| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to a parenting and paternity awareness program used in the |
|
|
health curriculum for public schools. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 28.002, Education Code, is amended by |
|
|
amending Subsection (p) and adding Subsections (p-2), (p-3), and |
|
|
(p-4) to read as follows: |
|
|
(p) The State Board of Education, in conjunction with the |
|
|
office of the attorney general, shall develop a parenting and |
|
|
paternity awareness program that a school district shall use in the |
|
|
district's high school health curriculum. A school district may |
|
|
use the program developed under this subsection in the district's |
|
|
middle or junior high school curriculum. At the discretion of the |
|
|
district, a teacher may modify the suggested sequence and pace of |
|
|
the program at any grade level. The program must: |
|
|
(1) address parenting skills and responsibilities, |
|
|
including child support and other legal rights and responsibilities |
|
|
that come with parenthood; |
|
|
(2) address relationship skills, including money |
|
|
management, communication skills, and marriage preparation; and |
|
|
(3) in district middle, junior high, or high schools |
|
|
that do not have a family violence prevention program, address |
|
|
skills relating to the prevention of family violence. |
|
|
(p-2) A school district may develop or adopt research-based |
|
|
programs and curriculum materials for use in conjunction with the |
|
|
program developed under Subsection (p). The programs and |
|
|
curriculum materials may provide instruction in: |
|
|
(1) child development; |
|
|
(2) parenting skills, including child abuse and |
|
|
neglect prevention; and |
|
|
(3) assertiveness skills to prevent teenage |
|
|
pregnancy, abusive relationships, and family violence. |
|
|
(p-3) The agency shall evaluate programs and curriculum |
|
|
materials developed under Subsection (p-2) and distribute to other |
|
|
school districts information regarding those programs and |
|
|
materials. |
|
|
(p-4) A student under 14 years of age may not participate in |
|
|
a program developed under Subsection (p) without the permission of |
|
|
the student's parent or person standing in parental relation to the |
|
|
student. |
|
|
SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2009-2010 |
|
|
school year. |
|
|
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. |