BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.S.B. 463 |
By: Seliger |
Public Education |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Interested parties call for the extension of the use of individual graduation committees to satisfy certain public high school graduation requirements and for the use of other alternative methods to satisfy certain public high school graduation requirements. C.S.S.B. 463 seeks to provide for that extension by postponing the expiration dates of certain applicable statutory provisions and to provide for the use of such alternative methods.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the commissioner of education in SECTION 3 of this bill and to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Texas Education Agency in SECTION 8 of this bill.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ANALYSIS
C.S.S.B. 463 amends the Education Code to require the commissioner of education by rule to establish a procedure to determine whether a student who entered the ninth grade before the 2011-2012 school year, who successfully completed the curriculum requirements for high school graduation applicable to the student when the student entered the ninth grade, who has not performed satisfactorily on a test or a part of a test required for high school graduation, and who has been administered the test or the part of the test for which the student has not performed satisfactorily at least three times may qualify to graduate and receive a high school diploma. The bill requires the commissioner to adopt rules to administer these provisions and, in adopting the rules, to designate the public school district in which a student is enrolled or was last enrolled to make the decision regarding whether the student qualifies to graduate and receive a high school diploma and establish criteria for districts to develop recommendations for alternative requirements by which a student to whom these provisions apply may qualify to graduate and receive a high school diploma. The bill authorizes the commissioner, in adopting rules relating to such criteria, to authorize as an alternative requirement an alternative test and performance standard for that test, work experience, or military or other relevant life experience. The bill establishes a district's decision regarding whether the student qualifies to graduate and receive a high school diploma as final and prohibits its appeal. The bill subjects an open-enrollment charter school to this graduation qualification procedure. These provisions expire September 1, 2019.
C.S.S.B. 463 postpones from September 1, 2017, to September 1, 2019, the expiration date of statutory provisions relating to the award of a high school diploma on the basis of a review by an individual graduation committee and the expiration date of the statutory provision establishing that a student who, after retaking an end-of-course test for Algebra I or English II, has failed to perform satisfactorily as required to receive a high school diploma but who receives a score of proficient on the Texas Success Initiative (TSI) diagnostic assessment for the corresponding subject satisfies the requirement concerning the Algebra I or English II end-of-course test, as applicable. The bill postpones from September 1, 2018, to September 1, 2019, the expiration date of statutory provisions relating to public school district reporting requirements for students graduating based on the review process of individual graduation committees.
C.S.S.B. 463, effective September 1, 2019, prohibits a district from administering a test required for graduation under statutory provisions relating to the secondary-level performance required on certain statewide standardized tests as the provisions existed before amendment by Chapter 1312 (S.B. 1031), Acts of the 80th Legislature, Regular Session, 2007.
C.S.S.B. 463 requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, in coordination with the Texas Education Agency (TEA), to collect longitudinal data relating to the post-graduation pursuits of each student who is awarded a diploma based on the determination of an individual graduation committee, as provisions relating to the award of a high school diploma by such a committee existed before September 1, 2019. The bill requires the coordinating board, not later than December 1 of each even-numbered year, to provide a report to the legislature that includes a summary compilation of the collected data that is presented in a manner that does not identify an individual student. The bill requires the coordinating board and TEA to adopt rules as necessary to implement the bill's provisions relating to the collection and reporting of such data.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
EFFECTIVE DATE
Except as otherwise provided, on passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2017.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
COMPARISON OF SENATE ENGROSSED AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.S.B. 463 may differ from the engrossed in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the engrossed and committee substitute versions of the bill.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|