| |
|
|
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. |
|
|
|
|
|
* * * * * |