| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the period for which an applicant for admission as an |
|
|
undergraduate student to a public institution of higher education |
|
|
is entitled to an academic fresh start. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 51.931(c), Education Code, is amended to |
|
|
read as follows: |
|
|
(c) If an applicant elects to seek admission under this |
|
|
section, a public institution of higher education: |
|
|
(1) [,] in considering the applicant for admission, |
|
|
may [shall] not consider academic course credits or grades earned |
|
|
by the applicant five [10] or more years before [prior to] the |
|
|
starting date of the semester in which the applicant seeks to |
|
|
enroll; and |
|
|
(2) if the institution enrolls the applicant as a |
|
|
student, shall award the applicant academic credit for a number of |
|
|
semester credit hours or the equivalent equal to the lesser of: |
|
|
(A) the number of semester credit hours or the |
|
|
equivalent earned by the applicant during the period described by |
|
|
Subdivision (1); or |
|
|
(B) six semester credit hours or the |
|
|
equivalent. [An applicant who makes the election to apply under |
|
|
this section and is admitted as a student may not receive any course |
|
|
credit for courses undertaken 10 or more years prior to enrollment |
|
|
under this section.] |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 61.0595(c), Education Code, is amended |
|
|
to read as follows: |
|
|
(c) For a student enrolled in a baccalaureate program under |
|
|
Section 51.931, semester credit hours earned by the student five |
|
|
[10] or more years before the date the student begins the new degree |
|
|
program under Section 51.931 are not counted for purposes of |
|
|
determining whether the student has previously earned the number of |
|
|
semester credit hours specified by Subsection (a). |
|
|
SECTION 3. Section 51.931(c), Education Code, as amended by |
|
|
this Act, applies beginning with admissions to a public institution |
|
|
of higher education for the 2023 fall semester. |
|
|
SECTION 4. Section 61.0595(c), Education Code, as amended |
|
|
by this Act, applies beginning with funding recommendations made |
|
|
under Section 61.059, Education Code, for the state fiscal biennium |
|
|
beginning September 1, 2025, for semester credit hours earned by |
|
|
students enrolling in a baccalaureate degree program at a public |
|
|
institution of higher education under Section 51.931, Education |
|
|
Code, as added by this Act, for the 2023 fall semester or a |
|
|
subsequent semester or term. Funding recommendations for semester |
|
|
credit hours earned by a student who enrolled in a baccalaureate |
|
|
degree program at a public institution of higher education under |
|
|
Section 51.931, Education Code, as amended by this Act, before the |
|
|
2023 fall semester are governed by the law in effect immediately |
|
|
before the effective date of this Act, and the former law is |
|
|
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, 2023. |