HBA-EDN H.B. 2513 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2513 By: Coleman Higher Education 3/26/2001 Introduced 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. House Bill 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 House Bill 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. 21.504). The bill provides that the purpose of the Teach for Texas 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 or stipends 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. The bill removes 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). The bill sets forth provisions relating to the amount 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 Teach for Texas 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). EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001.