Honorable Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor, Senate
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB2131 by West (Relating to efforts to facilitate the completion by students of undergraduate certificate and degree programs.), As Passed 2nd House
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Education Code to require school counselors to provide high school students with certain information related to college credit programs and college course sequences and transfer compacts. The bill would also amend the Education Code to create a new program, the "Texas Guided Pathways Program." Under the provisions of the bill, each institution of higher education would be required to develop recommended course sequences for each undergraduate degree and certificate program offered by the institution and annually adopt these sequences and submit them to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) in an electronic format specified by THECB. All institutions of higher education would also be required to submit to THECB annually a list of all transfer compacts in which the institutions participate, including links to or copies of the compacts, in an electronic form to be specified by THECB. The Texas OnCourse initiative at the University of Texas at Austin would be required to work with its partnering institutions of higher education and THECB to develop a web-based platform to provide information to students on institutions' recommended course sequences and their transfer compacts with other institutions. THECB would be required to maintain this web-based platform.
THECB would be required to develop and provide to each school district and open-enrollment charter school an outline of student-specific information on postsecondary educational opportunities and programs available locally to those students with disabilities.
This analysis assumes costs to institutions of higher education to coordinate and implement the requirements of the bill would not be significant and could be absorbed within existing resources. This analysis also assumes there would be costs to the University of Texas System related to the Texas OnCourse initiative's development of a web-based platform as required by the bill. For the purposes of this analysis, it is assumed these costs would not be significant and could be absorbed within existing resources. This analysis assumes there would be costs to THECB to maintain the web-based platform and collect and organize necessary data about students with disabilities. For the purposes of this analysis, it is assumed these costs would also not be significant and could be absorbed within existing resources.
The counseling provisions of the bill would begin with the 2017-18 school year, while the provisions related to the Texas Guided Pathways Program would apply beginning with the 2018-19 academic year. Public institutions of higher education would be required to adopt, submit to THECB, and share their initial recommended course sequences no later than August 15, 2018. The Texas OnCourse initiative would be required to develop the web-based platform required under the bill by no later than March 15, 2019.
The bill would take effect immediately if it receives a two-thirds vote in each house; otherwise, the bill would take effect September 1, 2017.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated. According to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) there may be costs to school districts associated with providing the information required under the bill to students if school counselors are not already doing so; however, TEA anticipates that any potential costs would be minimal.
Source Agencies:
781 Higher Education Coordinating Board, 720 The University of Texas System Administration