By: West S.B. No. 2122

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to authorization by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to develop and implement transfer policy for lower division courses among Texas public institutions of higher education.

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

SECTION 1. Section 61.822, Education Code is amended by amending Subsections (a), (a-1), (b), and (c) and adding Subsections (a-2), (f) and (g) to read as follows:

(a) The board shall encourage develop and implement policy regarding the transferability of lower division course credit among institutions of higher education.

(a-1) The board, with the assistance of advisory committees composed of representatives of institutions of higher education, shall develop a recommended core curriculum of at least 42 39 semester credit hours, including a statement of the content, component areas, and objectives of the core curriculum. At least a majority of the members of any advisory committee named under this section shall be faculty members of an institution of higher education. An institution shall consult with the faculty of the institution before nominating or recommending a person to the board as the institution's representative on an advisory committee.

(a-2) The 39 semester credit hour core curriculum provides the knowledge and academic competencies foundational for all future learning. Courses in the core curriculum shall be general education courses, broad in scope, and shall not narrowly focus on knowledge and competencies specific to a particular occupation or profession.

(b) Each institution of higher education shall adopt a core curriculum of no less than 39 semester credit hours, including specific courses comprising the curriculum. The core curriculum shall be lower division courses, consistent with the common course numbering system, and approved by the board according to the statement, recommendations, and rules issued by the board. An institution may have a core curriculum of other than semester credit hours only if approved by the board.

(c) If a student successfully completes the 39 42-hour core curriculum at an institution of higher education, that block of courses may be transferred to any other institution of higher education and must be substituted for the receiving institution's core curriculum. A student shall receive academic credit for each of the courses transferred and may not be required to take additional core curriculum courses at the receiving institution unless the board has approved a larger core curriculum at the institution.

(f) The Coordinating Board will annually identify in a database determined by the Coordinating Board the state's top 25 majors among transfer students. General academic teaching institutions will identify for each of the majors described above the following:

(1) Required lower-division courses for which equivalencies exist in the Academic Course Guide Manual (ACGM).

(2) Required courses in the top 25 majors that would satisfy Core Curriculum requirements at that institution.

(3) Required lower-division courses that are not in the ACGM for the top 25 majors.

(g) Courses identified shall be applied to the appropriate major for a time period equal to the period students may utilize any given catalog to graduate at a receiving institution. For this purpose the time period would start when a student first entered college, but no more than three years after first entering college.

SECTION 2. Section 61.823, Education Code, is amended by adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:

(g) A public junior college and a technical institute as described in 61.003 must adopt board approved fields of study for any disciplines where they have similar programs.

SECTION 3. Section 51.9685, Education Code, is amended by amending Subsections (b) and (c) to read as follows:

(b) Except as otherwise provided by Subsection (c), each student enrolled in an associate or bachelor's degree program at an institution of higher education shall file a degree plan with the institution not later than the end of the first second regular semester after initially enrolling, or term immediately following the semester or term in which the student earned a cumulative total of 45 or more has accumulated a total of 15 semester credit hours and immediately following the term in which a student has accumulated 30 semester credit hours for coursework attempted coursework successfully completed by the student, including transfer courses, international baccalaureate courses, dual credit courses, and any other course for which the institution the student attends has awarded the student college course credit, including course credit awarded by examination.

(c) A student to whom this section applies who begins the student's first semester or term at an institution of higher education with 30 45 or more semester credit hours of course credit for courses described by Subsection (b) shall file a degree plan with the institution not later than the end of the student's first second regular semester or term at the institution.

SECTION 4. Section 61.059, Education Code, is amended by amending Subsection (p) by adding paragraph (4) to read as follows:

(p) In its instruction and operations formula applicable to an institution of higher education, the board may not include any semester credit hours earned for dual course credit by a high school student for high school and college credit at the institution unless those credit hours are earned through any of the following:

(1) a course in the core curriculum of the institution providing course credit;

(2) a career and technical education course that applies to any certificate or associate 's degree offered by the institution providing course credit; or

(3) a foreign language course.

(4) a course from a Board approved Field of Study or Programs of Study offered by the institution providing course credit.

SECTION 5. Section 61.832, Education code is amended by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:

(e) the Board is authorized to monitor the use of the Texas Common Course Numbering System by general academic teaching institutions to ascertain benefits and problems and provide a report for implementation and a timeline for full compliance with statute.

SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.