HBA-MPM H.B. 801 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 801 By: Longoria Public Education 4/10/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Texas public schools have an estimated attrition rate of 150,000 students per year. Approximately 47 percent of African-American students and 52 percent of Hispanic-American are lost from public schools each year. New methods of teaching may result in a higher retention rate for these students, particularly reading, spelling, and mathematics curriculums based on scientific research. Scientific research based curriculums are those that have been tested in the classroom, have been widely implemented, have been effectively replicated in every kind of educational environment, and have proven themselves to be effective in these settings over a relatively long period of time. House Bill 801 requires public schools to use educational methods and curricula based on scientific research. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 801 amends the Education Code to require public schools to use educational methods and curricula based on scientific research in the foundation curriculum, accelerated instruction, bilingual education, special education programs, tutorial services, and adult education programs. The bill authorizes a parent to obtain a court order from a district court in the county where a school district is located requiring a school district's superintendent to comply with an agreement between the district and parent upon admitting a student to a school-community guidance center. The bill provides that a superintendent who violates a court order may be punished for contempt of court (Sec. 37.055). H.B. 801 provides that a home-rule school district, a campus or program for which a charter is granted, and an open-enrollment charter school are subject to the requirement to have a foundation curriculum that includes English language arts and mathematics, including elementary reading, monographic spelling, and mathematics using educational methods based on scientific research (Secs. 12.013, 12.056, and 12.104). The bill provides that the first time a student is referred to the principal, the principal must determine the student's educational performance level by administering a reading decoding and comprehension placement test and a mathematics placement test. The bill provides that if a student's test performance is more than two or more grade levels below the student's assigned grade level, the principal must place the student in an appropriate corrective reading or mathematics program that uses methods based on scientific research. The bill requires the principal to employ appropriate discipline management techniques if the student's test performance is equal to or greater than the student's assigned grade level or if the student continues to act inappropriately after being placed in a corrective educational program (Sec. 37.002). The bill provides that a student who is not performing at grade level on entering a juvenile justice alternative education program be placed in a corrective educational program that uses methods based on scientific research (Sec. 37.011). EFFECTIVE DATE July 1, 2001, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001.