87R2677 MLH-D
 
  By: Kolkhorst S.B. No. 369
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the notice required regarding 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), and (d), 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 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. 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.
         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.