By Hinojosa H.B. No. 527
76R1978 JSA-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to providing scholarships to students at institutions of
1-3 higher education who meet certain academic, citizenship, financial
1-4 need, and other requirements.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Chapter 56, Education Code, is amended by adding
1-7 Subchapter M to read as follows:
1-8 SUBCHAPTER M. TEXAS HOPE TUITION SCHOLARSHIP
1-9 PROGRAM
1-10 Sec. 56.301. DEFINITION. In this subchapter, "coordinating
1-11 board" means the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
1-12 Sec. 56.302. PROGRAM NAME; PURPOSE. (a) The student
1-13 financial assistance program authorized by this subchapter is known
1-14 as the Texas Hope Tuition Scholarship Program, and an individual
1-15 grant awarded under this subchapter is known as a Texas hope
1-16 tuition grant.
1-17 (b) The purpose of the program is to provide a grant of
1-18 money for tuition and required fees to enable a qualified person to
1-19 attend an institution of higher education if the person maintains
1-20 good academic performance, acts as a good citizen, and provides
1-21 public service or agrees to teach in a primary or secondary school
1-22 in this state in a community or teaching field with a critical
1-23 shortage of teachers.
1-24 Sec. 56.303. TYPES OF GRANTS. There are two types of hope
2-1 tuition grants, the hope tuition grant for public service and the
2-2 Teach for Texas hope tuition grant.
2-3 Sec. 56.304. ELIGIBLE PERSON. (a) To be eligible for a
2-4 Texas hope tuition grant, a person must:
2-5 (1) be a Texas resident as defined by coordinating
2-6 board rules;
2-7 (2) enroll as a full-time or part-time student in an
2-8 institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003 or
2-9 approved under 61.222;
2-10 (3) be from a low-income or middle-income family and
2-11 establish financial need as defined by coordinating board rules;
2-12 (4) have:
2-13 (A) graduated from a secondary school with a
2-14 cumulative grade average that is equal to or greater than the
2-15 equivalent of 80 on a scale of 100; or
2-16 (B) completed a program of instruction at the
2-17 secondary school level in a home-school setting or received
2-18 credentials equivalent to a high school degree, and have
2-19 demonstrated academic excellence in any manner determined by the
2-20 coordinating board, such as through scores obtained on standardized
2-21 tests;
2-22 (5) meet the applicable requirements of Section 56.305
2-23 or 56.306;
2-24 (6) have applied for any available financial
2-25 assistance; and
2-26 (7) have complied with any other administrative
2-27 requirements adopted by the coordinating board under this
3-1 subchapter.
3-2 (b) A person is not eligible to receive a Texas hope tuition
3-3 grant while enrolled in an undergraduate program if the person has
3-4 been granted a baccalaureate degree.
3-5 (c) A person is not eligible to receive a Texas hope tuition
3-6 grant if the person has been convicted of a felony, a crime
3-7 involving moral turpitude, or an offense under Chapter 481, Health
3-8 and Safety Code (Texas Controlled Substances Act), or under the law
3-9 of any other jurisdiction involving a controlled substance as
3-10 defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, unless the person
3-11 has met the other applicable eligibility requirements under this
3-12 subchapter and has:
3-13 (1) received a certificate of discharge by the Texas
3-14 Department of Criminal Justice or a correctional facility or
3-15 completed a period of probation ordered by a court, and at least
3-16 two years have elapsed from the date of the receipt or completion;
3-17 or
3-18 (2) been pardoned, had the record of the offense
3-19 expunged from the person's record, or otherwise been released from
3-20 the resulting ineligibility to receive a Texas hope tuition grant.
3-21 Sec. 56.305. REQUIREMENTS FOR HOPE TUITION GRANT FOR PUBLIC
3-22 SERVICE. (a) A hope tuition grant for public service is available
3-23 only to a person enrolled in an undergraduate degree or certificate
3-24 program. A person may not receive a tuition grant for public
3-25 service for more than 140 semester hours or the equivalent.
3-26 (b) To receive a hope tuition grant for public service, a
3-27 person must agree to perform public service as provided by
4-1 coordinating board rule as a volunteer to a nonprofit charitable
4-2 organization or governmental entity approved by the board in a
4-3 number of hours that equals or exceeds an average of five hours for
4-4 each full week of the term or semester. The person must enter into
4-5 an agreement to perform the required public service at the
4-6 beginning of each term or semester covered by the grant.
