By Longoria H.B. No. 1329
76R1657 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 requirements or agree to
1-4 teach in a field with a critical teacher shortage.
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 SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
1-9 Sec. 56.301. DEFINITION. In this subchapter, "coordinating
1-10 board" means the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
1-11 Sec. 56.302. PROGRAM NAME; PURPOSE. (a) The student
1-12 financial assistance program authorized by this subchapter is known
1-13 as the Texas Hope Scholarship Program, and an individual grant
1-14 awarded under this subchapter is known as a hope scholarship.
1-15 (b) The purpose of the program is to provide a grant of
1-16 money for tuition and required fees to enable a qualified person to
1-17 attend a public or private institution of higher education if the
1-18 person maintains excellent academic performance or agrees to teach
1-19 in a public preschool, primary, or secondary school in this state
1-20 in a teaching field with a critical shortage of teachers.
1-21 Sec. 56.303. TYPES OF SCHOLARSHIPS. There are two types of
1-22 hope scholarships, the hope scholarship for academic excellence and
1-23 the hope teacher scholarship.
1-24 Sec. 56.304. ELIGIBLE PERSON. (a) To be eligible for a
2-1 hope scholarship, a person must:
2-2 (1) be a Texas resident as defined by coordinating
2-3 board rules;
2-4 (2) enroll as a full-time or part-time student in an
2-5 institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003 or
2-6 approved under 61.222;
2-7 (3) be from a low-income or middle-income family and
2-8 establish financial need as defined by coordinating board rules;
2-9 (4) have:
2-10 (A) graduated from a secondary school with a
2-11 cumulative grade average that is equal to or greater than the
2-12 equivalent of 85 on a scale of 100; or
2-13 (B) completed a program of instruction at the
2-14 secondary school level in a home-school setting or received
2-15 credentials equivalent to a high school degree, and have completed
2-16 at least 15 semester credit hours or the equivalent at an
2-17 institution of higher education described by Subsection (a)(2) with
2-18 a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 or the equivalent;
2-19 (5) meet any reasonable attendance and disciplinary
2-20 standards established by the coordinating board;
2-21 (6) meet the applicable requirements of Section 56.305
2-22 or 56.306;
2-23 (7) have applied for any available financial
2-24 assistance; and
2-25 (8) have complied with any other administrative
2-26 requirements adopted by the coordinating board under this
2-27 subchapter.
3-1 (b) A person is not eligible to receive a hope scholarship
3-2 while enrolled in an undergraduate program if the person has been
3-3 granted a baccalaureate degree.
3-4 (c) A person is not eligible to receive a hope scholarship
3-5 if the person has been convicted of a felony, a crime involving
3-6 moral turpitude, or an offense under Chapter 481, Health and Safety
3-7 Code (Texas Controlled Substances Act), or under the law of any
3-8 other jurisdiction involving a controlled substance as defined by
3-9 Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, unless the person has met the
3-10 other applicable eligibility requirements under this subchapter and
3-11 has:
3-12 (1) received a certificate of discharge by the Texas
3-13 Department of Criminal Justice or a correctional facility or
3-14 completed a period of probation ordered by a court, and at least
3-15 two years have elapsed from the date of the receipt or completion;
3-16 or
3-17 (2) been pardoned, had the record of the offense
3-18 expunged from the person's record, or otherwise been released from
3-19 the resulting ineligibility to receive a hope scholarship.
3-20 Sec. 56.305. REQUIREMENTS FOR HOPE SCHOLARSHIP FOR ACADEMIC
3-21 EXCELLENCE. (a) A hope scholarship for academic excellence is
3-22 available only to a person enrolled in an undergraduate degree or
3-23 certificate program. A person may not receive a hope scholarship
3-24 for academic excellence for more than 140 semester hours or the
3-25 equivalent, except that a student enrolled in a baccalaureate
3-26 degree program requiring more than 130 semester credit hours or the
3-27 equivalent may receive a scholarship for a total number of semester
4-1 credit hours equal to 10 more than the number required for the
4-2 degree program.
