By Madla                                         S.B. No. 488

      75R5224 JSA-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the calculation of the grade point average of a student

 1-3     who repeats a course at an institution of higher education.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is

 1-6     amended by adding Section 51.9315 to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 51.9315.  EFFECT OF REPEATING UNDERGRADUATE COURSE ON

 1-8     GRADE POINT AVERAGE.  (a)  Each institution of higher education

 1-9     shall adopt a uniform policy applicable to all students of the

1-10     institution for calculating the grade point average of a student

1-11     who completes a course at the institution that the student has

1-12     previously completed at the same institution.  The policy must

1-13     provide for one of the following methods of calculating the

1-14     student's grade point average:

1-15                 (1)  the higher grade received by the student for the

1-16     course is included in the calculation and the lower grade is

1-17     excluded, except that if the student receives the same grade both

1-18     times the student completes the course, the grade received when the

1-19     student repeats the course is included and the former grade is

1-20     excluded; or

1-21                 (2)  the grade received when the student repeats the

1-22     course is included in the calculation and the grade received the

1-23     first time the student completed the course is excluded from the

1-24     calculation.

 2-1           (b)  A policy adopted under Subsection (a) does not apply to

 2-2     a course that a student repeats in a term or semester in which the

 2-3     student repeats one or more courses that could result in the

 2-4     exclusion of a total of more than 15 credit hours from the

 2-5     calculation of the student's grade point average under the

 2-6     institution's policy adopted under Subsection (a).

 2-7           (c)  For purposes of this section, courses completed by a

 2-8     student are considered the same course only if the content of each

 2-9     course does not vary significantly from the content of the other

2-10     course or courses, as determined by the institution.  The content

2-11     of a course that changes because of advances in knowledge or

2-12     technology is not considered to vary significantly from the content

2-13     of the course before the change for purposes of this section solely

2-14     because of that change.

2-15           (d)  If a student enrolls in the same course at the same

2-16     institution more than two times, each of the student's grades in

2-17     the course shall be included in the calculation of the student's

2-18     grade point average.

2-19           (e)  This section does not apply to:

2-20                 (1)  a graduate-level course or a course in which a

2-21     student enrolls for credit in a postgraduate program; or

2-22                 (2)  a course that a student completed the first time

2-23     before the fall semester 1998.

2-24           (f)  The exclusion of a grade received for a course under

2-25     this section does not authorize the institution to change the

2-26     student's permanent record.  The transcript and permanent record of

2-27     a student from whose grade point average calculation a grade for a

 3-1     course is excluded under this section must include the same

 3-2     information for that course, including the grade received, that

 3-3     would otherwise be included if the grade were included in the

 3-4     calculation of the student's grade point average.

 3-5           SECTION 2.  This Act applies to the calculation of a grade

 3-6     point average beginning with the fall semester 1998.  Each

 3-7     institution of higher education shall implement this Act after this

 3-8     Act takes effect until the fall semester 1998 concurrently with

 3-9     routine computer acquisition, maintenance, and upgrade.

3-10           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

3-11     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

3-12     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

3-13     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-14     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

3-15     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

3-16     passage, and it is so enacted.