By: Shapiro, Seliger S.B. No. 101

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to limitations on the automatic admission of undergraduate students to general academic teaching institutions and to fees charged to certain admitted students.

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) Subject to Subsection (c), each [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:

(1) the applicant 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) the applicant 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, the applicant 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) A general academic teaching institution is not required to admit under Subsection (a) more than 60 percent of the institution's first-time resident undergraduate students in an academic year. If the number of applicants who qualify for automatic admission to a general academic teaching institution under Subsection (a) exceeds 60 percent of the institution's enrollment capacity designated for first-time resident undergraduate students, the institution may elect to offer admission to those applicants as provided by this subsection and not as otherwise required by Subsection (a). If the institution elects to offer admission under this subsection, the institution shall offer admission to those applicants by percentile rank according to class standing based on grade point average, beginning with the top percentile rank, until the applicants qualified under Subsection (a) have been offered admission in the number estimated in good faith by the institution as sufficient to fill 50 percent of the institution's enrollment capacity designated for first-time resident undergraduate students, except that the institution must offer admission to all applicants with the same percentile rank. In addition to those admissions, until applicants qualified under Subsection (a) have been offered admission in the number estimated in good faith by the institution as sufficient to fill 60 percent of the designated enrollment capacity described by this subsection, the institution shall offer to applicants qualified for automatic admission under Subsection (a) admission in the same manner as other applicants for admission as first-time undergraduate students in accordance with Section 51.805, except that the institution may not consider applicants other than those applicants qualified under Subsection (a). After the applicants qualified for automatic admission under Subsection (a) have been offered admission under this subsection in the number estimated in good faith as sufficient to fill 60 percent of the designated enrollment capacity described by this subsection, the institution shall consider any remaining applicants qualified for automatic admission under Subsection (a) in the same manner as other applicants for admission as first-time undergraduate students in accordance with Section 51.805.

(d) Each general academic teaching institution that elects to offer admission to applicants as permitted by Subsection (c) shall:

(1) adopt a written policy to provide for recruiting and retention efforts directed at underrepresented groups such as racial or ethnic minority groups; and

(2) seek from civic and community leaders and organizations input regarding the impact of this section on student access to and academic success in higher education.

(e) Regardless of whether a general academic teaching institution elects to offer admission under Subsection (c), if the number of applicants who qualify for automatic admission to the institution under Subsection (a) exceeds 60 percent of the institution's enrollment capacity designated for first-time resident undergraduate students, the institution shall provide to each school district, for dissemination to high school junior-level students and to the parents of those students, notice of which percentile ranks of high school senior-level students are anticipated by the institution to be automatically offered admission under Subsection (c) during the next school year if the institution elects to offer admission under that subsection.

(f) This subsection applies only to a university system that includes more than one general academic teaching institution. Notwithstanding Subsection (c), in an academic year in which a component general academic teaching institution of the university system elects to offer admission to applicants as provided by Subsection (c), if an applicant for admission as a first-time resident undergraduate student who is qualified for automatic admission under Subsection (a) is not admitted to the institution under this section because the institution offers admission to applicants under Subsection (c) and the applicant is otherwise denied admission to the institution, the university system shall:

(1) treat the application as an application for admission to any of the system's other component general academic teaching institutions that for that same academic year do not offer admission to applicants as provided by Subsection (c); and

(2) offer the applicant admission to each of those other component institutions.

(g) 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.

(h) 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.

(i) An applicant who does not satisfy the curriculum 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 completed the portion of the curriculum that was available to the student but was unable to complete the curriculum solely because courses necessary to complete the curriculum 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.

(j) This section expires August 31, 2015.

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 in consultation with the Texas Education Agency by rule shall establish standards for determining for purposes of this subchapter 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. Subsection (g), Section 28.025, Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

(g) 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 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, the school district, [shall indicate that fact] on the student's transcript form described by Subsection (e), shall:

(1) indicate whether the student completed those courses necessary to complete the program that were available to the student; and

(2) identify those courses necessary to complete the program that were unavailable to the student as a result of course scheduling, lack of enrollment capacity, or another cause not within the student's control.

SECTION 3. Section 28.026, Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 28.026. NOTICE OF AUTOMATIC COLLEGE ADMISSION. (a) The board of trustees of a school district shall require each high school in the district to post appropriate signs in each counselor's office, in each principal's office, and in each administrative building indicating the substance of Section 51.803 regarding automatic college admission. To assist in the dissemination of this information, the school district shall:

(1) require that each high school counselor and class advisor be provided a detailed explanation of the substance of Section 51.803;

(2) provide each district student, at the time the student first registers for one or more classes required for high school graduation, with a written notification of the substance of Section 51.803;

(3) require that each high school counselor and senior class advisor explain to eligible students the substance of Section 51.803; and

(4) [(3)] provide each eligible senior student under Section 51.803, at the commencement of a class's senior year, with a written notification of the student's eligibility with a detailed explanation of the substance of Section 51.803.

