By Cuellar H.B. No. 878
76R2440 CAG-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the establishment and creation of the Creating Teaching
1-3 Excellence Scholarship Program.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Chapter 56, Education Code, is amended by adding
1-6 Subchapter N to read as follows:
1-7 SUBCHAPTER N. CREATING TEACHING EXCELLENCE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
1-8 Sec. 56.401. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
1-9 (1) "Coordinating board" means the Texas Higher
1-10 Education Coordinating Board.
1-11 (2) "Eligible institution" means an institution of
1-12 higher education offering a master's degree program in a program
1-13 area in which the coordinating board has determined there is a
1-14 critical need for primary or secondary public school classroom
1-15 teachers in this state.
1-16 (3) "Institution of higher education" has the meaning
1-17 assigned by Section 61.003.
1-18 Sec. 56.402. PROGRAM NAME; PURPOSE. (a) The student
1-19 financial assistance program authorized by this subchapter is known
1-20 as the Creating Teaching Excellence Scholarship Program, and an
1-21 individual scholarship awarded under this subchapter is known as a
1-22 teaching excellence scholarship.
1-23 (b) The purpose of this subchapter is to provide a grant of
1-24 money to enable qualified public school teachers who have proven
2-1 their mastery of classroom teaching skills to attend a master's
2-2 degree program at an eligible institution to receive training to
2-3 teach in an area in which the coordinating board has determined
2-4 there is a critical need for primary or secondary public school
2-5 classroom teachers in this state.
2-6 Sec. 56.403. ADMINISTRATION OF PROGRAM. (a) The
2-7 coordinating board shall administer the Creating Teaching
2-8 Excellence Scholarship Program and shall adopt any rules necessary
2-9 to implement the program or this subchapter.
2-10 (b) The total amount of teaching excellence scholarships
2-11 awarded may not exceed the amount available for the program from
2-12 appropriations, gifts, grants, or other funds.
2-13 (c) In determining who should receive a teaching excellence
2-14 scholarship, the coordinating board shall give highest priority to
2-15 awarding scholarships to teachers who demonstrate their commitment
2-16 to return to their home districts and to teach in the areas in
2-17 which they have pursued the master's degree.
2-18 (d) The coordinating board may appoint a committee to review
2-19 applications for teaching excellence scholarships and to make
2-20 recommendations to the board on the award of the scholarships.
2-21 (e) In determining areas in which a critical need for
2-22 primary or secondary public school classroom teachers in this state
2-23 exists, the coordinating board:
2-24 (1) may not consider areas related to primary or
2-25 secondary school administration or management; and
2-26 (2) shall consider the areas in which the largest
2-27 number of primary or secondary students critically need additional
3-1 classroom teachers with proven mastery of classroom teaching
3-2 skills.
3-3 Sec. 56.404. ELIGIBLE TEACHER. (a) To be eligible
3-4 initially for a teaching excellence scholarship, a person must:
3-5 (1) be a resident of this state as determined by
3-6 coordinating board rules;
3-7 (2) have been employed by a public school district in
3-8 this state for three or more school years;
3-9 (3) have been determined by an employing district to
3-10 be a teacher who has proven mastery of classroom teaching skills;
3-11 (4) be enrolled in or have been accepted in a master's
3-12 degree program at an eligible institution in a program area in
3-13 which the coordinating board has determined that there is a
3-14 critical need for primary or secondary public school teachers in
3-15 this state; and
3-16 (5) comply with any other requirement adopted by the
3-17 coordinating board under this subchapter.
3-18 (b) A person may not receive a teaching excellence
3-19 scholarship for more than 60 semester credit hours or the
3-20 equivalent.
3-21 Sec. 56.405. ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS. (a) After
3-22 initially qualifying for a teaching excellence scholarship, a
3-23 person may continue to receive a teaching excellence scholarship
3-24 during each semester or term in which the person is enrolled at an
3-25 eligible institution only if the person:
3-26 (1) makes satisfactory academic progress toward a
3-27 master's degree as determined by the coordinating board;
4-1 (2) has completed at least 80 percent of the semester
4-2 credit hours attempted in the previous semester or term; and
4-3 (3) has an overall grade point average of at least 2.5
4-4 on a four-point scale or the equivalent.
4-5 (b) If a person fails to meet any of the requirements of
4-6 Subsection (a) after the completion of any semester or term, a
4-7 person may not receive a scholarship under this subchapter during
4-8 the next semester or term in which the person enrolls. A person
4-9 may become eligible to receive a scholarship in a subsequent
4-10 semester or term if the person:
4-11 (1) completes a semester or term during which the
4-12 student is not eligible for a scholarship; and
4-13 (2) meets all the requirements of Subsection (a).
4-14 Sec. 56.406. SCHOLARSHIP USE. A person receiving a teaching
4-15 excellence scholarship may use the money for any usual and
4-16 customary costs of attendance incurred by the student, including
4-17 payment of the student's tuition and fees, books, room and board,
4-18 and transportation.
4-19 Sec. 56.407. SCHOLARSHIP AMOUNT. (a) The amount of a
4-20 teaching excellence scholarship for a semester or term for a person
4-21 enrolled in an eligible institution is the amount per semester hour
4-22 determined by the coordinating board as the average statewide
4-23 amount of tuition and required fees per semester hour that a
4-24 resident student enrolled full-time in a master's degree program
4-25 would be charged for that semester or term at an institution of
4-26 higher education for the number of semester hours the person
4-27 receiving the scholarship is enrolled.
5-1 (b) The coordinating board may also award a monthly stipend
5-2 to a person receiving a teaching excellence scholarship if the
5-3 person is attending an institution of higher education full-time
5-4 and funds are appropriated for that purpose.
5-5 Sec. 56.408. FUNDING. The coordinating board may solicit
5-6 and accept gifts and grants from any public or private source for
5-7 the purposes of this subchapter.
5-8 SECTION 2. (a) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating
5-9 Board shall award scholarships under the Creating Teaching
5-10 Excellence Scholarship Program beginning with the 1999 fall
5-11 semester.
5-12 (b) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
5-13 adopt the rules for awarding scholarships under the Creating
5-14 Teaching Excellence Scholarship Program not later than July 25,
5-15 1999.
5-16 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
5-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-21 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-22 passage, and it is so enacted.