By Dunnam H.B. No. 2517
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2517:
By Rabuck C.S.H.B. No. 2517
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to state oversight and evaluation of public junior college
1-3 districts and other postsecondary institutions of vocational or
1-4 technical education.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
1-7 amended by adding Section 61.0514 to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 61.0514. COMPARATIVE INFORMATION RELATING TO
1-9 POSTSECONDARY VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
1-10 (a) The board shall collect, maintain, and report information
1-11 relating to public junior colleges and public technical institutes
1-12 as provided by this section to enable any interested person to
1-13 compare the information for specific institutions. To the extent
1-14 practical, the board shall collect and report the information in
1-15 conjunction with its related duties under this subchapter. The
1-16 information collected, maintained, and reported under this section
1-17 must include:
1-18 (1) financial information, including information on
1-19 revenue sources, tax rates, outstanding district debt, faculty
1-20 compensation, administrative expenditures, and tuition and fees;
1-21 (2) student information, including student body
1-22 demographics;
1-23 (3) information on quality and types of programs,
1-24 faculty quality, and libraries; and
2-1 (4) information on institutional outcomes, including
2-2 degree completion rates, placement rates of graduates, student loan
2-3 default rates, and rates of transfer to public four-year
2-4 institutions of higher education.
2-5 (b) To the extent practicable and consistent with the
2-6 purposes of Section 61.051(m), the board shall provide relevant
2-7 information for public junior colleges and public technical
2-8 institutes in the materials published and distributed under Section
2-9 61.051(m) in a comparative format to enable persons choosing an
2-10 institution in which to enroll to compare institution costs,
2-11 quality and types of programs, completion rates, placement rates,
2-12 rates of transfer to public four-year institutions of higher
2-13 education, and other information the board considers appropriate.
2-14 The board shall include comparable information for degree-granting
2-15 proprietary schools to the extent practicable.
2-16 (c) The board shall appoint an advisory committee to assist
2-17 the board in identifying information, facilitating the collection
2-18 of information, and developing formats and methods of presenting
2-19 and distributing information under this section. The advisory
2-20 committee must include members representing:
2-21 (1) the governor;
2-22 (2) the Texas Workforce Commission;
2-23 (3) the Legislative Budget Board;
2-24 (4) the state auditor;
2-25 (5) the standing committees of each house of the
2-26 legislature with primary jurisdiction over state appropriations and
2-27 higher education;
3-1 (6) a public technical institute;
3-2 (7) a statewide association of junior colleges; and
3-3 (8) students and members of the general public.
3-4 SECTION 2. Chapter 321, Government Code, is amended by
3-5 adding Section 321.0137 to read as follows:
3-6 Sec. 321.0137. INDEPENDENT AUDIT OF JUNIOR COLLEGE DISTRICT.
3-7 (a) At a reasonable time in advance of an independent audit of a
3-8 junior college district, the State Auditor shall provide the
3-9 presiding officer of the district's governing body and the chief
3-10 executive officer of the district with written information relating
3-11 to the procedures for and scope of the audit. The State Auditor
3-12 shall include in the materials information describing:
3-13 (1) how the appropriate representatives of the
3-14 district may participate in the audit planning process; and
3-15 (2) how the district may request information or
3-16 assistance in preparing for the audit from the State Auditor.
3-17 (b) The State Auditor shall seek the recommendations of the
3-18 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in preparing materials to
3-19 be provided under Subsection (a).
3-20 SECTION 3. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
3-21 (b) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
3-22 begin to comply with new duties imposed on the board by this Act
3-23 not later than September 1, 1998.
3-24 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-25 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-26 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-27 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.