BILL ANALYSIS
By: Van de Putte
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
For years, parents in the military and their children have shouldered the burden of the frequent
movement that accompanies being a part of a military family. In addition to the challenge of
moving into a different house, making new friends, and adjusting to a strange town, many
children have encountered difficulties in enrolling in a new school.
Currently under the Education Code, a school district is allowed an entire month before it is
required to transfer student records to the new school in which the child has enrolled. This delay
of information between public schools has caused children to be placed in classes inappropriate
for their learning level.
S.B. 117 requires a transferring school district to transfer the student's records to a receiving
school district by the 10th day of the student's enrollment in the new school. This bill also
requires the school district from which records have been requested to notify a child's parents
that they are authorized to obtain an unofficial copy of the records to deliver to the receiving school.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
This bill amends the Education Code by requiring information a school district furnishes as designated by this bill to be furnished by the district not later than the 10th working day after the date a request for the information is received by the district. This bill requires information furnished by a parent or other person with legal control of a child to be furnished, as designated by this legislation, by the parent or other person not later than the 30th day after the date a child is enrolled in a public school. If a parent or other person with legal control of a child under a court order requests that a district transfer a child's student records, the district to which the request is made is required to notify the parent or other person as soon as practicable that the parent or other person may request and receive an unofficial copy of the records for delivery in person to a school in another district.
EFFECTIVE DATE
This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.