86R2440 MM-D
 
  By: Powell S.B. No. 1275
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to requiring school districts to administer college
  readiness assessment instruments to certain students at state cost.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 39.0261(a) and (e), Education Code, are
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  In addition to the assessment instruments otherwise
  authorized or required by this subchapter:
               (1)  each school year and at state cost, a school
  district may administer to students in the spring of the eighth
  grade an established, valid, reliable, and nationally
  norm-referenced preliminary college preparation assessment
  instrument for the purpose of diagnosing the academic strengths and
  deficiencies of students before entrance into high school;
               (2)  each school year and at state cost, a school
  district may administer to students in the 10th grade an
  established, valid, reliable, and nationally norm-referenced
  preliminary college preparation assessment instrument for the
  purpose of measuring a student's progress toward readiness for
  college and the workplace; [and]
               (3)  each school year and at state cost, a school
  district shall administer to students in a grade level determined
  by the commissioner who have been administered the Algebra I
  end-of-course assessment or English I and English II end-of-course
  assessments as described by Section 39.023(a-2)(2) one of the
  valid, reliable, and nationally norm-referenced assessment
  instruments used by colleges and universities as part of their
  undergraduate admissions processes for the purpose of fulfilling
  federal requirements regarding assessment at the high school level;
  and
               (4)  high school students in the spring of the 11th
  grade or during the 12th grade, other than students administered an
  assessment instrument under Subdivision (3), may select and take
  once, at state cost, one of the valid, reliable, and nationally
  norm-referenced assessment instruments used by colleges and
  universities as part of their undergraduate admissions processes.
         (e)  Subsection (a)(4) [(a)(3)] does not prohibit a high
  school student in the [spring of the] 11th grade or during the 12th
  grade from selecting and taking, at the student's own expense, one
  of the valid, reliable, and nationally norm-referenced assessment
  instruments used by colleges and universities as part of their
  undergraduate admissions processes [more than once].
         SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with the 2019-2020
  school year.
         SECTION 3.  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, 2019.