By: King of Hemphill, et al. H.B. No. 2610
        (Senate Sponsor - Taylor of Galveston)
         (In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 2015;
  May 13, 2015, read first time and referred to Committee on
  Education; May 21, 2015, reported favorably by the following vote:  
  Yeas 10, Nays 0; May 21, 2015, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the minimum number of minutes of instruction for
  students to be provided by public school districts and the
  scheduling of the last day of school for students by public school
  districts.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 25.081, Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 25.081.  OPERATION OF SCHOOLS. (a)  Except as
  authorized under Subsection (b) of this section, Section 25.084, or
  Section 29.0821, for each school year each school district must
  operate so that the district provides for at least 75,600 minutes
  [180 days] of instruction, including intermissions and recesses,
  for students.
         (b)  The commissioner may approve the instruction of
  students for fewer than the number of minutes [days] required under
  Subsection (a) if disaster, flood, extreme weather conditions, fuel
  curtailment, or another calamity causes the closing of schools.
         (c)  If the commissioner does not approve reduced
  instruction time under Subsection (b), a school district may add
  additional minutes to the end of the district's normal school hours
  as necessary to compensate for minutes of instruction lost due to
  school closures caused by disaster, flood, extreme weather
  conditions, fuel curtailment, or another calamity.
         (d)  The commissioner may adopt rules for the application, on
  the basis of the minimum minutes of instruction required by
  Subsection (a), of any provision of this title that refers to a
  minimum number of days of instruction under this section.
         (e)  For purposes of this code, a reference to a day of
  instruction means 420 minutes of instruction.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter C, Chapter 25, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 25.0812 to read as follows:
         Sec. 25.0812.  LAST DAY OF SCHOOL. (a)  Except as provided
  by Subsection (b), a school district may not schedule the last day
  of school for students for a school year before May 15.
         (b)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a school district that
  does not offer each grade level from kindergarten through grade 12
  and whose prospective or former students generally attend school in
  another state for the grade levels the district does not offer may
  schedule the last day of school on any date permitted under
  Subsection (a) or the law of the other state.
         SECTION 3.  This Act applies beginning with the 2015-2016
  school year.
         SECTION 4.  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, 2015.
 
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