BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 2549

By: Patrick, Diane

Higher Education

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The commissioner of education and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board are currently responsible for approving college readiness standards as recommended by vertical teams established by the commissioners of education and higher education, with the goal of ensuring that students attain the essential knowledge and skills to be prepared for college. H.B. 2549 seeks to guarantee the relevancy of those standards by requiring that they be periodically reviewed and revised.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the commissioner of education and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in SECTION 1 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 2549 amends the Education Code to expand the duties of the vertical team established by the commissioners of education and higher education with regard to the advancement of college readiness standards in public education to include the periodic review and revision of the college readiness standards and expectations developed by the team and the recommendation of revised standards for approval by the commissioner of education and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The bill requires the commissioner of education and the coordinating board by rule to establish a schedule for the required periodic review, giving consideration to the cycle of review and identification of the essential knowledge and skills of subjects of the required curriculum.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2013.