| TO: | Honorable Florence Shapiro, Chair, Senate Committee on Education |
| FROM: | John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB518 by Shapiro (Relating to initiatives designed to improve performance of public school students enrolled at the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade levels.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted |
The bill would establish a high school readiness pilot program requiring that schools with students in grades 6, 7, and 8 enroll those students in a student advisory class. Under the program, participating high schools would be required to provide annual high school orientation sessions for parents of students enrolled in grades 6, 7, and 8 in the high school's attendance zone. The bill would direct the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to develop standards for both the student advisory class and the high school orientation session. The cost of implementing the provisions of the bill is not estimated to be significant.
Schools meeting certain eligibility requirements could participate in the high school readiness pilot program.
Effective for the 2012-13 school year, the bill would require school districts to identify annually students enrolled in grades 6, 7, or 8 who are at risk of dropping out of school or likely to become at risk of dropping out and to provide each high school to which students would be promoted a list of students scheduled to enter the high school in the following school year who have been identified and the specific interventions used to address needs of students at risk of dropping out.
| Source Agencies: | 701 Central Education Agency
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, LXH, JGM, JSc
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