HBA-LCA H.B. 2712 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2712
By: Dutton
Public Education
4/20/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Administered by the Texas Education Agency, the High School Equivalency
Examination Program is designed to provide students who have no reasonable
chance of earning a high school diploma with an alternative to leaving high
school with no credential.   The program prepares students to earn a high
school equivalency certificate through successful completion of the General
Educational Development (GED) examination. Currently, the minimum age is 17
years for a person to take the examination, although an adjudicated or
state-supervised 16-year old is eligible to take the test if a public
agency legally responsible for or supervising the person recommends it.
Limiting the potential pool of test-takers to those who are 16 years or
older and who are wards of the state or under the supervision of a public
agency may discourage those teenagers who receive social services from a
public agency, but who are not directly supervised. 

H.B. 2712 authorizes a person who is 16 years of age or older to take the
high school equivalency examination upon recommendation of a public agency
providing social services to the person, rather than a public agency
supervising or having court-ordered custody of the person. 

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 Section 7.111(a), Education Code, to authorize a person
who is 16 years of age or older to take the high school equivalency
examination upon recommendation of a public agency providing social
services to the person, rather than a public agency supervising or having
court-ordered custody of the person. 

SECTION 2.  Provides that this Act applies beginning with the 1999-2000
school year. 

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.
  Effective date: upon passage.