Bill Text: TX HB1883 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to the administration of assessment instruments to public school students on religious holy days.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 32-4)
Status: (Passed) 2023-06-18 - Effective immediately [HB1883 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB1883-Enrolled.html
| H.B. No. 1883 | ||
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| relating to the administration of assessment instruments to public | ||
| school students on religious holy days. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 39, Education Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Section 39.0238 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 39.0238. CONSIDERATION OF RELIGIOUS HOLY DAYS IN | ||
| SCHEDULING ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS. (a) In this section, | ||
| "religious holy day or period of observance" means a holy day or a | ||
| period of holy days observed by a religion whose places of worship | ||
| would be exempt from property taxation under Section 11.20, Tax | ||
| Code. | ||
| (b) The board of trustees of a school district or the | ||
| governing body of an open-enrollment charter school may consider | ||
| the dates of religious holy days or periods of observance likely to | ||
| be observed by the students enrolled in the district or school | ||
| during the period set by the State Board of Education for the | ||
| administration of assessment instruments required under Section | ||
| 39.023 in establishing: | ||
| (1) the district's or school's calendar for that | ||
| school year; and | ||
| (2) the instructional days within that period on which | ||
| district or school students are administered the required | ||
| assessment instruments, provided that the board of trustees or | ||
| governing body may not exclude more than two instructional days | ||
| from that period based solely on the occurrence of a single | ||
| religious holy day or period of observance. | ||
| (c) In establishing a school calendar as described in | ||
| Subsection (b), the board of trustees of a school district or the | ||
| governing body of an open-enrollment charter school shall provide | ||
| for alternative dates for the administration of assessment | ||
| instruments required under Section 39.023 to a student who is | ||
| absent from school to observe a religious holy day or period of | ||
| observance on the date an assessment instrument is administered. | ||
| (d) The agency may adopt rules as necessary to ensure a | ||
| student may be administered an assessment instrument on an | ||
| alternative date as necessary to comply with this section. | ||
| SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024 | ||
| 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, 2023. | ||
| ______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
| President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
| I certify that H.B. No. 1883 was passed by the House on May 2, | ||
| 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 110, Nays 36, 1 present, not | ||
| voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B. | ||
| No. 1883 on May 25, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 101, Nays 38, | ||
| 1 present, not voting. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Chief Clerk of the House | ||
| I certify that H.B. No. 1883 was passed by the Senate, with | ||
| amendments, on May 22, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays | ||
| 0. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Secretary of the Senate | ||
| APPROVED: __________________ | ||
| Date | ||
| __________________ | ||
| Governor | ||
