Honorable Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor, Senate
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB1091 by Seliger (Relating to limitations on courses that may be offered for dual credit by school districts and public institutions of higher education.), As Passed 2nd House
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Education Code to restrict dual credit course offerings in the state to only those courses which are: 1) in the core curriculum of the public institution of higher education or public junior college providing the college credit; 2) a career and technical education course; or 3) a foreign language course. These limitations would not apply to Early College High School programs offered under Education Code Sec. 29.908 or other early college high school programs that would assist students in earning an associate degree while in high school. The bill also would require institutions to adopt and implement credit granting policies for students who have achieved required scores on certain examinations.
The bill would require the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to coordinate and adopt necessary rules for implementation of the bill's provisions.
Statute and administrative rules limit the types of courses that may be reported for state formula funds to courses in the core curriculum, career and technical education courses, and foreign language courses. As a result, the bill's limitations on course type are not anticipated to have a fiscal impact to the state. It is also assumed that costs to TEA and THECB to coordinate and develop rules as necessary would not be significant and could be absorbed within existing resources.
The bill would take immediate effect if it receives a two-thirds vote of each house of the Legislature. Otherwise, the bill would take effect September 1, 2017. Changes made by the bill would apply beginning with dual credit courses offered for the spring 2018 semester.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated. According to the Texas Education Agency, there may be a small administrative cost to school districts to ensure dual credit courses align with the provisions of the bill.
Source Agencies:
701 Texas Education Agency, 710 Texas A&M University System Administrative and General Offices, 719 Texas State Technical College System Administration, 720 The University of Texas System Administration, 758 Texas State University System, 768 Texas Tech University System Administration, 781 Higher Education Coordinating Board, 783 University of Houston System Administration