Bill Text: TX HB1740 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: Relating to providing information to parents regarding changes in state law affecting public school students.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-03 - Referred to Public Education [HB1740 Detail]

Download: Texas-2011-HB1740-Introduced.html
  82R7660 CAS-D
 
  By: Walle H.B. No. 1740
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to providing information to parents regarding changes in
  state law affecting public school students.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Chapter 26, Education Code, is amended by adding
  Section 26.015 to read as follows:
         Sec. 26.015.  PARENT INFORMATION REGARDING CHANGES IN STATE
  LAW. (a) As soon as practicable after a legislative session, the
  agency shall prepare a document to inform parents of significant
  changes in state law, including additions to law, made during that
  legislative session that affect public school students. The
  document must also include, to the greatest extent practicable,
  information concerning any administrative rule adopted in
  association with a change in law and provide information that is as
  specific as practicable regarding dates on which
  state-administered assessment instruments will be administered
  during the school year during which the document will, in
  accordance with Subsection (e), be distributed. The document may
  also include information concerning significant changes in law
  affecting public school students made during the legislative
  session preceding the session concerning which information is
  required by this subsection.
         (b)  This section applies to a special legislative session
  only if the agency determines that there were significant changes
  in state law made during the special legislative session that
  affect public school students.
         (c)  The document required under Subsection (a) must:
               (1)  be designed to explain to parents the manner in
  which state law has changed and the effect of the change on public
  school students;
               (2)  focus on changes in law as a result of which a
  parent can act to affect the education of the parent's child;
               (3)  be as specific as necessary to provide a parent
  with the informational tools needed to affect the education of the
  parent's child; and
               (4)  be written in language that is easy to understand.
         (d)  The document required under Subsection (a) may be
  included as part of the student handbook.
         (e)  As early in each school year as practicable, each school
  district and open-enrollment charter school shall:
               (1)  distribute, at a time the district or charter
  school distributes other information for parents, the most recent
  document prepared under this section; and
               (2)  post the document on the district's Internet
  website.
         (f)  The agency shall prepare the initial document under this
  section to be distributed by a school district or open-enrollment
  charter school during the 2012-2013 school year. Notwithstanding
  Subsection (a), the initial document must inform parents of
  significant changes in state law that affect public school students
  made:
               (1)  during the 82nd Regular Session of the
  legislature; and
               (2)  during the 81st Regular Session of the legislature
  under the following provisions of this code, including the
  information described by this subdivision, and under any other law
  as determined by the agency:
                     (A)  Section 28.0211, which:
                           (i)  no longer prohibits promotion to the
  fourth grade of a student who fails to perform satisfactorily on the
  state-administered third grade reading assessment instrument;
                           (ii)  requires accelerated instruction for
  students who fail to perform satisfactorily on the third, fourth,
  fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth grade state-administered
  assessment instrument; and
                           (iii)  requires a school district to assign
  a student who is promoted despite failure to perform satisfactorily
  on a state-administered assessment instrument to a teacher in the
  subject covered by the assessment instrument who meets all state
  and federal qualifications to teach that subject and grade level;
                     (B)  Section 28.025, which requires a student to
  enroll in the courses necessary to complete the curriculum
  requirements for the recommended or advanced high school program
  unless the student, the student's parent or other person standing
  in parental relation to the student, and a school counselor or
  school administrator agree in writing that the student be permitted
  to take courses under the minimum high school program;
                     (C)  Section 39.024, which adds a measure of
  college readiness;
                     (D)  Sections 39.025(a), (a-2), and (a-3), which
  impose the following requirements for a student to receive a high
  school diploma:
                           (i)  requires a student to achieve, in each
  subject in the foundation curriculum, a satisfactory cumulative
  score on end-of-course assessment instruments;
                           (ii)  requires a student to achieve a
  minimum score on an end-of-course assessment instrument for the
  score to count toward the student's cumulative score described by
  Subparagraph (i);
                           (iii)  requires a student to achieve a score
  that meets or exceeds the score for satisfactory performance, as
  determined by the commissioner, on English III and Algebra II
  end-of-course assessment instruments to graduate under the
  recommended high school program; and
                           (iv)  requires a student to achieve a score
  that meets or exceeds the score indicating college readiness, as
  determined by the commissioner, on English III and Algebra II
  end-of-course assessment instruments to graduate under the
  advanced high school program;
                     (E)  Section 39.025(f), which provides transition
  provisions for assessment and for receipt of a high school diploma,
  including, for a student entering a grade above the ninth grade
  during the 2011-2012 school year, a requirement that the student:
                           (i)  be administered exit-level assessment
  instruments rather than end-of-course assessment instruments; and
                           (ii)  be required to perform satisfactorily
  on each exit-level assessment instrument to receive a high school
  diploma;
                     (F)  Section 39.027, which amends provisions for
  exemptions of and other accommodations for students of limited
  English proficiency concerning state-administered assessment
  instruments;
                     (G)  Section 39.106, which amends duties imposed
  on a campus intervention team assigned to a campus that fails to
  meet certain standards; and
                     (H)  Section 39.116, which adds transitional
  interventions and sanctions during the transition to the new public
  school accreditation system established by the 81st Regular Session
  of the legislature.
         (g)  This subsection and Subsection (f) expire September 1,
  2013.
         SECTION 2.  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, 2011.
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