By: Kolkhorst S.B. No. 369
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the requirement to submit a financial aid application
  as a condition of high school graduation for public school
  students.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 28.0256(a), (c), (d), and (e),
  Education Code, are amended to read as follows:
         (a)  Before graduating from high school, each student must
  complete and submit a free application for federal student aid
  (FAFSA) or a Texas application for state financial aid (TASFA),
  except as otherwise provided by Subsection (b).
         (c)  A school district or open-enrollment charter school
  shall adopt a form to be used for purposes of Subsection (b). The
  form must [be]:
               (1)  be approved by the agency; [and]
               (2)  provide the student or the student's parent or
  other person standing in parental relation, as applicable, the
  opportunity to decline to complete and submit a financial aid
  application, as provided by Subsection (b); and
               (3)  be made available in English, Spanish, and any
  other language spoken by a majority of the students enrolled in a
  bilingual education or special language program under Subchapter B,
  Chapter 29, in the district or school.
         (d)  If a school counselor notifies a school district or
  open-enrollment charter school whether a student has complied with
  this section for purposes of determining whether the student meets
  high school graduation requirements under Section 28.025, the
  school counselor may only indicate whether the student has complied
  with this section and may not indicate the manner in which the
  student complied, except as necessary for the district or school to
  comply with rules adopted under Subsection (e)(2). A school
  counselor may not indicate that a student has not complied with this
  section if the school district or open-enrollment charter school
  fails to provide the form adopted under Subsection (c) to the
  student or the student's parent or other person standing in
  parental relation to the student.
         (e)  The commissioner shall adopt rules as necessary to
  implement this section, including rules to:
               (1)  establish:
                     (A)  a timeline for:
                           (i)  the distribution to students of the
  free application for federal student aid or Texas application for
  state financial aid and the form adopted under Subsection (c); and
                           (ii)  the submission of a form under
  Subsection (b);
                     (B)  standards regarding the information that a
  school district or open-enrollment charter school must provide to
  students regarding:
                           (i)  in accordance with Section
  33.007(b)(5), instructions for filling out the free application for
  federal student aid or Texas application for state financial aid;
  and
                           (ii)  the options available to a student
  under Subsection (b) if the student wishes to decline to complete
  and submit a financial aid application; and
                     (C)  the method by which a student must provide to
  a school district or open-enrollment charter school proof that the
  student has completed and submitted the free application for
  federal student aid or Texas application for state financial aid as
  required by this section;
               (2)  require each school district and open-enrollment
  charter school to report to the agency:
                     (A)  the number of students who completed and
  submitted a financial aid application under Subsection (a); and
                     (B)  the number of students who received an
  exception from complying with Subsection (a) under Subsection (b);
  and
               (3)  ensure compliance with federal law regarding
  confidentiality of student educational information, including the
  Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C.
  Section 1232g), and any state law relating to the privacy of student
  information.
         SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with the 2021-2022
  school year.
         SECTION 3.  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, 2021.