SRC-MKV H.B. 1387 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research Center H.B. 1387 77R14242 EBy: Dukes (Barrientos) Education 5/11/2001 Engrossed DIGEST AND PURPOSE Under current law, a high school student is automatically admitted to an institution of higher education if the student graduates with a grade point average in the top 10 percent of the student's high school graduating class. Because some high schools have special programs such as magnet schools on the same campus, the method of calculating the class ranking of students in a special program in relationship to the class ranking of the other students of the high school has become an issue. H.B. 1387 separates the class ranking of a special program that is on the same campus as a high school from the class ranking of the other students of the high school for the purposes of top 10 percent admissions. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 51U, Education Code, by adding Section 51.8045, as follows: Sec. 51.8045. GRADUATES OF CERTAIN SPECIAL HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAMS. (a) Authorizes the governing body of a school district, for purposes of Sections 51.803 and 51.804 only, to treat a high school magnet program, academy, or other special program conducted by the school district at a high school attended by high school students who are not students of the special program as an independent high school with its own graduating class separate from the graduating class of other students attending the high school under certain conditions. (b) Provides that this section does not apply to the manner in which the members of a graduating class of the high school as a whole, including graduates of the special program, are ranked by grade point average for purposes other than admissions under Sections 51.803 and 51.804. SECTION 2. (a) Makes application of this Act prospective. (b) Provides that the change in law made by this Act applies to an applicant for admission as an undergraduate student of a general academic teaching institution who graduated before the effective date of this Act from a high school at which a special high school program described by Section 51.8045, Education Code, as added by this Act, was conducted in the year the applicant graduated if the school district treated the students of the special program as a separate graduating class in that year substantially as provided by Section 51.8045, Education Code, as added by this Act. SECTION 3. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2001.