| TO: | Honorable Judith Zaffirini, Chair, Senate Committee on S/C on Higher Education |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB101 by Shapiro (Relating to limitations on the automatic admission of undergraduate students to general academic teaching institutions.), As Introduced |
The bill would amend Texas Education Code Section 51.803, relating to the current automatic admission of high school students graduating in the top ten percent of their class, by: 1) requiring top 10 percent students to complete the recommended or advanced high school curriculum to be eligible for automatic admission to a Texas public university; and 2) allowing universities to admit as little as 50 percent of the institution's enrollment capacity to these students. Institutions would be required to offer admission to those applicants by percentile rank according to their graduating class standing until a sufficient number of applicants have accepted admission offers to fill those spaces.
The bill would also direct the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) 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.
There would be no significant fiscal impact on the state as this bill will not affect overall state enrollment in institutions of higher education and would not require significant changes to current enrollment processes. THECB could absorb costs associated with passage of the bill within existing resources.
| Source Agencies: | 701 Central Education Agency, 710 Texas A&M University System Administrative and General Offices, 720 The University of Texas System Administration, 781 Higher Education Coordinating Board
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, MN, RT, JMI
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