HBA-KMH H.B. 713 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 713 By: Cuellar Higher Education 3/5/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE A national study reviewed by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board showed that college participation and graduation rates decrease as family income decreases. In Texas, at least 46 percent of all households and 62 percent of African-American and Hispanic households have annual incomes of less than $25,000. The rising cost of tuition, fees, and other expenses, such as room, board, books, and transportation, has made attending a Texas institution of higher education prohibitively expensive for many Texas students and their families. C.S.H.B. 713 creates the Texas Gateway to the Future Grant Program, which establishes a grant program intended to streamline and simplify the award process and to focus grant money directly toward those Texas students attending or planning to attend the state's institutions of higher education that show the greatest amount of financial need. This bill also requires school districts and institutions of higher education, as well as counselors and experts in the field of financial aid, to cooperate in the compilation, publication, and distribution of relevant information. This bill further provides for the creation of a center and an advisory committee to assist in the coordination of this program. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill expressly delegates rulemaking authority to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in SECTION 1 (Section 56.303) of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 56, Education Code, by adding Subchapter M, as follows: SUBCHAPTER M. TEXAS GATEWAY TO THE FUTURE GRANT PROGRAM Sec. 56.301. DEFINITIONS. (1) Defines "coordinating board" as the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. (2) Defines "eligible institution" as an institution of higher education or a private or independent institution of higher education. (3) Defines "private or independent institution of higher education," "public junior college," and "public technical institute" as assigned under Section 61.003, Education Code. Currently, Section 61.003 defines these terms, as follows: "Institution of higher education means" any public technical institute, public junior college, public senior college or university, medical or dental unit, or other agency of higher education as defined in this section. "Public junior college" means any junior college certified by the board in accordance with Section 61.063 of this chapter. "Public technical institute" means the Texas State Technical College System. Sec. 56.302. PROGRAM NAME; PURPOSE. Provides that the student financial assistance program authorized by this subchapter is known as the Texas Gateway to the Future Grant Program (program), and provides for a grant awarded under the program to be known as a Texas Gateway grant (TG grant). Sets forth that the purpose of this subchapter is to provide a grant of money to enable eligible students to attend public and private institutions of higher education in this state. Sec. 56.303. ADMINISTRATION OF PROGRAM. Requires the coordinating board to administer the program, to adopt rules necessary to implement the program or the subchapter, and to consult with the student financial aid officers of eligible institutions in developing the rules. Requires the coordinating board to adopt rules to provide a TG grant to an eligible student enrolled in an eligible institution of higher education in the most efficient manner possible. Prohibits the total amount of TG grants awarded from exceeding the amount available for the program from appropriations, gifts, grants, or other funds. Requires the coordinating board and eligible institutions to give highest priority to awarding grants to students who demonstrate the greatest financial need. Sec. 56.304. INITIAL ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANT. Sets forth that for a person to be eligible for the program, the person must be a resident of this state as determined by coordinating board rules, a graduate of a public or a private high school in this state accredited by an organization recognized by the State Board of Education who graduated not earlier than the 1998-1999 school year and who completed the recommended or advanced high school curriculum established under 28.025 (High School Diploma and Certificate; Academic Achievement Record), Education Code. Sets forth further that the person must meet financial need requirements as defined by the coordinating board, be enrolled in an undergraduate degree or certificate program at an eligible institution, enroll for at least onehalf of a full course load as an entering freshman in an undergraduate degree or certificate program, and comply with any other requirement adopted by the coordinating board under this subchapter. Prohibits eligibility to a person who has received a baccalaureate degree or has completed 150 semester credit hours, or the equivalent. Authorizes a person to complete the advanced high school curriculum requirements by attending courses at the student's high school or by completing courses offered by distance learning under Section 28.002(1), Education Code. Section 28.002(l), Education Code, does not exist under current law. Applies the advanced curriculum requirement only to a person who attended a high school that did not offer all the necessary courses to be certified by the commissioner and completed all of the high school's recommended or advanced curriculum courses or the equivalent. Sec. 56.305. CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS. Authorizes a person to continue to receive a TG grant during each semester or term in which the person continues to be eligible, but only if the person meets the specified financial aid requirements, is enrolled in an appropriate undergraduate degree or certificate program, is enrolled for at least one-half of a full course load, makes satisfactory academic progress toward an undergraduate degree or certificate, and complies with any other requirement as determined by the coordinating board. Prohibits further receipt of a TG grant if a person fails to meet any of the requirements during a semester until one complete