88R3547 CXP-D
 
  By: Menéndez S.B. No. 455
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the measures to encourage eligible students to claim
  certain tuition and fee exemptions at public institutions of higher
  education for students who are or have been in foster or other
  residential care.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 54.366(b), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (b)  The Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher
  Education Coordinating Board shall develop outreach programs to
  ensure that students in the conservatorship of the Department of
  Family and Protective Services and in grades 9 through 12 [9-12] are
  aware of the availability of the exemption from the payment of
  tuition and fees provided by this section.  The outreach programs
  must include the provision of informational materials regarding the
  exemption to each:
               (1)  residential child-care facility as defined by
  Section 42.002, Human Resources Code;
               (2)  foster parent or relative or other designated
  caregiver for a student enrolled in grade 9 through 12; and
               (3)  school district, open-enrollment charter school,
  and private school offering grade nine or above.
         SECTION 2.  Section 54.367(b), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (b)  The Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher
  Education Coordinating Board shall develop outreach programs to
  ensure that adopted students in grades 9 through 12 [9-12] formerly
  in foster or other residential care are aware of the availability of
  the exemption from the payment of tuition and fees provided by this
  section. The outreach programs must include the provision of
  informational materials regarding the exemption to each:
               (1)  residential child-care facility as defined by
  Section 42.002, Human Resources Code;
               (2)  adoptive parent of a student in grade 9 through 12
  who was formerly in foster or other residential care; and
               (3)  school district, open-enrollment charter school,
  and private school offering grade nine or above.
         SECTION 3.  Subchapter D, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 54.3671 to read as follows:
         Sec. 54.3671.  STREAMLINED ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION AND
  APPLICATION PROCESS FOR CERTAIN STUDENTS. The Texas Higher
  Education Coordinating Board and the Department of Family and
  Protective Services shall jointly design and implement a
  streamlined eligibility determination and application process for
  the tuition and fee exemptions provided by Sections 54.366 and
  54.367. The streamlined process must:
               (1)  be designed to decrease the administrative burden
  on the department and students in determining exemption eligibility
  by reducing data collection, data entry, and the copying and
  recopying of applications;
               (2)  include a system through which a student may apply
  for an exemption electronically through the department's Internet
  website; and
               (3)  for a student determined by the department to be
  eligible for an exemption, provide for the automatic submission by
  the department to the institution of higher education indicated by
  the student of the tuition waiver letter or other documentation
  required by the institution to verify the student's eligibility.
         SECTION 4.  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, 2023.