|
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
relating to paperwork requirements and unfunded mandates imposed on |
|
school districts. |
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
SECTION 1. Section 7.060, Education Code, is amended by |
|
adding Subsection (c) to read as follows: |
|
(c) In addition to the requirements otherwise prescribed by |
|
this section, the commissioner shall adopt policies that result in |
|
a reduction of at least 10 percent in the total amount of written |
|
paperwork, reports, and other information that a school district is |
|
required by the agency to prepare, as determined in comparison to |
|
the total amount of written paperwork, reports, and other |
|
information required to be prepared by a school district during the |
|
2010-2011 school year. The policies must be implemented beginning |
|
not later than the 2012-2013 school year. This subsection expires |
|
September 1, 2013. |
|
SECTION 2. Section 11.253(d), Education Code, is amended to |
|
read as follows: |
|
(d) Each campus improvement plan must: |
|
(1) assess the academic achievement for each student |
|
in the school using the student achievement indicator system as |
|
described by Section 39.053; |
|
(2) set the campus performance objectives based on the |
|
student achievement indicator system, including objectives for |
|
special needs populations, including students in special education |
|
programs under Subchapter A, Chapter 29; |
|
(3) identify how the campus goals will be met for each |
|
student; |
|
(4) determine the resources needed to implement the |
|
plan; |
|
(5) identify staff needed to implement the plan; |
|
(6) set timelines for reaching the goals; |
|
(7) measure progress toward the performance |
|
objectives periodically to ensure that the plan is resulting in |
|
academic improvement; |
|
(8) include goals and methods for violence prevention |
|
and intervention on campus; |
|
(9) provide for a program to encourage parental |
|
involvement at the campus; and |
|
(10) if the campus is an elementary, middle, or junior |
|
high school, set goals and objectives for the coordinated health |
|
program at the campus based on: |
|
(A) student fitness assessment data, including |
|
any data from research-based assessments such as the school health |
|
index assessment and planning tool created by the federal Centers |
|
for Disease Control and Prevention; |
|
(B) student academic performance data; |
|
(C) student attendance rates; |
|
(D) the percentage of students who are |
|
educationally disadvantaged; |
|
(E) the use and success of any method to ensure |
|
that students participate in moderate to vigorous physical activity |
|
as required by Section 28.002(l); and |
|
(F) any other indicator recommended by the local |
|
school health advisory council, if one has been established. |
|
SECTION 3. Sections 28.004(a), (b), (d), (d-1), (e), (i), |
|
(k), (l), and (m), Education Code, are amended to read as follows: |
|
(a) The board of trustees of each school district may |
|
[shall] establish a local school health advisory council to assist |
|
the district in ensuring that local community values are reflected |
|
in the district's health education instruction. |
|
(b) A school district must consider the recommendations of |
|
the local school health advisory council, if one has been |
|
established, before changing the district's health education |
|
curriculum or instruction. |
|
(d) If the [The] board of trustees establishes a local |
|
school health advisory council, the board shall appoint at least |
|
five members to the [local school health advisory] council. A |
|
majority of the members must be persons who are parents of students |
|
enrolled in the district and who are not employed by the |
|
district. One of those members shall serve as chair or co-chair of |
|
the council. The board of trustees also may appoint one or more |
|
persons from each of the following groups or a representative from a |
|
group other than a group specified under this subsection: |
|
(1) public school teachers; |
|
(2) public school administrators; |
|
(3) district students; |
|
(4) health care professionals; |
|
(5) the business community; |
|
(6) law enforcement; |
|
(7) senior citizens; |
|
(8) the clergy; and |
|
(9) nonprofit health organizations. |
|
(d-1) If the board of trustees establishes a [The] local |
|
school health advisory council, the council shall meet at least |
|
four times each year. |
|
(e) Any course materials and instruction relating to human |
|
sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, or human |
|
immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune deficiency syndrome |
|
shall be selected by the board of trustees with the advice of the |
|
local school health advisory council, if one has been established, |
|
and must: |
|
(1) present abstinence from sexual activity as the |
|
preferred choice of behavior in relationship to all sexual activity |
|
for unmarried persons of school age; |
|
(2) devote more attention to abstinence from sexual |
|
activity than to any other behavior; |
|
(3) emphasize that abstinence from sexual activity, if |
