84R8724 KSD-D

By: Seliger S.B. No. 778

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to performance-based tuition limitations for certain public institutions of higher education.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 54, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 54.05131 to read as follows:

Sec. 54.05131. PERFORMANCE-BASED DESIGNATED TUITION LIMITATIONS. (a) In this section:

(1) "General academic teaching institution" and "public state college" have the meanings assigned by Section 61.003.

(2) "Performance measure" includes only:

(1) the four-year graduation rate of first-time, full-time, bachelor's degree-seeking students;

(2) the six-year graduation rate of first-time, full-time, bachelor's degree-seeking students;

(3) the persistence rate of first-time, full-time, degree-seeking freshman students after one academic year;

(4) the educator certification rate of teacher education graduates;

(5) the percentage of students awarded a baccalaureate degree who are first-generation college graduates;

(6) the two-year graduation rate of incoming full-time undergraduate transfer students;

(7) the four-year graduation rate of incoming full-time undergraduate transfer students;

(8) the percentage of lower-division semester credit hours taught by tenured or tenure-track faculty; and

(9) the dollar value of external or sponsored research expenditures.

(b) This section applies only to a general academic teaching institution other than a public state college.

(c) This section applies to tuition charged for an academic year by an institution to which this section applies only if the institution did not satisfy, in the most recent state fiscal year preceding that academic year for which information is available, more than one-half of the target levels assigned to the performance measures included in the General Appropriations Act as applicable to the institution for that state fiscal year. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in consultation with the Legislative Budget Board shall determine whether an institution has satisfied an applicable target level for purposes of this subsection.

(d) For an academic year in which this section applies to an institution, the amount of tuition the governing board of the institution charges under Section 54.0513 to a student for that academic year may not exceed the total amount of tuition that the governing board would have charged under that section to a similarly situated student in the preceding academic year, as that amount is adjusted for each academic year for inflation as determined under Subsection (e). The governing board may not increase the amount of tuition charged under this section to a student more than once in any academic year. For purposes of this subsection, students are similarly situated if they share the same residency status, degree program, course load, course level, tuition exemption status, and other circumstances affecting the tuition charged to the student.

(e) Not later than January 31 of each year, or as soon thereafter as practicable, the Legislative Budget Board shall publish and certify to the governing board of each institution to which this section applies the inflation rate to be used for purposes of this section for the next academic year.

(f) The inflation rate is the percentage increase, if any, as expressed in decimal form rounded to the nearest thousandth of one percent, in the consumer price index, as defined by Section 341.201, Finance Code, for the preceding calendar year as compared to the consumer price index for the year preceding that year.

SECTION 2. Chapter 322, Government Code, is amended by adding Section 322.025 to read as follows:

Sec. 322.025. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PERFORMANCE MEASURES AND ASSOCIATED TARGET LEVELS FOR CERTAIN INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION. (a) In this section:

(1) "Institution of higher education" has the meaning assigned by Section 61.003, Education Code.

(2) "Performance measure" means a performance measure listed in Section 54.05131(a)(2), Education Code.

(b) Each institution of higher education to which Section 54.05131, Education Code, applies shall submit to the board, as part of the institution's legislative appropriations request for the general appropriations bill prepared by the board under Section 322.008, a requested target level for each performance measure applicable to the institution for each of the state fiscal years covered by the bill.

(c) The board, in preparing the general appropriations bill under Section 322.008, after considering the performance measure target levels requested by institutions under Subsection (b) of this section, shall prescribe for each institution to which Section 54.05131, Education Code, applies and for which money is to be appropriated in the bill, recommendations for target levels for the performance measures that the board considers appropriate for the institution for inclusion in the appropriations to the institution for each of the state fiscal years covered by the bill.

(d) The board's staff shall:

(1) notify an institution if the staff's proposed recommendations applicable to the institution are different from the performance measure target levels requested by the institution under Subsection (b); and

(2) provide the institution an opportunity to comment on or request modification of the staff's proposed performance measure target levels.

(e) The board shall establish a procedure under which an institution that is dissatisfied with the staff's final recommendation for one or more performance measure target levels applicable to the institution may request a modification of the level or levels in a hearing before the board held as soon as practicable before the board prescribes its final recommendations under Subsection (c) but not later than the date the general appropriations bill is filed in the legislature.

SECTION 3. Section 54.05131, Education Code, as added by this Act, applies beginning with tuition charged by a general academic teaching institution to which that section applies for the 2018-2019 academic year. Tuition charged by an institution for an academic year before that academic year is covered by the law in effect immediately before the effective date of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.