By Cain                                                S.B. No. 130
         77R897 QS-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to character education in primary and secondary schools.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 29, Education Code, is
 1-5     amended by adding Section 29.903 to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 29.903.  CHARACTER EDUCATION PROGRAM. (a)  The State
 1-7     Board of Education shall prescribe a character education program to
 1-8     be maintained and followed in each primary and secondary school.
 1-9           (b)  A character education program under this section must be
1-10     designed to develop positive character traits, including:
1-11                 (1)  integrity;
1-12                 (2)  responsibility;
1-13                 (3)  respect;
1-14                 (4)  loyalty;
1-15                 (5)  good citizenship;
1-16                 (6)  volunteerism; and
1-17                 (7)  charity.
1-18           (c)  A character education program under this section must
1-19     include instruction in civic values, with particular attention to
1-20     the study of the ideals of freedom, equality, democracy, and
1-21     justice embodied in the Declaration of Independence, the United
1-22     States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
1-23           (d)  A character education program under this section must
1-24     include a study of human rights issues, such as the inhumanity of
 2-1     genocide and slavery.
 2-2           SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately and applies
 2-3     beginning with the 2001-2002 school year.