4-3 (b) To receive a hope scholarship for academic excellence, a
4-4 person who has completed fewer than 15 semester credit hours or the
4-5 equivalent at any institution or institutions of higher education
4-6 must be eligible for a hope scholarship under Section 56.304 and
4-7 must specifically meet the requirement of Section 56.304(a)(4).
4-8 (c) To receive a hope scholarship for academic excellence, a
4-9 person other than a person described by Subsection (b) must:
4-10 (1) have completed at least 15 semester credit hours
4-11 or the equivalent at an institution or institutions of higher
4-12 education described by Section 56.304(a)(2) with a cumulative grade
4-13 point average of at least 3.0 on a four-point scale or the
4-14 equivalent; and
4-15 (2) maintain satisfactory progress in the person's
4-16 degree or certification program as determined by the coordinating
4-17 board.
4-18 Sec. 56.306. REQUIREMENTS FOR HOPE TEACHER SCHOLARSHIP.
4-19 (a) A hope teacher scholarship is available only to a person who:
4-20 (1) has completed at least 60 semester credit hours or
4-21 the equivalent at an institution or institutions of higher
4-22 education described by Section 56.304(a)(2);
4-23 (2) is enrolled in a baccalaureate or master's degree
4-24 program in a teaching field certified by the coordinating board as
4-25 experiencing a critical shortage of teachers in this state; and
4-26 (3) has been accepted into a teacher certification
4-27 program approved by the coordinating board.
5-1 (b) A person may not receive hope teacher scholarships for
5-2 more than four semesters or summer sessions of at least nine weeks.
5-3 (c) To receive a hope teacher scholarship, a person must
5-4 agree to teach full-time at the preschool, primary, or secondary
5-5 level in a public school in this state in the person's chosen
5-6 critical field for one academic year for each $2,500 the person
5-7 receives in hope teacher scholarships.
5-8 (d) The person must fulfill the teaching obligation of this
5-9 section within the applicable period specified by this subsection
5-10 after the person completes the degree program and any related
5-11 courses required for teacher certification, unless the coordinating
5-12 board grants the person additional time to complete the teaching
5-13 obligation. The period within which the person must complete the
5-14 teaching obligation is a number of years equal to the number of
5-15 academic years that the person is required to teach, plus one
5-16 additional year. The coordinating board shall grant a person
5-17 additional time to complete the teaching obligation equal to a
5-18 period during which the person demonstrates to the board that the
5-19 person is:
5-20 (1) enrolled full-time in a degree or certificate
5-21 program at a public or private institution of higher education in
5-22 or outside of this state;
5-23 (2) serving on active duty as a member of the armed
5-24 services of the United States;
5-25 (3) temporarily disabled so that the person is unable
5-26 to teach;
5-27 (4) temporarily unable to secure employment to satisfy
6-1 the teaching obligation because the person is responsible for the
6-2 care of:
6-3 (A) a child under 12 years of age; or
6-4 (B) the person's disabled spouse or parent;
6-5 (5) seeking and unable to secure employment to satisfy
6-6 the teaching obligation for a single period not to exceed 12
6-7 months; or
6-8 (6) subject to any other hardship or special
6-9 circumstances the board determines to be just cause to provide the
6-10 person with additional time to satisfy the teaching obligation.
6-11 (e) The coordinating board shall cancel a person's teaching
6-12 obligation if the board determines that the person:
6-13 (1) has become permanently disabled so that the person
6-14 is not able to teach; or
6-15 (2) has died.
6-16 Sec. 56.307. ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY. The coordinating
6-17 board shall provide a hope scholarship to each eligible person
6-18 enrolled in an eligible institution of higher education. The total
6-19 amount of hope scholarships awarded by the board may not exceed the
6-20 amount available in the Texas hope scholarship trust fund. If
6-21 there are insufficient funds available to provide a scholarship to
6-22 each eligible person, the board shall award the available
6-23 scholarships to the eligible persons with the greatest financial
6-24 need.