|
used consistently and correctly, is the only method that is 100 |
|
percent effective in preventing pregnancy, sexually transmitted |
|
diseases, infection with human immunodeficiency virus or acquired |
|
immune deficiency syndrome, and the emotional trauma associated |
|
with adolescent sexual activity; |
|
(4) direct adolescents to a standard of behavior in |
|
which abstinence from sexual activity before marriage is the most |
|
effective way to prevent pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, |
|
and infection with human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune |
|
deficiency syndrome; and |
|
(5) teach contraception and condom use in terms of |
|
human use reality rates instead of theoretical laboratory rates, if |
|
instruction on contraception and condoms is included in curriculum |
|
content. |
|
(i) Before each school year, a school district shall provide |
|
written notice to a parent of each student enrolled in the district |
|
of the board of trustees' decision regarding whether the district |
|
will provide human sexuality instruction to district students. If |
|
instruction will be provided, the notice must include: |
|
(1) a summary of the basic content of the district's |
|
human sexuality instruction to be provided to the student, |
|
including a statement informing the parent of the instructional |
|
requirements under state law; |
|
(2) a statement of the parent's right to: |
|
(A) review curriculum materials as provided by |
|
Subsection (j); and |
|
(B) remove the student from any part of the |
|
district's human sexuality instruction without subjecting the |
|
student to any disciplinary action, academic penalty, or other |
|
sanction imposed by the district or the student's school; and |
|
(3) information describing the opportunities for |
|
parental involvement in the development of the curriculum to be |
|
used in human sexuality instruction, including information |
|
regarding the local school health advisory council, if one has been |
|
established [under Subsection (a)]. |
|
(k) A school district shall publish in the student handbook |
|
and post on the district's Internet website, if the district has an |
|
Internet website: |
|
(1) a statement of the policies adopted to ensure that |
|
elementary school, middle school, and junior high school students |
|
engage in at least the amount and level of physical activity |
|
required by Section 28.002(l); |
|
(2) a statement of: |
|
(A) the number of times during the preceding year |
|
the district's school health advisory council has met, if one has |
|
been established; |
|
(B) whether the district has adopted and enforces |
|
policies to ensure that district campuses comply with agency |
|
vending machine and food service guidelines for restricting student |
|
access to vending machines; and |
|
(C) whether the district has adopted and enforces |
|
policies and procedures that prescribe penalties for the use of |
|
tobacco products by students and others on school campuses or at |
|
school-sponsored or school-related activities; and |
|
(3) a statement providing notice to parents that they |
|
can request in writing their child's physical fitness assessment |
|
results at the end of the school year. |
|
(l) If the board of trustees establishes a [The] local |
|
school health advisory council, the council shall consider and make |
|
policy recommendations to the district concerning the importance of |
|
daily recess for elementary school students. The council must |
|
consider research regarding unstructured and undirected play, |
|
academic and social development, and the health benefits of daily |
|
recess in making the recommendations. The council shall ensure |
|
that local community values are reflected in any policy |
|
recommendation made to the district under this subsection. |
|
(m) In addition to performing other duties, the local school |
|
health advisory council, if one has been established, shall submit |
|
to the board of trustees, at least annually, a written report that |
|
includes: |
|
(1) any council recommendation concerning the school |
|
district's health education curriculum and instruction or related |
|
matters that the council has not previously submitted to the board; |
|
(2) any suggested modification to a council |
|
recommendation previously submitted to the board; and |
|
(3) a detailed explanation of the council's activities |
|
during the period between the date of the current report and the |
|
date of the last prior written report. |
|
SECTION 4. Section 176.009(a), Local Government Code, is |
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
(a) A local governmental entity that maintains an Internet |
|
website shall provide access to the statements and to |
|
questionnaires required to be filed under this chapter on that |
|
website. This subsection does not require a local governmental |
|
entity to maintain an Internet website. This subsection does not |
|
apply to a school district. |
|
SECTION 5. Section 38.0025, Education Code, is repealed. |
|
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011. |