By: Villarreal H.B. No. 1935

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the establishment of the Texas Adult Career Education Grant Program to support community-based initiatives that assist unemployed and underemployed adults in receiving postsecondary education necessary to obtain employment in local, high-demand occupations.

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

SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 61.0905 to read as follows:

Sec. 61.0905. TEXAS ADULT CAREER EDUCATION GRANT PROGRAM. (a) In this section, "nonprofit organization" means an organization exempt from federal income taxation under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as an organization described by Section 501(c)(3) of that code.

(b) The board shall establish and administer the Texas Adult Career Education Grant Program to provide grants to eligible nonprofit organizations that apply to the board in the manner prescribed by the board. The purpose of the program is to provide grants to enable eligible nonprofit organizations, in partnership with public junior colleges, to administer community-based initiatives that:

(1) are designed to provide unemployed and underemployed adults with the postsecondary education necessary to obtain living-wage careers in high-demand occupations in the local community; and

(2) use methodologies proven to achieve measurable results in developing the skill sets of unemployed and underemployed adults to enable those persons and their families to achieve financial independence.

(c) To be eligible for a grant under this section, a nonprofit organization must:

(1) be governed by a board or other governing structure that includes recognized community leaders of broad-based community organizations and members of the local business community; and

(2) demonstrate to the satisfaction of the board that the organization's programs have achieved the following measures of success among program participants to the extent applicable to the types of programs conducted or to be conducted by the organization:

(A) above average completion of developmental education among public junior college students;

(B) above average persistence rates among public junior college students;

(C) above average certificate or degree completion rates within a three-year period among first-time demographically comparable public junior college students;

(D) increased reading and mathematics performance;

(E) employment at an average full-time starting wage that is:

(i) at least 50 percent of the local median household income; and

(ii) equal to or greater than the prevailing wage for the occupation entered; and

(F) increased tax receipts and decreased reliance on public assistance as a result of employment opportunities created through program participation sufficient to offset the amount of public money used to finance the organization's programs.

(d) A grant received under this section may be used only:

(1) to support programs that:

(A) prepare unemployed or underemployed adults for career employment in private and public sector jobs that are identified by local businesses as being in high demand and that provide a living wage, health benefits, and opportunities for career advancement;

(B) assist unemployed or underemployed adults in earning transferable degree credits at public junior colleges;

(C) provide unemployed or underemployed adults with an educational path to the completion of a certificate or degree program at a public junior college that is based on each individual's academic need at the time of enrollment, including adult education, high school equivalency certificate preparation, literacy and English as a second language classes, developmental education, and transferable degree credit course work; and

(D) provide unemployed or underemployed adults with child care, counseling, case management, mentoring, transportation, emergency assistance, financial assistance toward the cost of tuition, fees, and books, and other assistance; and

(2) as state matching funds used to match local public or private funding to support programs described by Subdivision (1).

(e) The board shall adopt rules for the administration of this section.

SECTION 2. As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall adopt rules for the administration of the Texas Adult Career Education Grant Program under Section 61.0905, Education Code, as added by this Act.

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.