81R9280 KSD-D
By: Morrison H.B. No. 2422
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the automatic admission of undergraduate students to
general academic teaching institutions.
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 Subsection (b-1) to read as
follows:
(a) Subject to 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) A general academic teaching institution is not
required to admit under Subsection (a) more than 50 percent of the
institution's first-time resident undergraduate students in an
academic year. If the number of applicants who qualify for
automatic admission to a general academic teaching institution
under Subsection (a) exceeds that percentage of the institution's
enrollment capacity designated for first-time resident
undergraduate students, the institution shall:
(1) offer admission to those applicants by percentile
rank according to graduating class standing based on grade point
average, beginning with the top percentile rank, until a sufficient
number of applicants have accepted admission offers to fill that
percentage of the institution's enrollment capacity designated for
first-time resident undergraduate students, except that the
institution must offer admission to all applicants with the same
percentile rank; and
(2) after offering admission to applicants under
Subdivision (1), consider any remaining applicants qualified for
automatic admission under Subsection (a) in the same manner as
other applicants for admission as first-time freshmen students in
accordance with Section 51.805.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies
beginning with admissions to general academic teaching
institutions for the 2010-2011 academic year. Admissions to a
general academic teaching institution before that academic year are
covered by the law in effect before the effective date of this Act,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.