By:  Delisi                                                       H.B. No. 25 



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to transition assistance within the public school system 
for school-age dependents of military personnel.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 25, Education Code, is 
amended by adding Section 25.006 to read as follows:
	Sec. 25.006.  TRANSITION ASSISTANCE FOR MILITARY 
DEPENDENTS.  (a)  The legislature finds that:
		(1)  school-age dependents of military personnel are 
faced with numerous transitions during their formative years; and
		(2)  military dependents who move from one school to 
another during the high school years are faced with special 
challenges to learning and future achievement.
	(b)  In recognition of the challenges faced by military 
dependents and the importance of military families to our community 
and economy, the agency shall assist the transition of military 
students from one school to another by:
		(1)  improving the timely transfer of student records;                 
		(2)  developing systems to ease student transition 
during the first two weeks of enrollment at a new school;
		(3)  promoting practices that foster student access to 
extracurricular programs;
		(4)  establishing procedures to lessen the adverse 
impact of student moves to a new school after the end of the 
student's junior year of high school;
		(5)  encouraging or maintaining partnerships between 
military bases and affected school districts;
		(6)  providing services for military students in 
transition when applying for admission to postsecondary study and 
when seeking sources of funding for postsecondary study; and
		(7)  providing other assistance as identified by the 
agency, affected school districts, and military personnel.
	SECTION 2.  Not later than January 1, 2006, the Texas 
Education Agency shall report the results of its efforts to 
implement Section 25.006, Education Code, as added by this Act, to 
the presiding officers of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs 
and Military Installations and the House of Representatives 
Committee on Defense Affairs and State-Federal Relations.
	SECTION 3.  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 on the 91st day after the last day of the 
legislative session.