S.B. 86 78(R) BILL ANALYSIS S.B. 86 By: Wentworth Higher Education Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, the top ten percent of each high school graduating class receives automatic admission to a public college or university. There is no requirement, however, that those high school graduates take the recommended high school curriculum, which would better prepare them for success in college. C.S.S.B. 86 would require high school students to take, at a minimum, the recommended high school curriculum to be eligible for automatic admission to a public college or university. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in SECTION 1 (Section 51.807, Education Code) of this bill. ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Sections 51.803 and 51.807, Education Code, as follows: Sec. 51.803. AUTOMATIC ADMISSION: ALL INSTITUTIONS. (a) Requires each general academic teaching institution to admit as an undergraduate, an applicant who in addition to the other requirements of this section, completed the curriculum requirements established under Section 28.025 (High School Diploma and Certificate; Academic Achievement Record) for therecommended or advanced high school program or an equivalent curriculum at a high school to which that section does not apply, and who, if the applicant graduated from a high schooloperated by the United States Department of Defense, is a Texas resident under Section 54.052 or is entitled to pay tuition fees at the rate provided for Texas residents under Section 54.058(d) for the term or semester to which admitted. Deletes language regarding an application for admission under this section. (b) Requires an applicant to submit an application before the expiration of any application filing deadline established by the institution, in order to qualify for admission under this section. (c) Re-letters existing Subsection (b) as Subsection (c). (d) Provides that Subsection (a) (2) applies beginning with admissions for the 2007- 2008 academic year. Provides that Subsection (a) (2) does not apply to an applicant who graduated from a public high school that does not offer the curriculum established under Section 28.025 for the recommended or advanced high school program and that has received a waiver of those curriculum requirements from the Texas Education Agency due to an inability to offer or make available that curriculum. (e) Provides that an applicant who does not satisfy the requirements of Subsection (a)(2) is considered to have satisfied those requirements if the high school from which the student graduated indicates on the student's transcript that the student was unable to complete the appropriate curriculum solely because necessary courses were unavailable to the student at the appropriate times in the student's high school career as a result of course scheduling, lack of enrollment capacity, or another cause not within the student's control. Sec. 51.807. RULEMAKING. (a) Creates this subsection from existing text. (b) Requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, after consulting with the Texas Education Agency, by rule to establish standards for making certain determinations for purposes of this subchapter. SECTION 2. Amends Section 28.025, Education Code, by adding Subsections (g) and (g-1), as follows: (g) Provides that if a student, other than a student permitted to take courses under the minimum high school program as provided by Subsection (b), is unable to complete the recommended or advanced high school program solely because necessary courses were EFFECTIVE DATE This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.