By Naishtat H.B. No. 1882
76R1912 KEL-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to requiring the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
1-3 to approve formula funding for certain doctoral students.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 61.059(l), Education Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 (l)(1) Except as provided by this section [Subdivision
1-8 (2)], the board may not include in any formula under this section
1-9 funding based on the number of doctoral students who have a total
1-10 of 100 or more semester credit hours of doctoral work at an
1-11 institution of higher education.
1-12 (2) The [Notwithstanding Subdivision (1), the] board
1-13 may approve formula funding for semester credit hours in excess of
1-14 100, not to exceed 130 total semester credit hours, for a doctoral
1-15 student if the institution:
1-16 (A) provides the board with substantial evidence
1-17 that the particular field of study in which the student is enrolled
1-18 requires a higher number of semester credit hours to maintain
1-19 nationally competitive standards;
1-20 (B) provides the board with evidence that the
1-21 student's program or research is likely to provide substantial
1-22 benefit to medical or scientific advancement and that the program
1-23 or research requires the additional semester credit hours; or
1-24 (C) provides the board with other compelling
2-1 academic reasons that support the finding of an exception.
2-2 (3) The board shall establish guidelines recognizing
2-3 other reasonable exceptions to Subdivision (1), under which an
2-4 institution may designate doctoral students for whom the board
2-5 shall approve formula funding for semester credit hours in excess
2-6 of 100, not to exceed 130 total semester credit hours.
2-7 (4) The board shall establish guidelines for
2-8 identifying doctoral programs that should be exempt from
2-9 Subdivision (1), under which an institution may designate
2-10 particular doctoral programs for which the board shall approve
2-11 formula funding for all doctoral students enrolled in the doctoral
2-12 programs without regard to the number of semester credit hours a
2-13 student has attempted.
2-14 (5) The board shall approve formula funding for all
2-15 doctoral students who are enrolled in a doctoral program that is
2-16 substantially similar to a doctoral program offered by another
2-17 institution of higher education that is funded in a manner that
2-18 does not directly depend on whether a student in the program pays
2-19 tuition at the rate charged other Texas residents or at a higher
2-20 rate.
2-21 (6) [(3)] The board shall report to the Legislative
2-22 Budget Board, as part of its report on formula funding
2-23 recommendations, a listing of the exceptions approved under this
2-24 section [Subdivision (2)] and the associated costs in formula-based
2-25 funding.
2-26 SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
2-27 to a formula established under Section 61.059, Education Code, on
3-1 or after September 1, 1999.
3-2 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-7 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-8 passage, and it is so enacted.