4-7 (c) A person is exempt from the public service requirement
4-8 in any semester in which the student:
4-9 (1) is employed for compensation for an average of at
4-10 least 10 hours per week;
4-11 (2) must perform family obligations inconsistent with
4-12 the performance of the public service requirement, as determined by
4-13 the coordinating board; or
4-14 (3) is subject to any other circumstances such that
4-15 performance of the public service requirement would unreasonably
4-16 interfere with the student's educational opportunity, as determined
4-17 by the coordinating board.
4-18 (d) To continue receiving hope tuition grants for public
4-19 service, a person must:
4-20 (1) maintain a grade-point average of at least 3.0 on
4-21 a four-point scale or the equivalent, with one semester probation
4-22 if the student fails to do so;
4-23 (2) submit a certificate of completion for all prior
4-24 public service the person agreed to perform; and
4-25 (3) submit a new financial aid application each
4-26 semester.
4-27 Sec. 56.306. REQUIREMENTS FOR TEACH FOR TEXAS HOPE TUITION
5-1 GRANT. (a) A Teach for Texas hope tuition grant is available only
5-2 to a person who:
5-3 (1) is enrolled in a baccalaureate or master's degree
5-4 program in a teaching field certified by the coordinating board as
5-5 experiencing a critical shortage of teachers in this state in the
5-6 year in which the person begins the degree program; or
5-7 (2) agrees to teach in a public school in this state
5-8 in a community, which is not required to be specifically designated
5-9 at the time the person receives the grant, certified by the
5-10 coordinating board as experiencing a critical shortage of teachers
5-11 in any year in which the person receives a grant or in any
5-12 subsequent year in which the person fulfills the teaching
5-13 obligation.
5-14 (b) To receive a Teach for Texas hope tuition grant, a
5-15 person must agree to teach full-time at the preschool, primary, or
5-16 secondary level in a public school in this state in the person's
5-17 chosen critical field or in a community experiencing a critical
5-18 teacher shortage, as applicable, for one academic year for each 60
5-19 semester hours or the equivalent, or each fraction of 60 semester
5-20 hours or the equivalent, for which the person receives a tuition
5-21 grant.
5-22 (c) The person must fulfill the teaching obligation of this
5-23 section within the applicable period specified by this subsection
5-24 after the person completes the degree program and any related
5-25 courses required for teacher certification, unless the coordinating
5-26 board grants the person additional time to complete the teaching
5-27 obligation. The period within which the person must complete the
6-1 teaching obligation is a number of years equal to the number of
6-2 academic years that the person is required to teach, plus one
6-3 additional year. The coordinating board shall grant a person
6-4 additional time to complete the teaching obligation equal to a
6-5 period during which the person demonstrates to the board that the
6-6 person is:
6-7 (1) enrolled full-time in a degree or certificate
6-8 program at a public or private institution of higher education in
6-9 or outside of this state;
6-10 (2) serving on active duty as a member of the armed
6-11 services of the United States;
6-12 (3) temporarily disabled so that the person is unable
6-13 to teach;
6-14 (4) temporarily unable to secure employment to satisfy
6-15 the teaching obligation because the person is responsible for the
6-16 care of:
6-17 (A) a child under 12 years of age; or
6-18 (B) the person's disabled spouse or parent;
6-19 (5) seeking and unable to secure employment to satisfy
6-20 the teaching obligation for a single period not to exceed 12
6-21 months; or
6-22 (6) subject to any other hardship or special
6-23 circumstances the board determines to be just cause to provide the
6-24 person with additional time to satisfy the teaching obligation.
6-25 (d) The coordinating board shall cancel a person's teaching
6-26 obligation if the board determines that the person:
6-27 (1) has become permanently disabled so that the person
7-1 is not able to teach; or
7-2 (2) has died.
7-3 Sec. 56.307. ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY. The coordinating
7-4 board shall provide Texas hope tuition grants, in a number to be
7-5 determined by the board after reviewing the money available for
7-6 those grants, to eligible persons enrolled in an institution of
7-7 higher education based on the financial need of each person
7-8 receiving a grant. The total amount of Texas hope tuition grants
7-9 distributed by the board may not exceed the amount available in the
7-10 Texas hope tuition scholarship trust fund. If there are
7-11 insufficient funds available to provide a grant to each eligible
7-12 person, the board shall award the available grants to the eligible
7-13 persons with the greatest financial need.
