81R154 KSD-D
By: Branch H.B. No. 52
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to limitations on 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 (a-1) to read as
follows:
(a) Subject to Subsection (a-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.
(a-1) For each academic year, a general academic teaching
institution not later than the preceding January 1 shall reserve
for admissions under Subsection (a) not less than 40 percent of the
institution's enrollment capacity designated for first-time
resident undergraduate students. If a general academic teaching
institution does not reserve under this subsection a percentage of
the institution's enrollment capacity for admissions under
Subsection (a), the institution is considered to have reserved 100
percent of its enrollment capacity designated for first-time
resident undergraduate students for that purpose. Subsection (a)
does not apply to the portion of the institution's enrollment
capacity designated for first-time undergraduate students that is
not reserved under this subsection for admissions under Subsection
(a). If the number of applicants who qualify for automatic
admission to a general academic teaching institution under
Subsection (a) exceeds the percentage of the institution's
enrollment capacity designated for first-time resident
undergraduate students reserved by the institution under this
subsection, the institution shall 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, except that the
institution must offer admission to all applicants with the same
percentile rank. The institution shall consider any remaining
applicants qualified for automatic admission under Subsection (a)
in the same manner as other applicants for admission as first-time
undergraduate students in accordance with Section 51.805.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies
beginning with admissions to institutions of higher education for
the 2010-2011 academic year. Admissions to an institution of
higher education before that academic year are governed 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. (a) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board shall adopt rules relating to the admission of students under
Section 51.803, Education Code, as amended by this Act, as soon as
practicable after the effective date of this Act.
(b) A general academic teaching institution shall reserve
for admissions under Section 51.803(a), Education Code, as amended
by this Act, a percentage of the institution's enrollment capacity
designated for first-time resident undergraduate students for the
2010 fall semester as required by Section 51.803(a-1), Education
Code, as added by this Act, not later than January 1, 2010.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.