| TO: | Honorable Joe Straus, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives |
| FROM: | Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB1296 by Alvarado (Relating to information regarding postsecondary education and career opportunities and workforce needs in this state.), As Passed 2nd House |
The bill would require the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to prepare information comparing institutions of higher education in the state and to post the information on the agency's website. This information would be provided to public school students at their request and would include identification of postsecondary education and career opportunities; comparisons of each instituiton with other institutions regarding cost of tuition, retention rates, graduation rates, average student debt, student loan repayment rates, and employment rates; identification of future workforce needs from Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) projections; and annual wages for the top 10 highest demand jobs in the state. Each institution would be required to provide a link on its website to the information posted on TEA's website. Costs associated with this section of the bill are not considered significant and would be absorbed within existing resources.
The bill would require the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (Board), in conjunction with TWC and in consultation with any other state agency as requested by the Board or TWC, to collect information and make a five-year projection concerning the workforce needs of the state, and the educational attainment and training of persons projected to enter the state workforce. Based on the projections, the Board shall identify the types and levels of education, training, and skills that are needed to meet the state's future workforce needs and shall make recommendations concerning the expansion of existing programs or the development of new programs at public and private postsecondary educational institutions in this state as necessary to meet the projected workforce needs. The bill requires that by February 1, 2015, the Board must prepare and submit electronically to each standing legislative committee with primary jurisdiction over higher education or workforce development, TEA, and each public and private postsecondary educational institution in this state, a report of the information collected and analyzed, including recommendations of the Board for programming at postsecondary educational institutions. Provisions of the bill would expire on August 31, 2017. For purposes of this analysis, the Board is assumed to be the lead agency in collecting the information and making projections as required by the bill. It is also assumed that costs identified by the Board to implement provisions of the bill are not significant.
| Source Agencies: | 320 Texas Workforce Commission, 701 Central Education Agency, 710 Texas A&M University System Administrative and General Offices, 758 Texas State University System, 769 University of North Texas System Administration, 781 Higher Education Coordinating Board, 783 University of Houston System Administration
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| LBB Staff: | UP, SD, RB, SK, GO, JBi, NV
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