SRC-MWN S.B. 1057 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research CenterS.B. 1057 By: Ellis, Rodney Education 6/15/2001 Enrolled DIGEST AND PURPOSE The TEXAS Grant Program grants students the opportunity to enroll in institutions of higher education. An interim committee report recommended improvements to help raise awareness of the program among certain groups. S.B. 1057 implements recommendations from the TEXAS Grant Program Legislative Oversight Committee's interim report. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY Rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in SECTIONS 1 (Section 56.304, Education Code) and 11 of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 56.304(e), Education Code, to provide that a person's eligibility for a TEXAS grant ends on the sixth anniversary of the initial award of a TEXAS grant to the person and the person's enrollment in an eligible institution, unless the person is provided additional time during which the person is authorized to receive a TEXAS grant under this subsection. Requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (coordinating board) to adopt rules to provide a person who is otherwise eligible to receive a TEXAS grant additional time during which the person is authorized to receive a TEXAS grant in the event of a hardship or other good cause shown that prevents the person from continuing the person's enrollment during the period the person would otherwise have been eligible to receive a TEXAS grant, including a showing of a severe illness or other debilitating condition or that the person is or was responsible for the care of a sick, injured, or needy person. SECTION 2. Amends Section 61.0776, Education Code, by amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsection (f), as follows: (c) Authorizes the coordinating board, if the coordinating board designates a public nonprofit entity created by the legislature to operate or house the center, to reimburse the entity from money appropriated for that purpose for the costs incurred by the entity in carrying out the activities of the center under this section. (f) Requires the coordinating board and the commissioner of education to develop a plan or set of recommendations to ensure that information on the TEXAS grant program and other financial aid information described by Subsection (a) is adequately publicized to prospective students and financial aid recipients and their parents and to school counselors, student financial aid offices, and other appropriate entities. Requires the coordinating board and the commissioner of education to report the results of the study and the plan or recommendations to the legislature not later than October 1, 2002. Provides that this subsection expires January 1, 2003. SECTION 3. Amends 56.309, Education Code, by redesignating it as Chapter 56O, Education Code, and amending it as follows: SUBCHAPTER O. TEACH FOR TEXAS FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM Sec. 56.351. DEFINITIONS. Defines "coordinating board" and "eligible institution of higher education." Sec. 56.352. New heading: PURPOSE OF PROGRAM. Sets forth purpose of the program. Sec. 56.353. ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANT; TEACHING AGREEMENT. (a) Provides that a Teach for Texas grant, rather than tuition, is available only to a person who applies for a grant and meets certain conditions. Deletes text regarding Section 56.304. (b) Requires the coordinating board in awarding Teach for Texas grants to give priority to applicants who demonstrate financial need. (c) Requires the coordinating board, if the money available for grants in a period for which grants are awarded is insufficient to provide grants to all eligible applicants described by Subsection (b), to give the highest priority to applicants who demonstrate the greatest financial need. (e) Prohibits a person from receiving a Teach for Texas tuition grant for more than three academic years or the equivalent. (f) Provides that a person is not eligible to receive a Teach for Texas grant if the person has been convicted of a certain felony or offense. (g) Provides that a person makes satisfactorily academic progress toward completion of an educator certification program if the person meets certain criteria. Sec. 56.354. AMOUNT OF GRANT; PAYMENT OF GRANT. (a) Provides that the amount of a Teach for Texas grant is equal to four times the current amount of a Texas grant under Subchapter M for a student enrolled in a general academic teaching institution. Deletes text regarding Teach for Texas tuition grant. (b) Requires the coordinating board to pay the amount of a Teach for Texas 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. 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. Deletes text regarding Texas grant. Sec. 56.355. ELIGIBILITY FOR TEXAS GRANT NOT AFFECTED. Authorizes a person to receive both a Texas grant under Subchapter M, rather than Section 56.304 or 56.305, and a Teach for Texas grant under this subchapter for the same semester or term. Sec. 56.356. SATISFYING TEACHING OBLIGATION; REPAYMENT. (a) Requires a person who receives a Teach for Texas grant to begin fulfilling the teaching obligations of the person's grant not later than the 18th month after the person completes the educator certification program for which the person received the grant, unless the coordinating board grants the person additional time to begin fulfilling the teaching obligation. (c) Requires the coordinating board to require a person who receives a Teach for Texas grant to sign a promissory note acknowledging the conditional nature of the grant and promising to repay the outstanding amount of the grant plus applicable interest and reasonable collection costs if the person does not satisfy the applicable conditions. (e) Requires the amount required to be repaid by a person who fails to complete the teaching obligation of the person's grant to be determined in proportion to the portion of the total teaching obligation that the person has not satisfied. (f) Provides that a person receiving a Teach for Texas grant is considered to have failed to satisfy the conditions of the grant, and the grant automatically becomes a loan, if the person fails to remain enrolled in or to make steady progress in the person's educator certification program and, if applicable, the person's baccalaureate degree program for which the grant was made without good cause as determined by the coordinating board or if the person fails to become certified as a teacher not later than the 18th month after the date the person completes the educator certification program, rather than receives a degree. Sec. 56.357. TEACH FOR TEXAS ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. (a) Requires the coordinating board to establish a program under which the coordinating board awards grants to assist persons seeking educator certification through alternative educator certification programs as provided by this section. (b) Requires a person, to be eligible for a grant under the program, to apply for a grant and meet certain criteria. (c) Provides that a person is not eligible to receive a grant under the program if the person has been convicted of a felony or an offense under Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code (Texas Controlled Substances Act), or under the law of another jurisdiction involving a controlled substance, as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, unless the person has met the other applicable eligibility requirements under this section and has met certain criteria. (d) Requires the coordinating board, in selecting applicants to receive grants under the program, to consider certain criteria. (e) Provides that the amount of a grant under the program is equal to two times the current amount of a TEXAS grant under Subchapter M for a student enrolled in a general academic teaching institution. Authorizes the coordinating board to pay the amount of the grant in installments during the period in which the person is enrolled in the person's alternative educator certification program. (f) Requires the person to begin fulfilling the person's teaching obligation not later than the 18th month after the person completes the alternative educator certification program, unless the coordinating board for good cause grants the person additional time to begin fulfilling the teaching obligation. Requires the person to complete the teaching obligation not later than the sixth year after the date the person begins to fulfill the teaching obligation. Requires the coordinating board to grant a person additional time to complete the teaching obligation for good cause. (g) Requires the coordinating board to cancel a person's teaching obligation if the coordinating board determines that the person meets certain conditions. (h) Requires the coordinating board to require a person who receives a grant to sign a promissory note acknowledging the conditional nature of the grant and promising to repay the amount of the grant plus applicable interest and reasonable collection costs if the person does not satisfy the applicable conditions of the grant. Requires the coordinating board to determine the terms of the promissory note. (i) Requires the amount required to be repaid by a person who fails to complete the teaching obligation of the person's grant to be determined in proportion to the portion of the teaching obligation that the person has not satisfied. (j) Provides that a person receiving a grant is considered to have failed to satisfy the conditions of the grant, and the grant automatically becomes a loan, if the person, without good cause as determined by the coordinating board, fails to perform certain procedures. Sec. 56.358. FUNDING; ALLOCATION OF FUNDING. (a) Authorizes the coordinating board to solicit and accept gifts and grants from any public or private source for the purposes of this subchapter. (b) Authorizes the legislature to appropriate money for the purposes of this subchapter. SECTION 4. Amends the heading to Chapter 56M, Education Code, as added by Chapter 1590, Acts of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999, to read as follows: SUBCHAPTER M. TOWARD EXCELLENCE, ACCESS, & SUCCESS (TEXAS) GRANT PROGRAM SECTION 5. Amends Section 56.308(b), Education Code, to require each school district to perform certain procedures. SECTION 6. Amends Section 56.311, Education Code, as follows: Sec. 56.311. LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE. (a) Provides that the Legislative Oversight Committee on the TEXAS grant program and Teach for Texas grant program is composed of certain members. Makes a conforming change. (b) Requires the committee to meet certain criteria. (c) Makes conforming changes. (e) Requires the committee to monitor the operation of the TEXAS grant program and Teach for Texas grant program, with emphasis on the manner of the award of grants, the number of grants awarded, and the educational progress made by persons who have received grants under those programs. Makes conforming changes. (g) Makes conforming changes. SECTION 7. Amends Section 11.252(a), Education Code, to require the district improvement plan to include certain provisions. SECTION 8. Amends Chapter 61M, Education Code, by amending Section 61.702 and adding Section 61.7021, as follows: Sec. 61.702. New heading: ELIGIBILITY FOR CLASSROOM TEACHER REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE. (a) Requires a person, to be eligible to receive repayment assistance for classroom teachers, to apply to the coordinating board and to meet certain criteria. (b) Provides that a person is not eligible for repayment assistance for classroom teachers under this subchapter if the person has received a Teach for Texas grant or other financial assistance under Subchapter O, Chapter 56, or under former Section 56.309. (c) Requires the coordinating board to give priority in granting repayment assistance for classroom teachers to a person who received repayment assistance for classroom teachers for the preceding school year. Provides that the priority terminates if the person does not apply for or is not eligible for that assistance. Authorizes the coordinating board, in extraordinary circumstances, to allow a person to maintain the priority after one or more years in which the person is unable to teach as a classroom teacher. Sec. 61.7021. ELIGIBILITY FOR BORDER INSTITUTION FACULTY REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE. Requires a person, to be eligible to receive repayment assistance for border institution faculty, to apply to the board and to meet certain criteria. SECTION 9. Amends Section 61.705, Education Code, by amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsections (d) and (e), as follows: (c) Provides that the minimum amount of repayment assistance that may be awarded in one year to a person who qualifies for the assistance under Section 61.702 is the lesser of certain amounts. (d) Prohibits a person from receiving repayment assistance for classroom teachers under this subchapter in a total amount that exceeds $5,000, and from receiving that repayment assistance for more than five years. (e) Provides that the minimum amount of repayment assistance that may be awarded, rather than received, in one year to a person who qualifies for the assistance under Section 61.7021, rather than 61.702(2), is 50 percent of the amount of principal and accrued interest that is due on eligible loans that year. SECTION 10. Amends Section 61.708(a), Education Code, to require the coordinating board to adopt rules necessary for the administration of this subchapter. SECTION 11. (a) Provides that the change in law made by this Act relating to the eligibility of a person to receive a TEXAS grant applies beginning with students who demonstrate eligibility to receive a grant for the 2001-2002 academic year. (b) Requires the coordinating board to implement the changes made by this Act to the Teach for Texas grant program and to the classroom teacher loan repayment assistance program under Chapter 61M, Education Code, as soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act, but not later than the 2002-2003 academic year. (c) Requires the coordinating board to adopt initial rules for awarding grants and to award grants under the Teach for Texas alternative certification assistance program established under Section 56.357, Education Code, as added by this Act, as soon as practicable. SECTION 12. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2001.