SRC-MKV S.B. 1428 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research Center S.B. 1428 77R7436 ESH-FBy: Truan Education 4/23/2001 As Filed DIGEST AND PURPOSE In 1999, the 76th Legislature passed S.B. 103, which requires two new exit-level TAAS (Texas Assessment of Academic Skills) tests, on science and social studies, for students to take before graduating from high school. As a result, a high school senior may not receive a diploma if the student has failed one of the four sections of the TAAS test. The current failure rate for the exit-level TAAS test is almost twenty percent. There are indications are that once the new exit-level tests are implemented, the failure rates will increase. As proposed, S.B. 1428 allows multiple criteria by which a student can receive a diploma. The bill allows the commissioner of education to determine these criteria, which must include a student's high school grade point average, a student's twelfth grade class ranking, the student's individual and combined scores on the exit-level TAAS tests, and the student's overall high school academic performance as evaluated by two or more teachers. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY Rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the commissioner of education in SECTION 1 (Section 28.025, Education Code) of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 28.025, Education Code, as follows: (a) Adds language relating to a student being authorized to graduate and receive a diploma if the student meets the alternative graduation criteria prescribed under Subsection (b). (b) Requires the commissioner of education (commissioner) by rule to prescribe alternative graduation criteria (criteria) that a student may meet to graduate and receive a diploma without complying with Section 39.025(a). Requires the criteria to include certain information about the student's academic performance. (c) Requires a committee composed of the student's high school principal or the principal's designee and two teachers in the student's school district who teach at the high school level to determine whether a student who has not complied with Section 39.025(a) has met the alternative graduation criteria prescribed under Subsection (b). Requires the commissioner to adopt rules relating to the selection and operation of a committee under this subsection, including the method by which the committee must notify the student and the student's high school registrar, or the person performing the duties of a registrar, of the committee's decision. (d) Deletes language relating to a student who fails to perform satisfactorily on the assessment instruments specified by Subsection (a) and replaces it with language relating to a student who fails to comply with Section 39.025(a) or the criteria under Subsection (b). SECTION 2. (a) Provides that Section 28.025, Education Code, as amended by this Act, applies beginning with the 2002-2003 school year. (b) Requires the commissioner, not later than June 1, 2002, to adopt rules as required by Sections 28.025(b) and (c), Education Code, as amended by this Act. SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 2001.