78S40749 KEL-D
By: Shapleigh S.B. No. 21
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to tuition exemptions granted by public institutions of
higher education to children of certain classroom teachers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 54.220 to read as follows:
Sec. 54.220. CHILDREN OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS. (a) The
governing board of each institution of higher education shall
exempt a person who is a resident of this state and a child of an
eligible classroom teacher from the payment of tuition when the
child is enrolled as an undergraduate student at the institution.
(b) To be eligible for an exemption from the payment of
tuition, a person must be a child of a person who at the beginning of
the semester or other equivalent academic session for which an
exemption is sought holds a National Board Certification, as
defined by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards,
and has 10 or more years of experience as a classroom teacher in a
critical teaching shortage field in one or more school districts in
this state, not including experience as a teaching aide or
administrator, and:
(1) is employed by a school district in this state as a
classroom teacher in a critical teaching shortage field; or
(2) has contracted with a school district in this
state to work as a classroom teacher in a critical teaching shortage
field during all or part of that semester or session or, if the
child is enrolled for a summer term or other academic session, has
contracted with a school district in this state to work as a
classroom teacher in a critical teaching shortage field during the
next school year.
(c) A person is not eligible for an exemption under this
section if the person:
(1) has previously received an exemption under this
section for 10 semesters or other equivalent academic sessions at
any institution or institutions of higher education; or
(2) has received a baccalaureate degree.
(d) For purposes of Subsection (c), a summer term or other
academic session that is less than nine weeks in duration is
considered one-half of a regular semester or equivalent academic
session.
(e) A person attending an institution of higher education
who becomes eligible to receive an exemption from tuition under
Subsection (b) is eligible for a refund of the amount of money that
the person paid to any institution of higher education for tuition
as a resident student in the three-year period preceding the
beginning of the first semester or session for which the person
receives the exemption.
(f) To receive a refund under Subsection (e), the person
must apply to the institution from which the refund is sought before
the expiration of one year after the person becomes eligible for the
refund. The institution shall pay the refund from any available
funds of the institution.
(g) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
adopt:
(1) rules governing the granting or denial of an
exemption under this section, including rules relating to the
determination of eligibility for an exemption or for a refund of
previously paid tuition; and
(2) a uniform application form for an exemption under
this section.
(h) In the funding formulas established under Section
61.059 for a biennium, the coordinating board shall take into
account any tuition exempted or any refund of tuition made in the
preceding biennium under this section.
(i) In this section:
(1) "Child" means a child of any age, including an
adult child. The term includes an adopted child.
(2) "Classroom teacher" has the meaning assigned by
Section 5.001(2).
(3) "Critical teaching shortage field" means an
instructional field designated by the commissioner of education as
experiencing a critical shortage of teachers.
SECTION 2. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), this
Act takes effect beginning with the 2005 fall semester.
(b) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
adopt rules and forms relating to the exemption of the children of
classroom teachers under Section 54.220, Education Code, as added
by this Act, not later than January 1, 2005.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2004.