semester passes if the person completes the subsequent semester and meets all the requirements. Authorizes continued eligibility if a person who received a TG grant and received an undergraduate certificate or associate degree subsequently enrolls within 12 months in a program leading to a higher-level undergraduate degree. Defines satisfactory academic progress under this chapter as completing 80 percent of the semester credit hours attempted in the student's most recent semester or term, and earning an overall grade point average of at least 2.0 on a 4.0 point scale, or the equivalent, on previously attempted coursework at institutions of higher education. Sec. 56.306. GRANT USE. Authorizes the person receiving a TG grant to use the money to pay any usual and customary cost of attendance at an institution of higher education incurred by the student. Prohibits distribution of all or part of the proceeds of a TG grant to an eligible person by an institution if all tuition and required fees owed by the person to the institution have not been paid. Sec. 56.307. GRANT AMOUNT. Sets forth, in Subsections (a)-(d) how the amount of a grant is determined for persons enrolled either full-time or part-time at eligible institutions. Prohibits the TG grant from being reduced by any gift aid for which a person is eligible, unless the total sum of a gift aid and TG grant exceeds the total cost of attendance at an eligible institution. Requires the coordinating board to publish the amounts of each TG grant for each type of institution for the next academic year not later than January 1 of each year. Sec. 56.308. NOTIFICATION OF PROGRAM; RESPONSIBILITIES OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS. Requires the coordinating board to distribute to each eligible institution of higher education and to each school district a copy of the rules adopted under this subchapter. Requires each school district to notify its middle, junior high, and high school students and the parents of those students of the program and the eligibility requirements of the program in a manner that assists the district in implementing a strategy adopted by the district under Section 11.252(a)(4) (District-Level Planning and Decision-Making), Education Code. Requires the coordinating board to ensure that each student's official transcript or diploma indicates whether the student has completed or will complete the recommended high school curriculum established under Section 28.025 (High School Diploma and Certificate; Academic Achievement), Education Code, not later that the end of the student's junior year. Makes a conforming change. Sec. 56.309. FUNDING. Authorizes the coordinating board to solicit and accept gifts and grants from any public or private source for the purposes of this subchapter. SECTION 2. Amends Section 54.5021(c), Education Code, to delineate Subchapter M, Chapter 56, Education Code, as the guidelines for making grant awards funded by this subsection rather than "scholarship awards to needy and deserving students." SECTION 3. Amends Section 56.039, Education Code, to make a conforming change. SECTION 4. Amends Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code by adding Section 61.0776, as follows: Sec. 61.0776. CENTER FOR FINANCIAL AID INFORMATION. Requires the board, among others involved in the distribution of financial aid for education, to develop a center for financial aid information to disseminate relevant information. Requires the board to create and appoint an advisory committee of experts in financial aid administration, public school counselors, and other persons with relevant insight. Authorizes the board to designate an entity with appropriate facilities and resources to operate or house the center. Requires the center to maintain a toll-free telephone line staffed by knowledgeable persons regarding financial aid information. Requires the center to publish relevant information on the advice of the advisory committee and furnish a written copy to each middle, junior high, and high school counselor in the state and post the information on an Internet website accessible to the public. SECTION 5. Amends Section 11.252(a), Education Code, by adding Subdivision (4) providing that each school district's improvement plan must include strategies for providing to middle, junior high, and high school students information about higher education, the TG grant program, and the need for students to make informed curriculum choices. Redesignates existing Subdivisions (4)-(7) to Subdivisions (5)-(8). SECTION 6. Amends Section 21.451(a), Education Code, to provide that the minimum standards of staff development provided by a school district must include guidelines for the cooperation of principals, counselors, and teachers to provide middle, junior high, and high school students and those students' parents with certain information about higher education. SECTION 7. Amends Section 28.002, Education Code, by adding Subsection (l), as follows: (l) Authorizes a school district to offer courses required for completion of the recommended or advanced curriculum by distance learning methods. Prohibits a school district from offering more than 10 percent of the courses of the recommended or advanced curriculum for a school by distance learning methods. SECTION 8. Amends Section 151.423, Tax Code, to authorize reimbursement for grants under Subchapter M, Chapter 56, Education Code, rather than for student financial assistance grants offered under Chapter 56, Education Code. