of the person under a court order
1-18 recommends that the person take the examination.
1-19 SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 25.086, Education Code,
1-20 is amended to read as follows:
1-21 (a) A child is exempt from the requirements of compulsory
1-22 school attendance if the child:
1-23 (1) attends a private or parochial school that
1-24 includes in its course a study of good citizenship;
2-1 (2) is eligible to participate in a school district's
2-2 special education program under Section 29.003 and cannot be
2-3 appropriately served by the resident district;
2-4 (3) has a physical or mental condition of a temporary
2-5 and remediable nature that makes the child's attendance infeasible
2-6 and holds a certificate from a qualified physician specifying the
2-7 temporary condition, indicating the treatment prescribed to remedy
2-8 the temporary condition, and covering the anticipated period of the
2-9 child's absence from school for the purpose of receiving and
2-10 recuperating from that remedial treatment;
2-11 (4) is expelled in accordance with the requirements of
2-12 law in a school district that does not participate in a mandatory
2-13 juvenile justice alternative education program under Section
2-14 37.011;
2-15 (5) is at least 17 years of age and:
2-16 (A) is attending a course of instruction to
2-17 prepare for the high school equivalency examination, and:
2-18 (i) has the permission of the child's
2-19 parent or guardian to attend the course;
2-20 (ii) is required by court order to attend
2-21 the course;
2-22 (iii) has established a residence separate
2-23 and apart from the child's parent, guardian, or other person having
2-24 lawful control of the child; or
2-25 (iv) is homeless as defined by 42 U.S.C.
2-26 Section 11302; or
3-1 (B) has received a high school diploma or high
3-2 school equivalency certificate;
3-3 (6) is at least 16 years of age and is attending a
3-4 course of instruction to prepare for the high school equivalency
3-5 examination, if:
3-6 (A) the child is recommended to take the course
3-7 of instruction by a public agency that has supervision or custody
3-8 of the child under a court order; or
3-9 (B) the child is enrolled in a Job Corps
3-10 training program under the Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C.
3-11 Section 1501 et seq.), and its subsequent amendments;
3-12 (7) is enrolled in the Texas Academy of Mathematics
3-13 and Science;
3-14 (8) is enrolled in the Texas Academy of Leadership in
3-15 the Humanities; or
3-16 (9) is specifically exempted under another law.
3-17 SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 1999-2000
3-18 school year.
3-19 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-24 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-25 passage, and it is so enacted.