By: Shapiro S.B. No. 175
(In the Senate - Filed November 10, 2008; February 10, 2009,
read first time and referred to Committee on Higher Education;
March 9, 2009, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 4,
Nays 1; March 9, 2009, sent to printer.)
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 Subsections (a-1) and (a-2) 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) 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 50 percent of the institution's
enrollment capacity designated for first-time resident
undergraduate students, the institution may elect to offer
admission to those applicants as provided by this subsection and
not as otherwise required by Subsection (a). If the institution
elects to offer admission 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 the
applicants qualified under Subsection (a) have been offered
admission in the number estimated in good faith by the institution
as sufficient to fill 50 percent 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. 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.
(a-2) In the manner prescribed by the Texas Education Agency
and not later than April 15, a general academic teaching
institution shall provide to each school district, for
dissemination of the information to high school junior-level
students and their parents, notice of which percentile ranks of
high school senior-level students are anticipated by the
institution to be automatically offered admission under Subsection
(a-1) during the next school year if:
(1) the number of applicants to the institution during
the current school year who qualify for automatic admission to the
institution under Subsection (a) exceeds 50 percent of the
institution's enrollment capacity designated for first-time
resident undergraduate students; and
(2) the institution plans to offer admission under
Subsection (a-1) during the next school year.
SECTION 2. Section 28.026, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 28.026. NOTICE OF AUTOMATIC COLLEGE ADMISSION. (a)
The board of trustees of a school district shall require each high
school in the district to post appropriate signs in each
counselor's office, in each principal's office, and in each
administrative building indicating the substance of Section 51.803
regarding automatic college admission. To assist in the
dissemination of this information, the school district shall:
(1) require that each high school counselor and class
advisor be provided a detailed explanation of the substance of
Section 51.803;
(2) provide each district student, at the time the
student first registers for one or more classes required for high
school graduation, with a written notification of the substance of
Section 51.803;
(3) require that each high school counselor and senior
class advisor explain to eligible students the substance of Section
51.803; and
(4) [(3)] provide each eligible senior student under
Section 51.803, at the commencement of a class's senior year, with a
written notification of the student's eligibility with a detailed
explanation of the substance of Section 51.803.
(b) The commissioner shall adopt forms to use in providing
notice under Subsections (a)(2) and (4). In providing notice under
Subsection (a)(2) or (4), a school district shall use the
appropriate form adopted by the commissioner.
(c) The commissioner shall adopt procedures to ensure that,
as soon as practicable after this subsection becomes law, each
school district provides written notification of the substance of
Section 51.803, as amended by the 81st Legislature, Regular
Session, 2009, to each district student who, for the 2009-2010
school year, registers for one or more courses required for high
school graduation. The commissioner may adopt rules under this
subsection in the manner provided by law for emergency rules. Each
district shall comply with the procedures adopted by the
commissioner under this subsection. This subsection expires
September 1, 2010.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act to Section
51.803, Education Code, applies beginning with admissions to a
general academic teaching institution for the 2010-2011 academic
year. Admissions to a general academic teaching institution for an
academic period before that academic year 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 4. 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.
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