Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 158 amends the Education Code to require each counselor at a public elementary, middle, or junior high school or an equivalent open-enrollment charter school to advise students and their parents or guardians on the importance of higher education, college preparatory course work, and financial aid. The bill requires that each high school student and the student's parent or guardian be provided information about higher education during the student's first and senior years of high school, including the importance of higher education, the advantages of completing the recommended or advanced high school curriculum, the disadvantages of taking courses for a high school equivalency examination versus the benefits of taking courses for a high school diploma, certain financial aid information, the automatic college admission program for students in the top 10 percent of their graduating classes, and requirements for aid under the TEXAS grant program.