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Amend CSSB 175 (House Committee Report) by striking all below
the enacting clause and substituting the following:
SECTION 1. Section 51.803, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (a-1), (a-2), and
(g) to read as follows:
(a) Subject to Subsection (a-1), 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:
(A) successfully completed:
(i) at a public high school, the curriculum
requirements established under Section 28.025 for the recommended
or advanced high school program; or
(ii) at a high school to which Section
28.025 does not apply, a curriculum that is equivalent in content
and rigor to the recommended or advanced high school program; or
(B) satisfied ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks
on the ACT assessment applicable to the applicant or earned on the
SAT assessment a score of at least 1,500 out of 2,400 or the
equivalent; and
(3) if the applicant graduated from a high school
operated by the United States Department of Defense, the applicant
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.
(a-1) Beginning with admissions for the 2010-2011 academic
year, a general academic teaching institution is not required to
offer admission to applicants who qualify for automatic admission
under Subsection (a) in excess of the number required to fill 60
percent of the institution's enrollment capacity designated for
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) for an
academic year exceeds 60 percent of the institution's enrollment
capacity designated for first-time resident undergraduate students
for that academic year, 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 high school graduating 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. A general academic
teaching institution may not offer admission under this subsection
for an academic year after the eighth consecutive academic year for
which general academic teaching institutions have had the option of
electing to offer admission to applicants under this subsection.
(a-2) If the number of applicants who apply to a general
academic teaching institution during the current academic year for
admission in the next academic year and 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
for that next academic year and the institution plans to offer
admission under Subsection (a-1) during the next school year, the
institution shall, in the manner prescribed by the Texas Education
Agency and not later than April 15, provide to each school district,
for dissemination of the information to high school junior-level
students and their parents, notice of which percentile ranks of
high school senior-level students who qualify for automatic
admission under Subsection (a) are anticipated by the institution
to be offered admission under Subsection (a-1) during the next
school year.
(g) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board by rule
shall develop and implement a program to increase and enhance the
efforts of general academic teaching institutions in conducting
outreach to academically high-performing high school seniors in
this state who are likely to be eligible for automatic admission
under Subsection (a) to provide to those students information and
counseling regarding the operation of this section and other
opportunities, including financial assistance, available to those
students for success at public institutions of higher education in
this state. Under the program, the coordinating board, after
gathering information and recommendations from available sources
and examining current outreach practices by institutions in this
state and in other states, shall prescribe best practices
guidelines and standards to be used by general academic teaching
institutions in conducting the student outreach described by this
subsection.
SECTION 2. 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 81st Legislature, Regular
Session, 2009, to each district student who, for the 2009-2010
school year, registers 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, 2010.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.