AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
A student who does not meet college readiness standards can be enrolled for a college preparatory course at their high school. Currently, a student who passes the college prep course with respect to the content area has one year before that grade expires. The exemption applies only at the institution of higher education that partners with the school district in which the student is enrolled to provide the course.
S.B. 1776 will give students more time to decide what they want to do regarding to their future.
S.B. 1776 amends current law relating to the exemption from the assessment requirements of the Texas Success Initiative for students who successfully complete certain college preparatory courses.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
Rulemaking authority previously granted to the commissioner of higher education is rescinded in SECTION 1 (Section 51.3062, Education Code) of this bill.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 51.3062(q-2), Education Code, as follows:
(q-2) Provides that a student who successfully completes a college preparatory course under Section 28.014 (College Preparatory Courses) is exempt from the requirements of this section with respect to the content area of the course. Provides that the exemption is effective for the two-year period following the date the student graduates from high school, and requires the student to enroll in the student's first college-level course in the exempted content area in the student's first year of enrollment in an institution of higher education. Requires the institution, if the student earns less than a C in the student's first college-level course in the exempted content area, to advise the student of non-course-based options for becoming college ready, such as tutoring or accelerated learning. Requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to collect and analyze data regarding the effectiveness of college preparatory courses as measured by students' successful completion of the first college-level course in the exempted content area. Requires THECB to report its findings to all partnering institutions of higher education and independent school districts of each college preparatory course evaluated, as well as the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house of representatives, and the members of the House and Senate Committees on Higher Education. Deletes existing text requiring the commissioner of higher education by rule to establish the period for which an exemption under this subsection is valid.
SECTION 2. Provides that the change in law made by this Act applies beginning with the assessment of entering undergraduate students at public institutions of higher education for the 2015 fall semester. Makes application of this Act prospective.
SECTION 3. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2015.