By: Villarreal H.B. No. 1935
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the establishment of the Texas Adult Career Education
Grant Program to support community-based initiatives that assist
unemployed and underemployed adults in receiving postsecondary
education necessary to obtain employment in local, high-demand
occupations.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 61.0905 to read as follows:
Sec. 61.0905. TEXAS ADULT CAREER EDUCATION GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) In this section, "nonprofit organization" means an
organization exempt from federal income taxation under Section
501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as an organization described
by Section 501(c)(3) of that code.
(b) The board shall establish and administer the Texas Adult
Career Education Grant Program to provide grants to eligible
nonprofit organizations that apply to the board in the manner
prescribed by the board. The purpose of the program is to provide
grants to enable eligible nonprofit organizations, in partnership
with public junior colleges, to administer community-based
initiatives that:
(1) are designed to provide unemployed and
underemployed adults with the postsecondary education necessary to
obtain living-wage careers in high-demand occupations in the local
community; and
(2) use methodologies proven to achieve measurable
results in developing the skill sets of unemployed and
underemployed adults to enable those persons and their families to
achieve financial independence.
(c) To be eligible for a grant under this section, a
nonprofit organization must:
(1) be governed by a board or other governing
structure that includes recognized community leaders of
broad-based community organizations and members of the local
business community; and
(2) demonstrate to the satisfaction of the board that
the organization's programs have achieved the following measures of
success among program participants to the extent applicable to the
types of programs conducted or to be conducted by the organization:
(A) above average completion of developmental
education among public junior college students;
(B) above average persistence rates among public
junior college students;
(C) above average certificate or degree
completion rates within a three-year period among first-time
demographically comparable public junior college students;
(D) increased reading and mathematics
performance;
(E) employment at an average full-time starting
wage that is:
(i) at least 50 percent of the local median
household income; and
(ii) equal to or greater than the
prevailing wage for the occupation entered; and
(F) increased tax receipts and decreased
reliance on public assistance as a result of employment
opportunities created through program participation sufficient to
offset the amount of public money used to finance the
organization's programs.
(d) A grant received under this section may be used only:
(1) to support programs that:
(A) prepare unemployed or underemployed adults
for career employment in private and public sector jobs that are
identified by local businesses as being in high demand and that
provide a living wage, health benefits, and opportunities for
career advancement;
(B) assist unemployed or underemployed adults in
earning transferable degree credits at public junior colleges;
(C) provide unemployed or underemployed adults
with an educational path to the completion of a certificate or
degree program at a public junior college that is based on each
individual's academic need at the time of enrollment, including
adult education, high school equivalency certificate preparation,
literacy and English as a second language classes, developmental
education, and transferable degree credit course work; and
(D) provide unemployed or underemployed adults
with child care, counseling, case management, mentoring,
transportation, emergency assistance, financial assistance toward
the cost of tuition, fees, and books, and other assistance; and
(2) as state matching funds used to match local public
or private funding to support programs described by Subdivision
(1).
(e) The board shall adopt rules for the administration of
this section.
SECTION 2. As soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
adopt rules for the administration of the Texas Adult Career
Education Grant Program under Section 61.0905, Education Code, as
added by this Act.
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, 2009.