HBA-MSH H.B. 2118 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2118
By: Olivo
Public Education
3/26/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, a student is required to pass the exit-level Texas
Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) tests before being allowed to graduate
from high school. Twenty percent of students fail the exitlevel TAAS tests,
many of whom subsequently dropout without receiving a diploma.  House Bill
2118 creates alternative graduation criteria for students who do not pass
the TAAS tests. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the commissioner of education in
SECTION 1 (Section 28.025 Education Code) and SECTION 2 of this bill. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 2118 amends the Education Code to require the commissioner of
education to prescribe by rule no later than June 1, 2002 alternative
graduation criteria that a student may meet to graduate and receive a
diploma without complying with provisions requiring satisfactory
performance on a secondary exit-level assessment instrument.   The bill
provides that the criteria include a student's grade point average, 12th
grade class ranking, individual and combined scores on the assessment
instruments, and overall academic performance in grades 9-12.  The bill
requires a committee composed of the student's high school principal or a
designee and two teachers in the student's district who teach at the high
school level to determine whether a student has met the alternative
graduation criteria.  The bill requires the commissioner to adopt rules no
later than June 1, 2002 relating to the selection and operation of a
committee, including notification of the student and the student's high
school registrar of the committee's decision.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.  The Act applies beginning with the 2002-2003 school
year.