Amend CSHB 11 (house committee report) by adding the following appropriately numbered SECTIONS to the bill and renumbering subsequent SECTIONS of the bill accordingly:

SECTION ____.  Sections 29.054(b) and (c), Education Code, are amended to read as follows:

(b)  An application for an exception may be filed with the agency when a district is unable to hire a sufficient number of teachers with teaching certificates appropriate for bilingual education instruction to staff the required program. The application must be accompanied by:

(1)  documentation showing that the district has taken all reasonable affirmative steps to secure teachers with teaching certificates appropriate for bilingual education instruction and has failed;

(2)  documentation showing that the district has affirmative hiring policies and procedures consistent with the need to serve emergent bilingual students;

(3)  documentation showing that, on the basis of district records, no teacher having a teaching certificate appropriate for bilingual instruction or emergency credentials has been unjustifiably denied employment by the district within the past 36 [12] months; and

(4)  a plan detailing specific measures to be used by the district to eliminate the conditions that created the need for an exception.

(c)  An exception shall be granted under this section on an individual district basis and is valid for three years [only one year]. Application for an exception for a second or succeeding three-year period: [year]

(1)  must be accompanied by the documentation prescribed by Subsection (b); and

(2)  may be for different teachers than the teachers who were included in an application for an exception for a preceding period.

SECTION ____.  Sections 29.054(b) and (c), Education Code, as amended by this Act, apply beginning with the 2023-2024 school year.