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By: Wentworth S.B. No. 86
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the eligibility of a high school graduate for automatic
admission to an institution of higher education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 51.803 and 51.807, Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 51.803. AUTOMATIC ADMISSION: ALL INSTITUTIONS.
(a) Each general academic teaching institution shall admit an
applicant for admission to the institution as an undergraduate
student if the applicant graduated with a grade point average in the
top 10 percent of the student's high school graduating class in one
of the two school years preceding the academic year for which the
applicant is applying for admission and the applicant:
(1) graduated from a public or private high school in
this state accredited by a generally recognized accrediting
organization or from a high school operated by the United States
Department of Defense;
(2) completed the curriculum requirements established
under Section 28.025 for the recommended or advanced high school
program or an equivalent curriculum at a high school to which that
section does not apply; and
(3)[. To qualify for admission under this section, an
applicant must submit an application before the expiration of any
application filing deadline established by the institution and,] if
the applicant graduated from a high school operated by the United
States Department of Defense, is [must be] a Texas resident under
Section 54.052 or is [be] 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.
(b) To qualify for admission under this section, an
applicant must submit an application before the expiration of any
application filing deadline established by the institution.
(c) After admitting an applicant under this section, the
institution shall review the applicant's record and any other
factor the institution considers appropriate to determine whether
the applicant may require additional preparation for college-level
work or would benefit from inclusion in a retention program. The
institution may require a student so identified to enroll during
the summer immediately after the student is admitted under this
section to participate in appropriate enrichment courses and
orientation programs. This section does not prohibit a student who
is not determined to need additional preparation for college-level
work from enrolling, if the student chooses, during the summer
immediately after the student is admitted under this section.
(d) 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.
Sec. 51.807. RULEMAKING. (a) The Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board may adopt rules relating to the operation of
admissions programs under this subchapter, including rules
relating to the identification of eligible students and the
reporting requirements of Section 51.806.
(b) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board after
consulting with the Texas Education Agency by rule shall establish
standards for determining for purposes of this subchapter:
(1) whether a private high school is accredited by a
generally accepted accrediting organization; and
(2) whether a person completed a high school
curriculum that is equivalent to the curriculum established under
Section 28.025 for the recommended or advanced high school program.
SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
(b) The change in law made by this Act applies beginning
with admissions for the 2004-2005 academic year.