LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 80TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

May 26, 2007

TO:	Honorable David Dewhurst , Lieutenant Governor, Senate Honorable Tom Craddick, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives
FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	SB101 by Shapiro (Relating to the limitations on the automatic admission of undergraduate students to general academic teaching institutions and to fees charged to certain admitted students. ), Conference Committee Report

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would amend Section 51.803 of the Texas Education Code, relating to the current automatic
admission of high school students graduating in the top ten percent of their class, by: 1) requiring top
ten percent students to complete the recommended or advanced high school curriculum to be eligible
for automatic admission to a Texas public university; 2) allowing universities to admit as little as
sixty percent of the institution's freshman enrollment capacity to these students, beginning with the 2009-10 school year; and 3) requiring institutions to offer automatic admission to students seeking to transfer from another institution who have completed the core curriculum and have maintained a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.25.

The bill would also direct the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to consult with the Texas
Education Agency to adopt rules establishing standards applicable to students who attended a school
that did not offer the recommended or advanced high school curriculum. Each general academic
institution would have to submit a report to Higher Education Board and post on their website
information about the demographic characteristics of the incoming freshman class.

The bill will not affect overall state enrollment in institutions of higher education and would not
require significant changes to current enrollment processes. General academic institutions and the
Higher Education Coordinating Board could absorb costs associated with passage of the bill within
existing resources.

Local Government Impact

No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.

Source Agencies:

710 Texas A&M University System Administrative and General Offices, 758 Texas State University System, 768 Texas Tech University System Administration, 769 University of North Texas System Administration, 781 Higher Education Coordinating Board, 783 University of Houston System Administration

LBB Staff:

JOB, JSp, MN, RT, JMI