This section requires the agency to set criteria for identifying and classifying emergent bilingual students, requires parent approval for program entry, exit, or placement, and sets notice, testing, transfer, and reenrollment rules.
Sec. 29.056. ENROLLMENT OF STUDENTS IN PROGRAM. (a) The agency shall establish standardized criteria for the identification, assessment, and classification of emergent bilingual students eligible for entry into the program or exit from the program. The student's parent must approve a student's entry into the program, exit from the program, or placement in the program. The school district or parent may appeal the decision under Section 29.064. The criteria for identification, assessment, and classification may include: (1) results of a home language survey conducted within four weeks of each student's enrollment to determine the language normally used in the home and the language normally used by the student, conducted in English and the home language, signed by the student's parents if the student is in kindergarten through grade 8 or by the student if the student is in grades 9 through 12, and kept in the student's permanent folder by the language proficiency assessment committee; (2) the results of an agency-approved English language proficiency test administered to all students identified through the home survey as normally speaking a language other than English to determine the level of English language proficiency, with students in kindergarten or grade 1 being administered an oral English proficiency test and students in grades 2 through 12 being administered an oral and written English proficiency test; and (3) the results of an agency-approved proficiency test in the primary language administered to all students identified under Subdivision (2) as being of limited English proficiency to determine the level of primary language proficiency, with students in kindergarten or grade 1 being administered an oral primary language proficiency test and students in grades 2 through 12 being administered an oral and written primary language proficiency test. (b) Tests under Subsection (a) shall be administered by professionals or paraprofessionals with the appropriate English and primary language skills and the training required by the test publisher. (c) The language proficiency assessment committee may classify a student as emergent bilingual if: (1) the student's ability in English is so limited or the student's disabilities are so severe that assessment procedures cannot be administered; (2) the student's score or relative degree of achievement on the agency-approved English proficiency test is below the levels established by the agency as indicative of reasonable proficiency; (3) the student's primary language proficiency score as measured by an agency-approved test is greater than the student's proficiency in English; or (4) the language proficiency assessment committee determines, based on other information, including a teacher evaluation, parental viewpoint, or student interview, that the student's primary language proficiency is greater than the student's proficiency in English or that the student is not reasonably proficient in English. (d) Not later than the 10th day after the date of the student's classification as an emergent bilingual student, the language proficiency assessment committee shall give written notice of the classification to the student's parent. The notice must be in English and the parent's primary language. The parents of students eligible to participate in the required bilingual education program shall be informed of the benefits of the bilingual education or special language program and that it is an integral part of the school program. (e) The language proficiency assessment committee may retain, for documentation purposes, all records obtained under this section. (f) The district may not refuse to provide instruction in a language other than English to a student solely because the student has a disability. (g) A district may transfer an emergent bilingual student out of a bilingual education or special language program for the first time or a subsequent time if the student is able to participate equally in a regular all-English instructional program as determined by: (1) agency-approved tests administered at the end of each school year to determine the extent to which the student has developed oral and written language proficiency and specific language skills in English; (2) satisfactory performance on the reading language arts assessment instrument under Section 39.023(a) or an English language arts assessment instrument under Section 39.023(c), as applicable, with the assessment instrument administered in English, or, if the student is enrolled in the first or second grade, an achievement score at or above the 40th percentile in the reading and language arts sections of an English standardized test approved by the agency; and (3) agency-approved criterion-referenced tests and the results of a subjective teacher evaluation. (h) If later evidence suggests that a student who has been transferred out of a bilingual education or special language program has inadequate English proficiency and achievement, the language proficiency assessment committee may reenroll the student in the program. Classification of students for reenrollment must be based on the criteria required by this section. Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 260, Sec. 1, eff. May 30, 1995. Amended by: Acts 2006, 79th Leg., 3rd C.S., Ch. 5 (H.B. 1), Sec. 3.06, eff. May 31, 2006. Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 973 (S.B. 2066), Sec. 10, eff. September 1, 2021. Acts 2025, 89th Leg., 2nd C.S., Ch. 6 (H.B. 8), Sec. 4.007, eff. December 4, 2025.