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.