89R1329 CXP-D

By: Lujan H.B. No. 1634

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to tuition and fee exemptions at public institutions of higher education for certain students who were under the conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective Services.

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

SECTION 1. Sections 54.366(a), (b), and (c), Education Code, are amended to read as follows:

(a) A student is exempt from the payment of tuition and fees authorized in this chapter, including tuition and fees charged by an institution of higher education for a dual credit course or other course for which a high school student may earn joint high school and college credit, if the student[:

[(1)] was under the conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective Services:

(1) [(A)] on the day preceding the student's 18th birthday;

(2) [(B)] on or after the day of the student's 14th birthday, if the student was also eligible for adoption on or after that day;

(3) [(C)] on the day the student graduated from high school or received the equivalent of a high school diploma;

(4) [(D)] on the day preceding:

(A) [(i)] the date the student is adopted, if that date is on or after September 1, 2009; or

(B) [(ii)] the date permanent managing conservatorship of the student is awarded to a person other than the student's parent, if that date is on or after September 1, 2009; or

(5) [(E)] during an academic term in which the student was enrolled in a dual credit course or other course for which a high school student may earn joint high school and college credit[; and

[(2) enrolls in an institution of higher education as an undergraduate student or in a dual credit course or other course for which a high school student may earn joint high school and college credit not later than the student's 25th birthday].

(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 7 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 grades 7 through 12; and

(3) school district, open-enrollment charter school, and private school offering grade seven or above.

(c) Notwithstanding Subsection (a) [(a)(1)], a child who exits the conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective Services and is returned to the child's parent, including a parent whose parental rights were previously terminated, may be exempt from the payment of tuition and fees if the department determines that the child is eligible under department rule. The executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall by rule develop factors for determining eligibility under this subsection in consultation with the department and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

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 7 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 grades 7 through 12 who was formerly in foster or other residential care; and

(3) school district, open-enrollment charter school, and private school offering grade seven 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. The changes in law made by this Act to Section 54.366, Education Code, apply beginning with tuition and fees charged for the 2025 fall semester. Tuition and fees charged for a term or semester before the 2025 fall semester 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. 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, 2025.