81R154 KSD-D

By: Branch H.B. No. 52

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to limitations on the automatic admission of undergraduate students to general academic teaching institutions.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 51.803, Education Code, is amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (a-1) 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) For each academic year, a general academic teaching institution not later than the preceding January 1 shall reserve for admissions under Subsection (a) not less than 40 percent of the institution's enrollment capacity designated for first-time resident undergraduate students. If a general academic teaching institution does not reserve under this subsection a percentage of the institution's enrollment capacity for admissions under Subsection (a), the institution is considered to have reserved 100 percent of its enrollment capacity designated for first-time resident undergraduate students for that purpose. Subsection (a) does not apply to the portion of the institution's enrollment capacity designated for first-time undergraduate students that is not reserved under this subsection for admissions under Subsection (a). If the number of applicants who qualify for automatic admission to a general academic teaching institution under Subsection (a) exceeds the percentage of the institution's enrollment capacity designated for first-time resident undergraduate students reserved by the institution under this subsection, the institution shall offer admission to those applicants by percentile rank according to graduating class standing based on grade point average, beginning with the top percentile rank, until a sufficient number of applicants have accepted admission offers to fill that percentage, except that the institution must offer admission to all applicants with the same percentile rank. 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.

SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies beginning with admissions to institutions of higher education for the 2010-2011 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 3. (a) 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.

(b) A general academic teaching institution shall reserve for admissions under Section 51.803(a), Education Code, as amended by this Act, a percentage of the institution's enrollment capacity designated for first-time resident undergraduate students for the 2010 fall semester as required by Section 51.803(a-1), Education Code, as added by this Act, not later than January 1, 2010.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.