BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 3593 |
By: Bernal |
Public Education |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Interested parties note that Texas businesses, government agencies, and organizations face cybersecurity threats and express concern regarding the public education system's provision of the most up-to-date courses, hardware, and internships that focus on the cybersecurity industry. C.S.H.B. 3593 seeks to incentivize student interest in cybersecurity programs and grow a skilled workforce in the state's cybersecurity industry by providing for, among other measures, the approval of a cybersecurity course for high school graduation credit, school district partnerships with institutions of higher education leading the way in cybersecurity education, and the incorporation of certain instruction in technology applications, computer coding, and cybersecurity into school curricula.
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
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RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 3593 amends the Education Code to require the State Board of Education (SBOE) to approve a course in cybersecurity offered by a public school district for credit for high school graduation. The bill authorizes a district to offer a course in cybersecurity that is approved by the board of trustees for credit without obtaining SBOE approval if the district partners with a public or private institution of higher education that offers an undergraduate degree program in cybersecurity to develop and provide the course and requires each district to annually report to the Texas Education Agency the names of such courses and institutions of higher education in which the district's students have enrolled. The bill exempts a cybersecurity program provided by a campus or extension center of the Texas State Technical College System in partnership with a district to students enrolled in the district from the requirement that a campus or extension center program be approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
C.S.H.B. 3593 specifies that a course in computer coding is considered a computer programming language course for purposes of substituting credits in such a course to satisfy certain language curriculum requirements. The bill includes courses in cybersecurity and computer coding among the courses in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) category for a transcript and diploma endorsement. The bill entitles a teacher to a certification examination subsidy if the teacher passes a certification examination related to cybersecurity. The bill includes among the fourth domain of performance indicators of achievement by which high school campuses and districts that include high school campuses are evaluated the percentage of students who successfully completed a practicum or internship approved by the SBOE. The bill authorizes a district entitled to a new instructional facility allotment to use funds from the district's allotment to renovate an existing instructional facility to serve as a dedicated cybersecurity computer laboratory.
C.S.H.B. 3593 specifies that technology applications is a component of career and technology education for purposes of the required enrichment curriculum, the authorization for students with disabilities to substitute certain course credits to satisfy language curriculum requirements, applied STEM courses, the test adopted for the technology literacy assessment pilot program, and initial eligibility requirements for the toward excellence, access, & success (TEXAS) grant program. The bill requires the SBOE by rule to modify the essential knowledge and skills of the career and technology education curriculum to include the essential knowledge and skills of the technology applications curriculum to conform with the bill's changes. The bill applies beginning with the 2017-2018 school year.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2017.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 3593 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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