7-14 Sec. 56.308. PAYMENT OF GRANT; AMOUNT. (a) On receipt of a
7-15 person's Texas hope tuition grant application, an enrollment report
7-16 from the institution of higher education enrolling the person
7-17 providing the coordinating board with the information the board
7-18 requires to determine the person's eligibility, and a certification
7-19 of the amount of financial need from the institution of higher
7-20 education, the board shall determine whether the person is eligible
7-21 for a grant and, if the person is selected to receive a grant,
7-22 shall distribute the amount of the grant for the person to the
7-23 institution of higher education.
7-24 (b) The amount of a Texas hope tuition grant may not exceed
7-25 the average amount of tuition and required fees the student would
7-26 be charged at a public senior institution of higher education,
7-27 except that the amount of a Teach for Texas hope tuition grant may
8-1 be in a greater amount, not to exceed two times the average amount
8-2 of tuition and required fees the student would be charged at a
8-3 public senior institution of higher education, according to the
8-4 financial need of the student as determined by coordinating board
8-5 rules. When added to other gift aid, the amount of a grant may not
8-6 exceed the financial need of the student. A Texas hope tuition
8-7 grant may not be applied to tuition or fees covered by a Pell grant
8-8 or other federally funded or state-funded grant.
8-9 Sec. 56.309. GRANT CONDITIONAL; REPAYMENT. (a) A Texas
8-10 hope tuition grant is conditioned on the person's maintenance of
8-11 all qualifications provided by this subchapter and performance of
8-12 the applicable public service or teaching requirements of Section
8-13 56.305 or 56.306. The grant is considered a loan until the
8-14 conditions of the grant are met.
8-15 (b) The coordinating board shall require a person who
8-16 receives a grant under this subchapter to sign a promissory note
8-17 acknowledging the conditional nature of the grant and promising to
8-18 repay the amount of the grant plus applicable interest and
8-19 reasonable collection costs if the person does not satisfy the
8-20 applicable conditions. The board shall determine the terms of the
8-21 promissory note. To the extent practicable, the terms must be the
8-22 same as those applicable to state or federally guaranteed student
8-23 loans made at the same time. All amounts collected in repayment of
8-24 a grant, including interest, but excluding collection costs paid by
8-25 the board to another person to collect or assist in collecting the
8-26 amount, shall be deposited to the credit of the Texas hope tuition
8-27 scholarship trust fund.
9-1 (c) The amount required to be repaid by a person who fails
9-2 to complete the teaching obligations of the person's grant shall be
9-3 determined in proportion to the portion of the teaching obligation
9-4 that the person has satisfied.
9-5 (d) A person receiving a Teach for Texas hope tuition grant
9-6 is considered to have failed to satisfy the conditions of the
9-7 grant, and the grant automatically becomes a loan, if the person
9-8 fails to remain enrolled in or to make steady progress in the
9-9 degree program for which the grant was made without good cause as
9-10 determined by the coordinating board.
9-11 Sec. 56.310. ADOPTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF RULES. (a) The
9-12 coordinating board shall adopt rules to administer this subchapter.
9-13 (b) The coordinating board shall distribute to each
9-14 institution of higher education and to each school district copies
9-15 of all rules adopted under this subchapter.
9-16 Sec. 56.311. FUNDING. (a) The Texas Hope Tuition
9-17 Scholarship Program is funded from the Texas hope tuition
9-18 scholarship trust fund. The trust fund is established outside the
9-19 treasury but is held in trust by the comptroller. Money in the
9-20 trust fund may be spent without appropriation and only to fund the
9-21 program. Interest and income from the assets of the trust fund
9-22 shall be credited to and deposited in the trust fund.
9-23 (b) In each state fiscal year the coordinating board may
9-24 spend from the trust fund to cover the costs of administering the
9-25 program an amount not to exceed 2.5 percent of the total amount of
9-26 money deposited into the fund in that fiscal year.
9-27 (c) The coordinating board may accept gifts and grants from
10-1 any public or private source for the purposes of this subchapter.
10-2 (d) The legislature may appropriate money to the Texas hope
10-3 tuition scholarship trust fund.
10-4 SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
10-5 (b) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall make
10-6 grants under the Texas Hope Tuition Scholarship Program beginning
10-7 with the 2000 fall semester.
10-8 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
10-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
10-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
10-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
10-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.