78R1324 SLO-D

By:  Dutton                                                       H.B. No. 369



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to reducing class size when the students of a certain  
grade level perform poorly on an assessment instrument.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 25.112(a), Education Code, is amended to 
read as follows:
	(a)  Except as otherwise authorized by this section and 
except as provided by Section 25.114, a school district may not 
enroll more than 22 students in a kindergarten, first, second, 
third, or fourth grade class.  That limitation does not apply 
during:
		(1)  any 12-week period of the school year selected by 
the district, in the case of a district whose average daily 
attendance is adjusted under Section 42.005(c);  or
		(2)  the last 12 weeks of any school year in the case of 
any other district.
	SECTION 2.  Subchapter D, Chapter 25, Education Code, is 
amended by adding Section 25.114 to read as follows:
	Sec. 25.114.  MANDATORY CLASS SIZE REDUCTION.  If 50 percent 
or more of the students at the third, fourth, or fifth grade level 
at a campus do not perform satisfactorily on an assessment 
instrument administered under Section 39.023(a), for the following 
school year and each school year thereafter until a majority of 
those students whose combined performance triggered a class size 
reduction under this section complete the sixth grade, the campus 
may not enroll those students in a class the size of which exceeds 
75 percent of the usual class size for that grade level at that 
campus.
	SECTION 3.  This Act applies beginning with the 2004-2005 
school year.       
	SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.