Honorable Joe Straus, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives
FROM:
John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2504 by Kolkhorst (Relating to requiring a public institution of higher education to make available to the public on the institution's Internet website certain undergraduate course information.), As Passed 2nd House
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
Under provisions of the bill, each institution of higher education other than medical and dental schools would be required to make available to the public on its website a course syllabus, a curriculum vitae of each regular instructor, and a departmental budget report for each undergraduate classroom course offered. The information must be accessible from the institution's website by use of not more than three links, searchable by keywords and phrases, and accessible to the public without requiring registration or use of user identification.
The information must be available not later than the seventh day after the first day of classes, and must remain available on the institution's website for at least two years. The governing board of each institution will be required to designate an administrator to be responsible for ensuring implementation of these provisions and the institutions would be required to submit a compliance report not later than January 1 of each odd-numbered year. They would be required to conduct end of course student evaluations of faculty and develop a plan to make the evaluations available on their websites.
In addition, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board would be required to provide uniform standards to ensure that information regarding the cost of attendance at institutions of higher education is available to the public in a manner that is consumer-friendly and readily understandable to prospective students and their families. The Higher Education Coordinating Board would encourage, but not require, private or independent institutions of higher education approved to participate in the tuition equalization grant program to comply with provisions of the bill.
Under other provisions, each institution of higher education would be required to establish and maintain an online list of work-study employment opportunities, sorted by department as appropriate, available to students on the institution's campus and ensure that the list is easily accessible to the public through a clearly identifiable link that appears in a prominent place on the financial aid page of the institution's Internet website.
It is assumed the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and institutions of higher education would be able to absorb any costs associated with implementing the provisions of the bill within existing resources.
Local Government Impact
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies:
781 Higher Education Coordinating Board, 710 Texas A&M University System Administrative and General Offices, 720 The University of Texas System Administration, 758 Texas State University System, 768 Texas Tech University System Administration, 769 University of North Texas System Administration, 783 University of Houston System Administration