By: Vo H.B. No. 1102

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the requirements for the recommended and advanced public high school programs.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Sections 28.025(b-1) and (b-2), Education Code, are amended to read as follows:

(b-1) The State Board of Education by rule shall require that:

(1) except as provided by Subsection (b-2), the curriculum requirements for the recommended and advanced high school programs under Subsection (a) include a requirement that students successfully complete:

(A) four courses in each subject of the foundation curriculum under Section 28.002(a)(1); or

(B) a career and technology curriculum that:

(i) provides a program of rigorous, standards-based coursework designed to prepare students for obtaining a license, certificate, or credential required for employment in a field of business or industry; and

(ii) prescribes successful completion of three courses in mathematics, three courses in science, and four courses in each other subject of the foundation curriculum under Section 28.002(a)(1); and

(2) one or more courses offered in the required curriculum for the recommended and advanced high school programs include a research writing component.

(b-2) In adopting rules under Subsection (b-1), the State Board of Education shall allow a student to comply with the curriculum requirements for a mathematics course under Subsection (b-1)(1)(A) [(b-1)(1)] taken after the successful completion of an Algebra II course or science course under Subsection (b-1)(1)(A) [(b-1)(1)] taken after the successful completion of a physics course by successfully completing an advanced career and technology [technical] course designated by the State Board of Education as containing substantively similar and rigorous academic content. A student may use the option provided by this subsection for not more than two courses.

SECTION 2. Not later than January 1, 2010, the State Board of Education shall adopt rules as required by Section 28.025(b-1), Education Code, as amended by this Act. The rules shall provide that the curriculum requirements for the recommended and advanced high school programs adopted under that subsection apply to a student regardless of the school year in which the student entered the ninth grade.

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 September 1, 2009.