C.S.H.B. 511 78(R) BILL ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 511 By: Castro Public Education Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, school districts are not required to monitor the postsecondary education plans of graduating high school seniors. According to the Texas Higher Education Enrollment Survey, from 1990 to 2000, the overall enrollment of the total population in institutions of higher education has declined from 5.3% to 4.9%. Without surveying students' postsecondary plans, school districts cannot set goals for improvement. C.S.H.B. 511 establishes a voluntary survey for counselors at participating schools to use for the purpose of tracking graduating seniors' postsecondary education plans. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 511 amends the Education Code to require the Texas Education Agency (agency) to develop a postsecondary education survey that a public high school may use to monitor the postsecondary education plans of high school seniors at the high school. The bill requires the agency to post the survey on their website by January 1, 2004. The bill requires the agency to notify school districts located in municipalities with a population of at least one million of the availability of the survey. The bill authorizes a counselor at each participating school to administer a survey to seniors. The bill authorizes a high school counselor to administer the survey and provides that the survey must include questions to obtain whether a student will or has applied to a postsecondary educational institution, the name of any institution applied to, the name of any institution accepted to, and the name of the institution to which the student is planning to attend. The bill provides that this section expires August 1, 2006. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2003. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 511 modifies the original by clarifying the agency's role in creating the survey, rather than monitoring the program. C.S.H.B. 511 modifies the original by requiring the agency to post the survey on its website and to notify certain school districts of the survey's availability. C.S.H.B. 511 modifies the original by removing the requirements that counselors administer the survey within a certain time period and mail or deliver the survey results to the agency. C.S.H.B. 511 modifies the original by removing the requirement that the agency include the results in the comprehensive annual reports. C.S.H.B. 511 modifies the original by removing the provision which grants rulemaking authority to the agency. C.S.H.B. 511 modifies the original by changing the expiration date to August 1, 2006.