HBA-NLM C.S.H.B. 618 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 618 By: Dukes Public Education 5/4/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, a school district is not required to report the certification status of teachers in the district. C.S.H.B. 618 provides that, if a superintendent anticipates that a course will, or if in fact allows a course to, be taught by an inappropriately certified or uncertified person for 30 or more consecutive instructional days, the superintendent must at that time notify in writing the parents of each student enrolled in the course. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter B, Chapter 21, Education Code, by adding Section 21.057, as follows: Sec. 21.057. NOTICE TO PARENT OF CERTIFICATION STATUS. Defines "inappropriately certified or uncertified person" and "parent." Provides that, if a superintendent anticipates that a course will, or if in fact allows a course to, be taught by an inappropriately certified or uncertified person for 30 or more consecutive instructional days, the superintendent must at that time notify in writing the parents of each student enrolled in the course. Provides that the superintendent must make a good faith effort to provide the notice in English and the parent's primary language, if the primary language of the parent receiving notice under this section is a language other than English. Specifies that a superintendent providing notice under this section must retain copies of the notice on file for public inspection. SECTION 2. Provides that this Act applies beginning with the 1999-2000 school year. SECTION 3. Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 618 modifies the original in the caption to provide that this Act relates to written notice from superintendents, rather than school districts, to parents on whether teachers are appropriately certified by the state. C.S.H.B. 618 modifies the original in SECTION 1 (Section 28.022, Education Code) by removing the proposed amendment, which provided that the school district shall adopt a policy that requires the district to give written notice to a parent of the certification status under Subchapter B, Chapter 21, Education Code (Certification of Educators), of the student's teacher in each class or subject. The original also provided a new section title to read "Notice to Parent of Student Performance." C.S.H.B. 618 modifies the original by adding a new SECTION 1 (Section 21.057, Education Code) to define "inappropriately certified or uncertified person" and "parent." The substitute provides that, if a superintendent anticipates that a course will, or if in fact allows a course to, be taught by an inappropriately certified or uncertified person for 30 or more consecutive instructional days, the superintendent must at that time notify in writing the parents of each student enrolled in the course. In addition, the substitute provides that the superintendent must make a good faith effort to provide the notice in English and the parent's primary language, if the primary language of the parent receiving notice under this section is a language other than English. The substitute specifies that a superintendent providing notice under this section must retain copies of the notice on file for public inspection.