6-25 Sec. 56.308. PAYMENT OF SCHOLARSHIP. (a) On receipt of a
6-26 person's hope scholarship application, an enrollment report from
6-27 the institution of higher education enrolling the person providing
7-1 the coordinating board with the information the board requires to
7-2 determine the person's eligibility, and a certification of the
7-3 amount of financial need from the institution of higher education,
7-4 the board shall determine whether the person is eligible for a
7-5 scholarship and, if the person is selected to receive a
7-6 scholarship, shall distribute the amount of the scholarship for the
7-7 person to the institution of higher education or directly to the
7-8 person as determined by the board.
7-9 (b) The amount of a hope scholarship is $1,500 for each
7-10 semester or summer session of at least nine weeks.
7-11 Sec. 56.309. HOPE TEACHER SCHOLARSHIP CONDITIONAL;
7-12 REPAYMENT. (a) A hope teacher scholarship is conditioned on the
7-13 person's performance of the applicable teaching requirements of
7-14 Section 56.306. The scholarship is considered a loan until the
7-15 conditions of the scholarship are met.
7-16 (b) The coordinating board shall require a person who
7-17 receives a hope teacher scholarship to sign a promissory note
7-18 acknowledging the conditional nature of the scholarship and
7-19 promising to repay the amount of the scholarship plus applicable
7-20 interest and reasonable collection costs if the person does not
7-21 satisfy the applicable conditions. The board shall determine the
7-22 terms of the promissory note. To the extent practicable, the terms
7-23 must be the same as those applicable to state or federally
7-24 guaranteed student loans made at the same time. All amounts
7-25 collected in repayment of a scholarship, including interest, but
7-26 excluding collection costs paid by the board to another person to
7-27 collect or assist in collecting the amount, shall be deposited to
8-1 the credit of the Texas hope scholarship trust fund.
8-2 (c) The amount required to be repaid by a person who fails
8-3 to complete the teaching obligations of the person's scholarship
8-4 shall be determined in proportion to the portion of the teaching
8-5 obligation that the person has satisfied.
8-6 (d) A person receiving a hope teacher scholarship is
8-7 considered to have failed to satisfy the conditions of the
8-8 scholarship, and the scholarship automatically becomes a loan, if
8-9 the person fails to remain enrolled in or to make steady progress
8-10 in the degree program or teacher certification program for which
8-11 the scholarship was awarded without good cause as determined by the
8-12 coordinating board.
8-13 Sec. 56.310. ADOPTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF RULES. (a) The
8-14 coordinating board shall adopt rules to administer this subchapter.
8-15 (b) The coordinating board shall distribute to each
8-16 institution of higher education and to each school district copies
8-17 of all rules adopted under this subchapter.
8-18 Sec. 56.311. FUNDING. (a) The Texas Hope Scholarship
8-19 Program is funded from the Texas hope scholarship trust fund. The
8-20 trust fund is established outside the treasury but is held in trust
8-21 by the comptroller. Money in the trust fund may be spent without
8-22 appropriation and only to fund the program. Interest and income
8-23 from the assets of the trust fund shall be credited to and
8-24 deposited in the trust fund.
8-25 (b) In each state fiscal year the coordinating board may
8-26 spend from the trust fund to cover the costs of administering the
8-27 program an amount not to exceed 2.5 percent of the total amount of
9-1 money deposited into the fund in that fiscal year.
9-2 (c) The coordinating board may solicit and accept gifts and
9-3 grants from any public or private source for the purposes of this
9-4 subchapter.
9-5 (d) The legislature may appropriate money to the Texas hope
9-6 scholarship trust fund.
9-7 SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
9-8 (b) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
9-9 award scholarships under the Texas Hope Scholarship Program
9-10 beginning with the 2000 fall semester.
9-11 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
9-12 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
9-13 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
9-14 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
9-15 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.