81R9902 KSD-D
By: Eissler H.B. No. 1676
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the automatic admission of undergraduate students to a
general academic teaching institution that is a component
institution of a university system.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 51.803, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (b-1) and (b-2) to
read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (b-1), each [Each]
general academic teaching institution shall admit an applicant for
admission to the institution as an undergraduate student if the
applicant graduated with a grade point average in the top 10 percent
of the student's high school graduating class in one of the two
school years preceding the academic year for which the applicant is
applying for admission and:
(1) the applicant graduated from a public or private
high school in this state accredited by a generally recognized
accrediting organization or from a high school operated by the
United States Department of Defense;
(2) the applicant:
(A) successfully completed:
(i) at a public high school, the curriculum
requirements established under Section 28.025 for the recommended
or advanced high school program; or
(ii) at a high school to which Section
28.025 does not apply, a curriculum that is equivalent in content
and rigor to the recommended or advanced high school program; or
(B) satisfied ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks
on the ACT assessment applicable to the applicant or earned on the
SAT assessment a score of at least 1,500 out of 2,400 or the
equivalent; and
(3) if the applicant graduated from a high school
operated by the United States Department of Defense, the applicant
is a Texas resident under Section 54.052 or is entitled to pay
tuition fees at the rate provided for Texas residents under Section
54.058(d) for the term or semester to which admitted.
(b-1) The governing board of a university system that
includes more than one general academic teaching institution may
adopt a policy under which an application for admission under this
section to one or more of those institutions by a person eligible
for automatic admission under Subsection (a) is treated as an
application for admission as an undergraduate student to any
general academic teaching institution in the system. A university
system that adopts a policy under this subsection must offer an
eligible applicant admission to at least one component general
academic teaching institution of the system. A policy adopted
under this subsection must:
(1) include a process through which the university
system requests each eligible applicant to list in order of
preference the general academic teaching institutions in the system
to which the applicant prefers to be admitted under this section;
and
(2) require the system to make a reasonable effort to
offer the applicant admission to the institution of the applicant's
highest preference possible consistent with the enrollment needs of
the system.
(b-2) A university system that adopts a policy under
Subsection (b-1) shall provide to the board of trustees of each
school district in the state reasonable notice of the policy not
later than November 1 of the academic year immediately preceding
each academic year to which the policy applies.
SECTION 2. 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, 2009.