By: West S.B. No. 2131

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to requirements for providing postsecondary education counseling to high school students.

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

SECTION 1. Section 33.007, Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 33.007. COUNSELING REGARDING POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION. (a) Each school counselor at an elementary, middle, or junior high school, including an open-enrollment charter school offering those grades, shall advise students and their parents or guardians regarding the importance of postsecondary education, coursework designed to prepare students for postsecondary education, and financial aid availability and requirements.

(b) During the first school year a student is enrolled in a high school or at the high school level in an open-enrollment charter school, and again during each year of a student's enrollment in high school or at the high school level, a school counselor shall provide information about postsecondary education to the student and the student's parent or guardian. The information must include information accessible through the database of required lower division courses for specific majors, as well as information regarding:

(1) the importance of postsecondary education;

(2) the advantages of earning an endorsement and a performance acknowledgment and completing the distinguished level of achievement under the foundation high school program under Section 28.025;

(3) the disadvantages of taking courses to prepare for a high school equivalency examination relative to the benefits of taking courses leading to a high school diploma;

(4) financial aid eligibility;

(5) instruction on how to apply for federal financial aid;

(6) the center for financial aid information established under Section 61.0776;

(7) the automatic admission of certain students to general academic teaching institutions as provided by Section 51.803;

(8) the eligibility and academic performance requirements for the TEXAS Grant as provided by Subchapter M, Chapter 56; [and]

(9) the availability of advanced academic programs in the district under which a student may earn college credit, including advanced placement programs[, dual credit programs, joint high school and college credit programs,] and international baccalaureate programs; and

(10) the availability of dual credit and joint high school and college credit programs, including the types of dual credit offered (core curriculum courses versus career and technical education courses) and the transferability and application of dual credit offerings to regional junior or community colleges, public technical colleges, and four-year colleges and universities.

(c) Schools and districts shall post on their website and update annually the information articulated in Subsection (b)(10) related to dual credit and joint high school and college credit programs.

(d) Each school district and open-enrollment charter school, in consultation with school counselors employed by the district or school, shall develop a procedure for documenting on each student's transcript any postsecondary advising services provided to the student under this section, including the name of the person or counseling provider who provided the services.

(e) [(c)] At the beginning of grades 10 and 11, a school counselor certified under the rules of the State Board for Educator Certification shall explain the requirements of automatic admission to a general academic teaching institution under Section 51.803 to each student enrolled in a high school or at the high school level in an open-enrollment charter school who has a grade point average in the top 25 percent of the student's high school class.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2017.