86R12581 SOS-D

By: Bettencourt S.B. No. 1477

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to eliminating the requirement that certain top high school graduates be granted automatic admission to certain universities and eliminating the scholarship program for those graduates to attend certain institutions.

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

SECTION 1. The heading to Section 51.803, Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 51.803. AUTOMATIC ADMISSION: TOP HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES; CHILDREN OF FALLEN PUBLIC SAFETY PERSONNEL [ALL INSTITUTIONS].

SECTION 2. Section 51.803, Education Code, is amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (a-3) to read as follows:

(a) Each [Subject to Subsection (a-1), each] general academic teaching institution shall admit an applicant for admission to the institution as an undergraduate student if the applicant graduated with a grade point average in the top 10 percent of the student's high school graduating class in one of the two school years preceding the academic year for which the applicant is applying for admission and:

(1) the applicant graduated from a public or private high school in this state accredited by a generally recognized accrediting organization or from a high school operated by the United States Department of Defense;

(2) the applicant:

(A) successfully completed:

(i) at a public high school, the curriculum requirements established under Section 28.025 for the distinguished level of achievement under the foundation high school program; or

(ii) at a high school to which Section 28.025 does not apply, a curriculum that is equivalent in content and rigor to the distinguished level of achievement under the foundation high school program; or

(B) satisfied ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks on the ACT assessment applicable to the applicant or earned on the SAT assessment a score of at least 1,500 out of 2,400 or the equivalent; and

(3) if the applicant graduated from a high school operated by the United States Department of Defense, the applicant is a Texas resident under Section 54.052 or is entitled to pay tuition fees at the rate provided for Texas residents under Section 54.241(d) for the term or semester to which admitted.

(a-3) Subsection (a) does not apply to:

(1) The University of Texas at Austin; or

(2) Texas A&M University.

SECTION 3. The following provisions of the Education Code are repealed:

(1) Sections 51.803(a-1), (a-2), (a-4), (a-5), (a-6), (j), (k), and (l); and

(2) Subchapter R, Chapter 56.

SECTION 4. Section 51.803, Education Code, as amended by this Act, applies beginning with admissions to an institution of higher education for the 2020-2021 academic year. Admissions to an institution of higher education for an academic year before that academic year are governed 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 5. The repeal by this Act of Subchapter R, Chapter 56, Education Code, does not affect a student initially awarded a scholarship under that subchapter for a semester or other academic term before the effective date of this Act. A student who initially receives a scholarship for a semester or other academic term before that date may continue to receive a scholarship under Subchapter R, Chapter 56, Education Code, as that subchapter existed immediately before the effective date of this Act, to the extent funds are available for that purpose, as long as the student remains eligible for a scholarship under the former law. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall adopt rules to administer this section and shall notify each student who receives a scholarship in the 2019-2020 academic year of the provisions of this section.

SECTION 6. This Act takes effect January 1, 2020.