HBA-EDN C.S.H.B. 2513 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2513 By: Coleman Higher Education 4/17/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The 76th Legislature passed legislation that created the Towards EXcellence, Access and Success (TEXAS) grant program to provide financial assistance to students wishing to attend college. The legislation also created the Teach for Texas grant program to provide financial incentives to undergraduate students to attract them to the teaching profession, and the Teach for Texas alternative certification pilot program to provide financial incentives to attract working professionals to switch careers to teaching. Under current law, a student must be receiving a TEXAS grant to be eligible to receive a Teach for Texas Grant. Because TEXAS grants are based on financial need, the Teach for Texas grant may not be as effective as it could in alleviating the teacher shortage in Texas. In addition, the Teach for Texas grant program as originally established was inflexible regarding the length of the teaching commitment in return for receiving a grant, which may discourage some students from applying for a grant. C.S.H.B. 2513 restructures the Teach for Texas grant program to separate it from the TEXAS grant program and requires the State Board for Educator Certification to conduct an outreach campaign about the Teach for Texas Alternative Certification Program. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 2513 amends the Education Code to modify provisions relating to the Teach for Texas grant and alternative certification programs. The bill updates all references to the Teach for Texas Alternative Certification Program (certification program) to reflect that it is no longer a pilot program. The bill requires the State Board for Educator Certification (board), in conjunction with other state agencies involved in public education matters as well as other interested public and private entities, to conduct outreach to educate potential participants about the certification program. The bill provides that the outreach must emphasize the importance of teaching as a profession, the short-term commitment to the certification program required of participants, and the value of the experience offered by the certification program. The bill also authorizes the board to solicit and accept gifts and grants from any public or private source for outreach purposes (Sec. 21.554). The bill provides that the purpose of the Teach for Texas grant program (grant program) is to attract to the teaching profession persons who have expressed interest in teaching and to support the certification of those persons as classroom teachers by providing tuition grants on the condition that the recipient serve as a classroom teacher in the public schools of this state for a specified period (Sec. 56.352). Such a tuition grant is available only to a person who applies for a grant and: _is seeking educator certification; _is enrolled in an eligible institution of higher education as a junior or senior in a baccalaureate degree or in the person's first semester in an educator certification program after receiving a baccalaureate degree; and _agrees to teach in a public school in this state for the required period (Sec. 56.353). The bill deletes the provision that a tuition grant is only available to a person who receives a TEXAS grant. The bill sets forth provisions relating to the award of the tuition grants, and teaching obligation for the tuition grants (Sec. 56.353 and 56.356). The bill sets forth provisions relating to the amount and payment of a tuition grant (Sec. 56.354). The bill authorizes the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (coordinating board) to solicit and accept gifts and grants from any public or private source and also authorizes the legislature to appropriate money for the purposes of the grant program. If the coordinating board allocates grants or money available for those grants to particular institutions in a fiscal or academic period, the coordinating board is required to make grants or money not awarded to students at such an institution in the fiscal or academic period available to eligible applicants at other eligible institutions on a basis the coordinating board determines to be fair and reasonable (Sec. 56.357). The bill requires the board to implement the certification program as added by the Act as soon as practicable after the effective date of the Act, and requires the coordinating board to implement the changes made by the Act to the grant program as soon as practicable after the effective date of the Act, but not later than the 2002-2003 academic year (SECTION 7). EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 2513 modifies the original by requiring the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to pay the amount of a Teach for Texas tuition grant in installments, with a substantially equal amount paid in each semester or term, based on the number of semesters in which a typical full-time student would complete the recipient's educator certification program. The substitute authorizes the coordinating board to adjust the amount of a grant for a semester or term or award a supplemental grant to ensure that a grant recipient who completes the educator certification program receives the total amount of the recipient's grant (Sec. 56.354). The substitute removes the provision that stipends are provided under the Teach for Texas grant program (Sec. 56.352). The substitute also removes the condition that to receive a Teach for Texas tuition grant a person must agree to teach in the person's chosen critical field or in a community experiencing a critical teacher shortage (Sec. 56.353). The substitute requires the State Board for Educator Certification to implement the Teach for Texas Alternative Certification Program as soon as practicable (SECTION 7).