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Senate Bill 1146 |
Senate Author: Shapiro et al. |
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Effective: 6-17-05 |
House Sponsor: Morrison |
Senate Bill 1146 amends the Education Code to convert the current middle college education pilot program for students in grades 11 and 12 who are at risk of dropping out of school or who want to accelerate high school completion into a permanent program called the Early College Education Program and to expand participation eligibility to include students in grades 9 and 10. The bill allows participating students, on or before the fifth anniversary of the date of the student's first day of high school, to receive either an associate degree or at least 60 semester credit hours toward a bachelor's degree in addition to the high school diploma. The bill specifies the issues that each articulation agreement with an institution of higher education participating in the program must address and requires the P-16 Council to provide guidance in case of any conflict that arises between parties to an articulation agreement. Senate Bill 1146 also sets out the rulemaking authority of the commissioner of education and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in relation to the program.