By: West S.R. No. 1186 SENATE RESOLUTION 1-1 WHEREAS, The growth rate in Texas over the last decade was 1-2 nearly double that of the nation as a whole, and much of this 1-3 growth occurred in traditionally low-income areas such as 1-4 inner-city areas and the border region; and 1-5 WHEREAS, While public colleges and universities granting 1-6 four-year degrees are becoming increasingly more accessible to 1-7 students from low-income backgrounds, there has not been a 1-8 commensurate increase in the enrollment of these students in 1-9 graduate or professional degree programs such as law schools; and 1-10 WHEREAS, Students from low-income backgrounds are often 1-11 lacking the information and resources that may be more readily 1-12 available to other students when making education and career 1-13 choices, thereby compounding the difficulty of overcoming their 1-14 socioeconomic disadvantages; and 1-15 WHEREAS, The long-term consequences of this disadvantage are 1-16 evident in the direct correlation between a population's level of 1-17 education and its economic well-being; and 1-18 WHEREAS, An individual with a professional or graduate degree 1-19 is estimated to earn $2 million more over a lifetime than a person 1-20 with only a high school degree and $1 million more than a person 1-21 with only a bachelor's degree; and 1-22 WHEREAS, Cultivating a well-educated workforce now is 1-23 imperative to securing future economic prosperity, and the equal 1-24 opportunity of all Texans to earn a graduate or professional degree 1-25 is of paramount importance to both the individual earning the 2-1 degree and to the state as a whole; and 2-2 WHEREAS, Law schools should work to provide services to 2-3 support and encourage highly qualified, economically disadvantaged 2-4 students interested in pursuing a legal education, to provide 2-5 financial support, including stipends and scholarships, and to 2-6 offer summer programs to prepare economically disadvantaged 2-7 students for a legal education; now, therefore, be it 2-8 RESOLVED, That the Senate of the 77th Texas Legislature 2-9 hereby direct the deans of the public law schools in Texas, 2-10 including Texas Southern University, Texas Tech University, the 2-11 University of Houston, and The University of Texas at Austin, to 2-12 give further study to these issues, propose plans for summer 2-13 educational institutes and other effective programs for increasing 2-14 representation of economically disadvantaged students in Texas 2-15 public law schools, and report the results of their work to the 2-16 chair of the Texas Senate Education Committee no later than 2-17 December 31, 2002. 2-18 ______________________________________ 2-19 President of the Senate 2-20 I hereby certify that the above 2-21 Resolution was adopted by the Senate 2-22 on May 25, 2001. 2-23 ______________________________________ 2-24 Secretary of the Senate