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.