By: Taylor of Galveston S.B. No. 825
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to school district discretion to administer college
  preparation assessment instruments to public school students at
  state cost.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 39.0261(a), Education Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (a)  In addition to the assessment instruments otherwise
  authorized or required by this subchapter:
               (1)  each school year and at state cost, a school
  district may [shall] administer to students in the spring of the
  eighth grade an established, valid, reliable, and nationally
  norm-referenced preliminary college preparation assessment
  instrument for the purpose of diagnosing the academic strengths and
  deficiencies of students before entrance into high school;
               (2)  each school year and at state cost, a school
  district may [shall] administer to students in the 10th grade an
  established, valid, reliable, and nationally norm-referenced
  preliminary college preparation assessment instrument for the
  purpose of measuring a student's progress toward readiness for
  college and the workplace; and
               (3)  high school students in the spring of the 11th
  grade or during the 12th grade may select and take once, at state
  cost, one of the valid, reliable, and nationally norm-referenced
  assessment instruments used by colleges and universities as part of
  their undergraduate admissions processes.
         SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with the 2017-2018
  school year.
         SECTION 3.  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, 2017.