C.S.H.B. 591 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


C.S.H.B. 591
By: Delisi
Defense Affairs and State-Federal Relations
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Military dependent children must go through frequent moves that often
disrupt their educational progress.  Records not transferring, credits not
being awarded and repetitive test taking all present challenges that can
frustrate a military family that transfers to and from various schools.
In the 2001 legislative session, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) was
given the authority to negotiate reciprocity agreements with other states
in order to better facilitate the transfer of military families and
dependents.  C.S.H.B. 591 requires the TEA to pursue reciprocity
agreements with other states, giving priority to certain states with a
large number of military personnel.  The bill would require the TEA to
report the results of its efforts. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or
institution. 

ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Requires the TEA to pursue reciprocity agreements with other
states, addressing procedures for transferring student records, awarding
credits for completed coursework and permitting a student to satisfy
exit-level examination requirements with exit-level examinations
administered in another state. 

SECTION 2.  Requires the TEA to give priority to agreements with Florida,
Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. 

This SECTION also requires the TEA to report the results of its efforts to
specific members of the Legislature, explaining also, for each state with
which agreements are not made, each factor contributing to the failure to
reach an agreement. 

SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, unless it receives
the necessary votes for immediate effect. 


COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 591 modifies the original bill by adding to SECTION 2 to require
the TEA to give priority in reciprocity agreements to certain states.
SECTION 2 also changes the reporting requirements to require the TEA to
report in detail factors contributing to the failure to reach agreements
with states.