81R11468 CAS-F

By: Davis, Wendy S.B. No. 2086

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the essential high school program and to the curriculum 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(a), (b), (b-1), (e), and (g), Education Code, are amended to read as follows:

(a) The State Board of Education by rule shall determine curriculum requirements for the essential [minimum], recommended, and advanced high school programs that are consistent with the required curriculum under Section 28.002.

(b) A school district shall ensure that each student enrolls in the courses necessary to complete the curriculum requirements identified by the State Board of Education under Subsection (a) for the recommended or advanced high school program unless the student, the student's parent or other person standing in parental relation to the student, and a school counselor or school administrator agree that the student should be permitted to take courses under the essential [minimum] high school program.

(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) a science and mathematics curriculum that prescribes, among other requirements established by the board, successful completion of four courses in mathematics and four courses in science, from among courses approved for each subject by the board [of the foundation curriculum under Section 28.002(a)(1)];

(B) a career and technology curriculum that prescribes, among other requirements established by the board, successful completion of four career and technology courses, three courses in mathematics, and three courses in science, from among courses approved for each subject by the board; or

(C) a humanities curriculum that prescribes, among other requirements established by the board, successful completion of:

(i) courses in English language arts, social studies, languages other than English, and fine arts, from among courses approved for each subject by the board; and

(ii) three courses in mathematics and three courses in science from among courses approved for each subject by the board; and

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

(e) Each school district shall report the academic achievement record of students who have completed an essential [a minimum], recommended, or advanced high school program on transcript forms adopted by the State Board of Education. The transcript forms adopted by the board must be designed to clearly differentiate between each of the high school programs and identify whether a student received a diploma or a certificate of coursework completion.

(g) If a student, other than a student permitted to take courses under the essential [minimum] high school program as provided by Subsection (b), is unable to complete the recommended or advanced high school program solely because necessary courses were unavailable to the student at the appropriate times in the student's high school career as a result of course scheduling, lack of enrollment capacity, or another cause not within the student's control, the school district shall indicate that fact on the student's transcript form described by Subsection (e).

SECTION 2. Section 39.025(a), Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) The commissioner shall adopt rules requiring a student participating in the recommended or advanced high school program to be administered each end-of-course assessment instrument listed in Section 39.023(c) and requiring a student participating in the essential [minimum] high school program to be administered an end-of-course assessment instrument listed in Section 39.023(c) only for a course in which the student is enrolled and for which an end-of-course assessment instrument is administered. A student is required to achieve, in each subject in the foundation curriculum under Section 28.002(a)(1), a cumulative score that is at least equal to the product of the number of end-of-course assessment instruments administered to the student in that subject and 70, with each end-of-course assessment instrument scored on a scale of 100. A student must achieve a score of at least 60 on an end-of-course assessment instrument for the score to count towards the student's cumulative score. For purposes of this subsection, a student's cumulative score is determined using the student's highest score on each end-of-course assessment instrument administered to the student. A student may not receive a high school diploma until the student has performed satisfactorily on the end-of-course assessment instruments in the manner provided under this subsection. This subsection does not require a student to demonstrate readiness to enroll in an institution of higher education.

SECTION 3. Section 28.025(b-2), Education Code, is repealed.

SECTION 4. 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 5. 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.