By: Delisi, Escobar, Anderson, et al. H.B. No. 25
(Senate Sponsor - Van de Putte)
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 7, 2005;
April 11, 2005, read first time and referred to Committee on
Education; May 4, 2005, reported favorably, as amended, by the
following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 4, 2005, sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1 By: Van de Putte
Amend H.B. No. 25 as follows:
(1) In SECTION 3 of the bill, in added Section 25.002(a-1),
Education Code (Engrossed version, page 2, line 53 and lines
56-57), strike "Subsection (a)" each place it appears and
substitute "Subsections (a)(1) and (2)".
(2) In SECTION 3 of the bill, in added Section 25.002(a-1),
Education Code (Engrossed version, page 2, line 54), between "10th"
and "day", insert "working".
(3) In SECTION 3 of the bill, in added Section 25.002(a-1),
Education Code (Engrossed version, page 2, line 54), between "for"
and "information", insert "the".
(4) In SECTION 3 of the bill, in added Section 25.002(a-1),
Education Code (Engrossed version, page 2, line 55), strike
"school".
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to admission to and transition assistance within the
public school system for school-age dependents of military
personnel and other students.
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) encouraging school districts to provide 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.
SECTION 2. Section 25.001(b), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) The board of trustees of a school district or its
designee shall admit into the public schools of the district free of
tuition a person who is over five and younger than 21 years of age on
the first day of September of the school year in which admission is
sought if:
(1) the person and either parent of the person reside
in the school district;
(2) the person does not reside in the school district
but a parent of the person resides in the school district and that
parent is a joint managing conservator or the sole managing
conservator or possessory conservator of the person;
(3) the person and the person's guardian or other
person having lawful control of the person under a court order
reside within the school district;
(4) the person has established a separate residence
under Subsection (d);
(5) the person is homeless, as defined by 42 U.S.C.
Section 11302, regardless of the residence of the person, of either
parent of the person, or of the person's guardian or other person
having lawful control of the person;
(6) the person is a foreign exchange student placed
with a host family that resides in the school district by a
nationally recognized foreign exchange program, unless the school
district has applied for and been granted a waiver by the
commissioner under Subsection (e);
(7) the person resides at a residential facility
located in the district; [or]
(8) the person resides in the school district and is 18
years of age or older or the person's disabilities of minority have
been removed; or
(9) the person does not reside in the school district
but the grandparent of the person:
(A) resides in the school district; and
(B) provides a substantial amount of
after-school care for the person as determined by the board.
SECTION 3. Section 25.002, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (a-1) to read as
follows:
(a) If [Not later than the 30th day after the date] a parent
or other person with legal control of a child under a court order
enrolls the child in a public school, the parent or other person or
the school district in which the child most recently attended
school shall furnish to the school district:
(1) the child's birth certificate or another document
suitable as proof of the child's identity;
(2) a copy of the child's records from the school the
child most recently attended if the child has been previously
enrolled in a school in this state or another state; and
(3) a record showing that the child has the
immunizations as required under Section 38.001, in the case of a
child required under that section to be immunized, proof as
required by that section showing that the child is not required to
be immunized, or proof that the child is entitled to provisional
admission under that section and under rules adopted under that
section.
(a-1) Information a school district furnishes under
Subsection (a) must be furnished by the district not later than the
10th day after the date a request for information is received by the
school district. Information a parent or other person with legal
control of a child under a court order furnishes under Subsection
(a) must be furnished 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 shall 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.
SECTION 4. Sections 28.025(c) and (d), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(c) A person may receive a diploma if the person is eligible
for a diploma under Section 28.0251. In other cases, a student may
graduate and receive a diploma only if:
(1) the student successfully completes the curriculum
requirements identified by the State Board of Education under
Subsection (a) and complies with Section 39.025 [39.025(a)]; or
(2) the student successfully completes an
individualized education program developed under Section 29.005.
(d) A school district may issue a certificate of coursework
completion to a student who successfully completes the curriculum
requirements identified by the State Board of Education under
Subsection (a) but who fails to comply with Section 39.025
[39.025(a)]. A school district may allow a student who receives a
certificate to participate in a graduation ceremony with students
receiving high school diplomas.
SECTION 5. Sections 30.104(b) and (c), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(b) A student may graduate and receive a diploma from a
Texas Youth Commission educational program if:
(1) the student successfully completes the curriculum
requirements identified by the State Board of Education under
Section 28.025(a) and complies with Section 39.025 [39.025(a)]; or
(2) the student successfully completes the curriculum
requirements under Section 28.025(a) as modified by an
individualized education program developed under Section 29.005.
(c) A Texas Youth Commission educational program may issue a
certificate of course-work completion to a student who successfully
completes the curriculum requirements identified by the State Board
of Education under Section 28.025(a) but who fails to comply with
Section 39.025 [39.025(a)].
SECTION 6. Section 39.025, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (d) and (e) to read as follows:
(d) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the commissioner by
rule shall adopt one or more alternative nationally recognized norm
referenced assessment instruments under this section to administer
to a student to qualify for a high school diploma if the student
enrolls after January 1 of the school year in which the student is
otherwise eligible to graduate:
(1) for the first time in a public school in this
state; or
(2) after an absence of at least four years from any
public school in this state.
(e) The commissioner shall establish a required performance
level for an assessment instrument adopted under Subsection (d)
that is at least as rigorous as the performance level for the
secondary exit-level assessment instrument for the same subject.
SECTION 7. 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 8. 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, 2005.
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