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 9. Repealer: Sections 54.215 and 54.216, Education Code. Currently, Section 54.215 (Texas National Guard/ROTC Students) makes certain exemptions from tuition and fees for students selected to participate in the program. Currently, Section 54.216 (Texas New Horizons Scholarships), Education Code, provides for the issuing of grants to qualified students from money available in the Texas New Horizons Scholarship Trust Fund. SECTION 10. Repealer: Subchapter F, Chapter 56, Education Code. This section is effective June 1, 1999. Currently, Subchapter F (Texas Educational Opportunity Grant Program) provides for grants of money to eligible students to attend eligible institutions of higher education in Texas. SECTION 11. Repealer: Subchapter L, Chapter 61, Education Code. This section is effective June 1, 1999. Currently, Subchapter L (Financial Aid for Professional Nursing Students and Vocational Nursing Students and Loan Repayment Program for Certain Nurses) provides for the establishment of a scholarship program, matching fund program, or loan repayment program to promote the health care and educational needs of the state. SECTION 12. Transfers any money, wherever situated, which was appropriated or collected for any program abolished under Sections 9, 10, or 11 of this Act to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for use in the Texas Gateway to the Future Grant Program. SECTION 13. Requires the coordinating board to review and study the laws relating to student financial aid, grant, and scholarship programs or tuition and fee waivers or exemptions, to describe possible improvements to existing programs to maximize the benefits to the state and its students, and to make recommendations for legislative or administrative action that may be taken to consolidate, expand, or otherwise modify existing programs or create new programs. Requires the coordinating board to report its activities and findings to the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the house of representatives not later than December 1, 2000. SECTION 14. Authorizes a person receiving an exemption under Section 54.215 (Texas National Guard/ROTC Students) to continue to receive the exemption until the person is no longer eligible for it, as Section 54.215 existed on January 1, 1999. Requires the Texas Gateway to the Future Grant Program to cover the costs of the continued exemptions under Section 54.215. SECTION 15. Requires the coordinating board, in conjunction with the commissioner of education, to conduct a study relating to the performance of students at institutions of higher education as that performance relates to whether a student completed the recommended or advanced high school curriculum. Sets forth considerations the board is required to include. Requires the board to issue the final report describing the findings of the study and any recommendations for legislation or administrative action not later than January 1, 2003. Requires the board to distribute the report to the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house, and the presiding officer of each legislative committee charged with the oversight of primary and secondary education or higher education. Provides that this section expires January 2, 2003. SECTION 16. Requires the coordinating board to award grants under the program beginning with the 1999 fall semester. Requires the coordinating board to adopt rules for awarding TG grants no later than July 25, 1999. SECTION 17.Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE The substitute modifies the original by amending the title of Subchapter M in SECTION 1 to TEXAS GATEWAY TO THE FUTURE GRANT PROGRAM rather than TEXAS GATEWAY TO THE FUTURE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. Replaces all references to the Texas Gateway to the Future Scholarship (TG scholarship) to the Texas Gateway to the Future Grant (TG grant). The substitute modifies the original by amending the title of Sec. 56.304 to INITIAL ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANT rather than ELIGIBLE PERSON. Adds more specific initial eligibility requirements. The substitute modifies the original by amending the title of Sec. 56.305 to CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS rather than ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS. Adds more specific continuing eligibility requirements, including provisions for regaining lost eligibility. The substitute modifies the original by amending the title of Sec. 56.306 to GRANT USE rather than SCHOLARSHIP USE. Adds a restriction on the distribution of funds. The substitute modifies the original by amending the title of Sec. 56.307 to GRANT AMOUNT rather than SCHOLARSHIP AMOUNT. Adds a specific method to determine the amount of a grant available for a student depending on the number of hours for which the student has enrolled and the type of institution for which the student has been registered to attend. Provides a specific date for the publishing of relevant information. The substitute modifies the original by amending the title of Sec. 56.308 to NOTIFICATION OF PROGRAM; RESPONSIBILITIES OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS rather than NOTIFICATION PROGRAM TO STUDENTS AND HIGH SCHOOLS. Sets forth more specific persons and entities which must be notified regarding the program and how they must be notified. Provides a specific date for which information about a student must be provided on the student's transcript. The substitute modifies the original by creating Section 61.0776, Education Code, in SECTION 4. Requires creation of a center and an advisory committee for the administration, publication, and distribution of relevant financial aid information. The substitute modifies the original by amending Section 11.252(a), Education Code, in SECTION 5. Requires strategies for distributing relevant financial aid, curriculum, and admissions information to required recipients to be included in school districts' improvement plans. Makes conforming redesignations. The substitute modifies the original by amending Section 21.451(a), Education Code, in SECTION 6. Sets forth minimum standards for the compilation and distribution of relevant information concerning higher education. The substitute modifies the original by amending Section 28.002, Education Code, in SECTION 7. Creates Subsection (l) which sets forth rules regarding distance learning. The substitute modifies SECTION 12 by creating SECTION 8 from the original and making conforming changes. The substitute modifies the original by requiring the coordinating board in SECTION 15 to conduct a study specific to the implementation of the Texas Gateway to the Future Grant Program. Sets forth specific considerations to be included in the study. Gives a specific date for completion and reporting of the study as well as to whom it must be distributed. Designates expiration of the section on January 2, 2003. The substitute redesignates SECTIONS 8-14 from SECTIONS 4-10 and SECTIONS 16-17 from SECTIONS 11-12 of the original.