By Dunnam H.B. No. 2517
75R2870 JSA-D
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 as provided by this section to
1-12 enable any interested person to compare the information for
1-13 specific institutions. To the extent practicable, the board shall
1-14 collect and report the information in conjunction with its related
1-15 duties under this subchapter. The information collected,
1-16 maintained, and reported under this section must include:
1-17 (1) financial information, including information on
1-18 revenue sources, tax rates, outstanding district debt, faculty
1-19 compensation, administrative and overhead costs, and tuition and
1-20 fees;
1-21 (2) student information, including student body
1-22 demographics;
1-23 (3) information on quality and types of programs and
1-24 facilities, faculty quality, libraries, and student services; and
2-1 (4) information on institutional outcomes, including
2-2 degree or certificate program completion rates, placement and
2-3 licensing rates of graduates, student loan default rates, and rates
2-4 of transfer to four-year 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, program completion rates, placement
2-12 and licensing rates, rates of transfer to four-year institutions of
2-13 higher education, and other information the board considers
2-14 appropriate. The board shall include comparable information for
2-15 proprietary schools, private junior colleges, and other
2-16 postsecondary vocational-technical institutions of education to the
2-17 extent practicable.
2-18 (c) The board shall appoint an advisory committee to assist
2-19 the board in identifying information, facilitating the collection
2-20 of information, and developing formats and methods of presenting
2-21 and distributing information under this section. The advisory
2-22 committee must include members representing:
2-23 (1) the governor;
2-24 (2) the Texas Workforce Commission;
2-25 (3) the Legislative Budget Board;
2-26 (4) the state auditor;
2-27 (5) the standing committees of each house of the
3-1 legislature with primary jurisdiction over state appropriations and
3-2 higher education;
3-3 (6) an association or organization representing public
3-4 junior college districts; and
3-5 (7) students and members of the general public.
3-6 SECTION 2. Chapter 321, Government Code, is amended by
3-7 adding Section 321.0135 to read as follows:
3-8 Sec. 321.0135. INDEPENDENT AUDIT OF JUNIOR COLLEGE DISTRICT.
3-9 (a) At a reasonable time in advance of an independent audit of a
3-10 junior college district, the State Auditor shall provide the
3-11 presiding officer of the district's governing body and the chief
3-12 executive officer of the district with written information relating
3-13 to the procedures for and scope of the audit. The State Auditor
3-14 shall include in the materials information describing:
3-15 (1) how the appropriate representatives of the
3-16 district may participate in the audit planning process; and
3-17 (2) how the district may request information or
3-18 assistance in preparing for the audit from the State Auditor or the
3-19 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
3-20 (b) The State Auditor shall seek the recommendations of the
3-21 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in preparing materials to
3-22 be provided under Subsection (a). To the extent the coordinating
3-23 board determines appropriate, the coordinating board shall provide
3-24 a public junior college district with information or assistance in
3-25 preparing for an audit.
3-26 SECTION 3. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
3-27 (b) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
4-1 begin to comply with new duties imposed on the board by this Act
4-2 not later than September 1, 1998.
4-3 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.