Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 400 amends the Education Code to require school districts with one or more high schools ranked among the bottom 10 percent in percentage of college-bound graduates for two consecutive years in a preceding five-year period and the colleges or universities nearest to those districts to develop plans to increase college enrollment among the graduates in those districts. The bill requires the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to identify each district subject to the requirement and to notify each district and the nearest college or university of the requirement's applicability not later than May 1 of each year.

            If a district does not already have a plan in place in accordance with these provisions, the bill requires the district and college or university that receives such notice to develop, not later than August 1 of the same year, a plan to increase the percentage of the district's graduates who enroll in a college or university the year after graduation. The district must file the plan with the commissioner of education and the commissioner of higher education and implement the plan at the start of the school year following the year in which it receives notice.

            House Bill 400 also requires the coordinating board to administer and coordinate a Higher Education Assistance Pilot Program to provide information about college enrollment, including information about admissions and financial aid, to prospective students in three areas in the state with the highest number of students who do not attend college and to assist those students in completing enrollment and financial aid applications.