(b) The commissioner shall adopt forms to use in providing notice under Subsections (a)(2) and (4). In providing notice under Subsection (a)(2) or (4), a school district shall use the appropriate form adopted by the commissioner.

(c) The commissioner shall adopt procedures to ensure that, as soon as practicable after this subsection becomes law, each school district provides written notification of the substance of Section 51.803, as amended by the 80th Legislature, Regular Session, 2007, to each district student who, for the 2007-2008 school year, registers for the first time for one or more courses required for high school graduation. The commissioner may adopt rules under this subsection in the manner provided by law for emergency rules. Each district shall comply with the procedures adopted by the commissioner under this subsection. This subsection expires September 1, 2008.

SECTION 4. Section 51.4032, Education Code, as added by Chapter 694, Acts of the 79th Legislature, Regular Session, 2005, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 51.4032. ANNUAL REPORT OF PARTICIPATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION. Not later than December 1 [July 31] of each year and in the form prescribed by the coordinating board, each general academic teaching institution and medical and dental unit as defined in Section 61.003 shall provide to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and shall publish on the institution's website a report describing the composition of the institution's entering class of students. The report must include a demographic breakdown of the class, including a breakdown by race, ethnicity, [and] economic status, and high school class standing. A report submitted by a general academic teaching institution or medical and dental unit as defined in Section 61.003 must include separate demographic breakdowns of the students admitted under Sections 51.803, 51.804, and 51.805 and a description of any plans, policies, or programs developed or implemented by the institution to recruit and retain students from underrepresented groups such as racial or ethnic minority groups.

SECTION 5. Subchapter D, Chapter 54, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 54.202 to read as follows:

Sec. 54.202. TOP 10 PERCENT HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES. (a) This section applies to a person who was admitted and enrolled under the automatic admission provisions of Section 51.803(c).

(b) Each general academic teaching institution shall exempt a person to whom this section applies from the payment of tuition and special course fees, lab fees, and student teaching fees.

(c) The exemption from tuition under Subsection (b) does not apply to designated tuition charged under Section 54.0513.

(d) In order to continue to receive an exemption under this section after the person has received an exemption under this section for two or more academic years or the equivalent, a person must:

(1) enroll for a full course load for an undergraduate student, as determined by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, in an undergraduate degree or certificate program at a general academic teaching institution; and

(2) have a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5 on a four-point scale or the equivalent on all coursework previously attempted at institutions of higher education, if the person is enrolled in any academic year after the person's second academic year.

(e) The legislature shall account in the General Appropriations Act for the exemptions authorized by Subsection (b) in a way that provides a corresponding increase in the general revenue funds appropriated to the institution.

(f) The legislature may appropriate money to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to be used to reimburse general academic teaching institutions for reducing as provided by this subsection the amount of designated tuition charged under Section 54.0513 to persons receiving exemptions from tuition and fees under Subsection (b). Based on the amount of appropriations under this subsection available for each academic year, the coordinating board shall estimate the amount by which the designated tuition charged under Section 54.0513 to each person who receives an exemption from tuition and fees under Subsection (b) in that academic year may be reduced from the amount that the applicable institution would otherwise charge the person. The coordinating board shall distribute the amount of appropriations under this subsection available for the academic year to general academic teaching institutions in proportion to the number of semester credit hours for which the coordinating board estimates students will receive exemptions under Subsection (b) in that academic year at each institution. Each general academic teaching institution that receives money under this section shall reduce the amount of designated tuition charged to each student who receives an exemption under Subsection (b) by the amount determined by the coordinating board for that academic year.

SECTION 6. Effective September 1, 2015, Subchapter U, Chapter 51, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 51.8035 to read as follows:

Sec. 51.8035. 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 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. 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, must be a Texas resident under Section 54.052 or 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) 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.

SECTION 7. The change in law made by this Act in adding Section 54.202, Education Code, applies beginning with tuition, fees, and other charges for the 2008 fall semester. Tuition, fees, and other charges for a term or semester before the 2008 fall semester are covered by the law in effect immediately before the effective date of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 8. The change in law made by this Act applies beginning with admissions to institutions of higher education for the 2008-2009 academic year. Admissions to an institution of higher education before that academic year are governed by the law in effect before the effective date of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 9. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall adopt rules relating to the admission of students under Section 51.803, Education Code, as amended by this Act, as soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act.

SECTION 10. This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.