82R10755 JRJ-D
 
  By: Pitts H.B. No. 2440
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the creation of a Texas Junior College System office.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Chapter 130, Education Code, is amended by
  adding Subchapter K to read as follows:
  SUBCHAPTER K. TEXAS JUNIOR COLLEGE SYSTEM OFFICE
         Sec. 130.301.  APPLICABILITY. This subchapter supersedes a
  conflicting statute outside this subchapter unless this subchapter
  or the outside statute expressly provides otherwise.
         Sec. 130.302.  TEXAS JUNIOR COLLEGE SYSTEM; ROLE AND
  MISSION. (a) The Texas Junior College System office oversees Texas
  public junior colleges.
         (b)  Public junior colleges are two-year institutions
  primarily serving the residents of their local taxing districts and
  service areas in Texas and offering vocational, technical, and
  academic courses for certification or associate degrees. A public
  junior college shall also provide continuing education, remedial
  and compensatory education consistent with open-admission
  policies, and programs of counseling and guidance.
         (c)  The Texas Junior College System shall contribute to the
  educational and economic development of the State of Texas by
  ensuring that each institution in the system insists on excellence
  in all academic pursuits, including instruction, research, and
  public service. Faculty research, using the facilities provided
  for and consistent with the primary function of each institution in
  the system, shall be encouraged. Funding for research should be
  obtained from private sources, competitively acquired sources,
  local taxes, and other local resources.
         Sec. 130.303.  DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
               (1)  "Coordinating board" means the Texas Higher
  Education Coordinating Board.
               (2)  "Director" means the executive director of the
  Texas Junior College System office.
               (3)  "General academic teaching institution,"
  "institution of higher education," and "private or independent
  institution of higher education" have the meanings assigned by
  Section 61.003.
               (4)  "System" means the Texas Junior College System.
         Sec. 130.304.  FUNDING; GIFTS AND GRANTS. (a) The
  legislature shall appropriate funds for administration of the Texas
  Junior College System.
         (b)  The system may solicit and accept gifts and grants from
  any public or private source.
         (c)  Notwithstanding Section 61.059, the system shall devise
  and establish funding formulas to guide the legislature in making
  appropriations to public junior colleges in a manner that balances
  the amount of state funding provided to public junior colleges with
  the benefits contributed by public junior colleges to the state.
  Funding shall be allocated to junior college districts in
  accordance with the extent to which those districts meet the goals
  in the system's strategic plan. The director must ensure that the
  measurements used to allocate funds are predictable and clearly
  communicated.
         Sec. 130.305.  SYSTEM OFFICE; EXECUTIVE OFFICER. (a) The
  system office shall provide oversight and coordination of the
  activities of each public junior college.
         (b)  The coordinating board shall appoint an executive
  director of the system and determine the executive director's
  tenure, salary, and duties.
         (c)  The director shall recommend a plan for the organization
  of the system and employ not more than 10 full-time employees to
  administer the system.
         (d)  The director is responsible to the coordinating board
  for the general management and success of the system, and the
  coordinating board shall cooperate with the director to carry out
  that responsibility.
         (e)  In addition to other powers and duties provided by this
  code or other law, the system office shall recommend necessary
  policies and rules to the coordinating board and to the governing
  board of each junior college district to ensure compliance with all
  laws and to provide uniformity in data collection and financial
  reporting procedures.
         Sec. 130.306.  DUTIES OF SYSTEM OFFICE. The system office
  shall:
               (1)  formulate a comprehensive strategic plan for
  junior college districts that clearly links statewide goals to
  specific targets for each district;
               (2)  establish common transfer standards between
  public junior colleges and general academic teaching institutions;
               (3)  develop common core courses that are completely
  transferable to all general academic teaching institutions;
               (4)  oversee dual credit agreements to ensure
  transferability to upper level institutions of higher education;
               (5)  allocate the state's formula funds to junior
  college districts in a manner consistent with statute;
               (6)  define clear goals and milestones for junior
  college districts and allocate any available performance funding in
  pursuit of those goals;
               (7)  provide direct training or facilitate the
  provision of training to junior college district board members and
  executive staff on matters ranging from best practices for fiscal
  accountability to increasing transparency;
               (8)  represent the interests of junior college
  districts before the legislature and the governor, including
  funding requests, and represent the state's interests to the
  districts;
               (9)  establish and enforce rules of fiscal
  accountability for junior college districts, including minimum
  internal audit standards;
               (10)  represent junior college districts officially in
  all negotiations with state and federal entities;
               (11)  be responsible for the allocation of all or part
  of federal financial aid for public junior colleges;
               (12)  act as an information resource to the
  legislature, including providing the legislature with impact
  statements and fiscal note data on the effects of proposed
  legislation, as well as analysis of proposed substantive policy
  actions affecting public junior colleges;
               (13)  conduct research, using system office resources
  or by contract, on issues critical to public junior colleges and the
  state, including transfer facilitation and dual credit programs;
  and
               (14)  recommend changes to junior college district
  service areas and taxing district boundaries as necessary to
  reflect statewide interests.
         Sec. 130.307.  CONTRACTS WITH INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER
  EDUCATION. The system may enter into a contract or other agreement
  with an institution of higher education or a private or independent
  institution of higher education for joint participation in any
  program that may benefit the State of Texas.
         Sec. 130.308.  POSTSECONDARY WORKFORCE EDUCATION WORKGROUP.
  The system office may establish and coordinate a workgroup composed
  of representatives of the Texas Workforce Commission, the Texas
  Education Agency, the coordinating board, and industry to make
  recommendations regarding curriculum alignment and consistency in
  postsecondary workforce education.
         SECTION 2.  Section 130.0011, Education Code, is repealed.
         SECTION 3.  (a) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating
  Board shall establish the Texas Junior College System office not
  later than January 1, 2013.
         (b)  Beginning with the state fiscal biennium beginning
  September 1, 2013, all functions of the Texas Junior College System
  office described by Subchapter K, Chapter 130, Education Code, as
  added by this Act, performed by the Texas Higher Education
  Coordinating Board before the effective date of this Act are
  transferred to the Texas Junior College System office if not
  previously transferred to that office.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.