BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 2628

By: Clardy

Higher Education

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

According to interested parties, Achieve Texas is an education initiative sponsored and funded by the Texas Education Agency with the goal of ensuring rigorous academics are combined with relevant career education while providing a seamless pathway into higher education by using programs of study to guide student coursework. H.B. 2628 seeks to build on the progress made by the Achieve Texas initiative by developing programs of study at community and technical colleges and defining high school to higher education course sequences that will lead to certificates and associate of applied science degrees and increased employability.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Texas Education Agency, and the Texas Workforce Commission in SECTION 2 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 2628 amends the Education Code to require the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, with the assistance of an appropriate advisory committee, to periodically review each field of study curriculum to ensure alignment with student interest and academic and industry needs. The bill requires the coordinating board, with the assistance of institutions of higher education, career and technical education experts, and college and career readiness experts, to establish alignment between the college and career readiness standards and the knowledge, skills, and abilities students are expected to demonstrate in career and technical education by establishing programs of study that meet certain specified conditions.

H.B. 2628 requires the coordinating board, with the assistance of advisory committees composed of representatives of secondary education, postsecondary education, business and industry, other state agencies or licensing bodies, and other career and technical education experts, to develop career and technical education program of study curricula and requires each advisory committee to have at least one representative from each identified group. The bill requires the advisory committees to identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to prepare students for high-skill, high-wage jobs in high-demand occupations. The bill requires the coordinating board, in developing program of study curricula, to pursue a management strategy that maximizes efficiency, authorizes the coordinating board to partner with the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), and other state agencies to develop programs of study and sets out certain requirements for a program of study.

H.B. 2628 requires a student enrolled in a coordinating board-established program of study who transfers from a public junior college, public state college, or public technical institute to another public junior college, public state college, or public technical institute that offers a similar program, regardless of whether the institution has adopted the coordinating board-established program of study, to receive academic credit from the institution to which the student transferred for each of the courses that the student has successfully completed in the program of study curriculum. The bill authorizes the student to complete the program of study at the institution to which the student transferred by completing only the remaining number of semester credit hours the student would need to complete the program of study at the institution from which the student transferred, unless otherwise required by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The bill authorizes the coordinating board, TEA, and the TWC to adopt rules as necessary for the administration of the bill's provisions relating to the establishment of career and technical education program of study curricula.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2015.