83R10642 MEW-D
 
  By: Farney H.B. No. 2662
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to requiring a personal financial literacy credit for
  graduation under the recommended and advanced high school programs.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 28.002(a), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (a)  Each school district that offers kindergarten through
  grade 12 shall offer, as a required curriculum:
               (1)  a foundation curriculum that includes:
                     (A)  English language arts;
                     (B)  mathematics;
                     (C)  science; and
                     (D)  social studies, consisting of Texas, United
  States, and world history, government, economics, with emphasis on
  the free enterprise system and its benefits, [and] geography, and
  personal financial literacy; and
               (2)  an enrichment curriculum that includes:
                     (A)  to the extent possible, languages other than
  English;
                     (B)  health, with emphasis on the importance of
  proper nutrition and exercise;
                     (C)  physical education;
                     (D)  fine arts;
                     (E)  career and technology education;
                     (F)  technology applications; and
                     (G)  religious literature, including the Hebrew
  Scriptures (Old Testament) and New Testament, and its impact on
  history and literature.
         SECTION 2.  Section 28.0021(b), Education Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (b)  Each school district and each open-enrollment charter
  school that offers a high school program shall provide to a student
  instruction in personal financial literacy in any course meeting
  the requirements for a social studies [an economics] credit under
  Section 28.025, using materials approved by the State Board of
  Education.  The instruction in personal financial literacy must
  include instruction on completing the application for federal
  student aid provided by the United States Department of
  Education.  In fulfilling the requirement to provide financial
  literacy instruction under this section, a school district or
  open-enrollment charter school may use an existing state, federal,
  private, or nonprofit program that provides students without charge
  the instruction described under this section. [Each district and
  each open-enrollment charter school that offers a high school
  program shall ensure that a district or charter school student
  enrolled at an institution of higher education in a dual credit
  course meeting the requirements for an economics credit under
  Section 28.025 receives the instruction described under this
  subsection.]
         SECTION 3.  Section 28.025(b-1), Education Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (b-1)  The State Board of Education by rule shall require
  that:
               (1)  except as provided by Subsection (b-2), the
  curriculum requirements for the recommended and advanced high
  school programs under Subsection (a) include a requirement that
  students successfully complete:
                     (A)  four credits in each subject of the
  foundation curriculum under Section 28.002(a)(1), including at
  least one-half credit in government, [and] at least one-half credit
  in economics, and at least one-half credit in personal financial
  literacy under Section 28.0021, to meet the social studies
  requirement;
                     (B)  for the recommended high school program, two
  credits in the same language in a language other than English under
  Section 28.002(a)(2)(A) and, for the advanced high school program,
  three credits in the same language in a language other than English
  under Section 28.002(a)(2)(A); and
                     (C)  for the recommended high school program, six
  elective credits and, for the advanced high school program, five
  elective credits;
               (2)  one or more credits offered in the required
  curriculum for the recommended and advanced high school programs
  include a research writing component; and
               (3)  the curriculum requirements for the minimum,
  recommended, and advanced high school programs under Subsection (a)
  include a requirement that students successfully complete:
                     (A)  one credit in fine arts under Section
  28.002(a)(2)(D); and
                     (B)  except as provided by Subsection (b-11), one
  credit in physical education under Section 28.002(a)(2)(C).
         SECTION 4.  Sections 28.0021(b) and 28.025(b-1), Education
  Code, as amended by this Act, apply only to students entering the
  ninth grade during the 2013-2014 school year or a later school year.
  For students entering a grade above ninth grade during the
  2013-2014 school year, Sections 28.0021(b) and 28.025(b-1),
  Education Code, as those sections existed before amendment by this
  Act, apply, and those sections are continued in effect for that
  purpose.
         SECTION 5.  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, 2013.