1-1 By: Dukes (Senate Sponsor - Barrientos) H.B. No. 1387 1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 7, 2001; 1-3 May 7, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on 1-4 Education; May 11, 2001, reported favorably by the following vote: 1-5 Yeas 5, Nays 2; May 11, 2001, sent to printer.) 1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-7 AN ACT 1-8 relating to the application of the higher education uniform 1-9 admission policy to graduates of certain special high school 1-10 programs. 1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-12 SECTION 1. Subchapter U, Chapter 51, Education Code, is 1-13 amended by adding Section 51.8045 to read as follows: 1-14 Sec. 51.8045. GRADUATES OF CERTAIN SPECIAL HIGH SCHOOL 1-15 PROGRAMS. (a) For purposes of Sections 51.803 and 51.804 only, the 1-16 governing body of a school district may treat a high school magnet 1-17 program, academy, or other special program conducted by the school 1-18 district at a high school attended by high school students who are 1-19 not students of the special program as an independent high school 1-20 with its own graduating class separate from the graduating class of 1-21 other students attending the high school if: 1-22 (1) the special program was in operation in the 1-23 2000-2001 school year; 1-24 (2) the students of the special program are recruited, 1-25 selected, or admitted from among the students residing in the 1-26 attendance zones of not fewer than 10 regular high schools in the 1-27 district, including the high school at which the special program is 1-28 conducted; 1-29 (3) the students of the special program are selected 1-30 or admitted independently of and identified as a student body 1-31 separate from the other students of the high school; 1-32 (4) the students of the special program constitute not 1-33 less than 35 percent of the total number of students in the 1-34 graduating class at the high school at which the special program is 1-35 conducted; 1-36 (5) the students of the special program have a 1-37 curriculum different from that of the other students of the high 1-38 school, even if students of the special program and other students 1-39 of the high school attend some of the same classes; and 1-40 (6) a student graduating from the special program 1-41 receives a high school diploma that includes a reference to the 1-42 special program in describing the high school from which the 1-43 student graduated. 1-44 (b) This section does not apply to the manner in which the 1-45 members of a graduating class of the high school as a whole, 1-46 including graduates of the special program, are ranked by grade 1-47 point average for purposes other than admissions under Sections 1-48 51.803 and 51.804. 1-49 SECTION 2. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies 1-50 only to the admission of undergraduate students of a general 1-51 academic teaching institution to an academic term or semester for 1-52 which the general admission application deadline occurs on or after 1-53 the effective date of this Act. 1-54 (b) The change in law made by this Act applies to an 1-55 applicant for admission as an undergraduate student of a general 1-56 academic teaching institution who graduated before the effective 1-57 date of this Act from a high school at which a special high school 1-58 program described by Section 51.8045, Education Code, as added by 1-59 this Act, was conducted in the year the applicant graduated if the 1-60 school district treated the students of the special program as a 1-61 separate graduating class in that year substantially as provided by 1-62 Section 51.8045, Education Code, as added by this Act. 1-63 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 1-64 a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 2-1 provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this 2-2 Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 2-3 Act takes effect September 1, 2001. 2-4 * * * * *