82R10755 JRJ-D
By: Pitts H.B. No. 2440
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation of a Texas Junior College System office.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 130, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subchapter K to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER K. TEXAS JUNIOR COLLEGE SYSTEM OFFICE
Sec. 130.301. APPLICABILITY. This subchapter supersedes a
conflicting statute outside this subchapter unless this subchapter
or the outside statute expressly provides otherwise.
Sec. 130.302. TEXAS JUNIOR COLLEGE SYSTEM; ROLE AND
MISSION. (a) The Texas Junior College System office oversees Texas
public junior colleges.
(b) Public junior colleges are two-year institutions
primarily serving the residents of their local taxing districts and
service areas in Texas and offering vocational, technical, and
academic courses for certification or associate degrees. A public
junior college shall also provide continuing education, remedial
and compensatory education consistent with open-admission
policies, and programs of counseling and guidance.
(c) The Texas Junior College System shall contribute to the
educational and economic development of the State of Texas by
ensuring that each institution in the system insists on excellence
in all academic pursuits, including instruction, research, and
public service. Faculty research, using the facilities provided
for and consistent with the primary function of each institution in
the system, shall be encouraged. Funding for research should be
obtained from private sources, competitively acquired sources,
local taxes, and other local resources.
Sec. 130.303. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Coordinating board" means the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board.
(2) "Director" means the executive director of the
Texas Junior College System office.
(3) "General academic teaching institution,"
"institution of higher education," and "private or independent
institution of higher education" have the meanings assigned by
Section 61.003.
(4) "System" means the Texas Junior College System.
Sec. 130.304. FUNDING; GIFTS AND GRANTS. (a) The
legislature shall appropriate funds for administration of the Texas
Junior College System.
(b) The system may solicit and accept gifts and grants from
any public or private source.
(c) Notwithstanding Section 61.059, the system shall devise
and establish funding formulas to guide the legislature in making
appropriations to public junior colleges in a manner that balances
the amount of state funding provided to public junior colleges with
the benefits contributed by public junior colleges to the state.
Funding shall be allocated to junior college districts in
accordance with the extent to which those districts meet the goals
in the system's strategic plan. The director must ensure that the
measurements used to allocate funds are predictable and clearly
communicated.
Sec. 130.305. SYSTEM OFFICE; EXECUTIVE OFFICER. (a) The
system office shall provide oversight and coordination of the
activities of each public junior college.
(b) The coordinating board shall appoint an executive
director of the system and determine the executive director's
tenure, salary, and duties.
(c) The director shall recommend a plan for the organization
of the system and employ not more than 10 full-time employees to
administer the system.
(d) The director is responsible to the coordinating board
for the general management and success of the system, and the
coordinating board shall cooperate with the director to carry out
that responsibility.
(e) In addition to other powers and duties provided by this
code or other law, the system office shall recommend necessary
policies and rules to the coordinating board and to the governing
board of each junior college district to ensure compliance with all
laws and to provide uniformity in data collection and financial
reporting procedures.
Sec. 130.306. DUTIES OF SYSTEM OFFICE. The system office
shall:
(1) formulate a comprehensive strategic plan for
junior college districts that clearly links statewide goals to
specific targets for each district;
(2) establish common transfer standards between
public junior colleges and general academic teaching institutions;
(3) develop common core courses that are completely
transferable to all general academic teaching institutions;
(4) oversee dual credit agreements to ensure
transferability to upper level institutions of higher education;
(5) allocate the state's formula funds to junior
college districts in a manner consistent with statute;
(6) define clear goals and milestones for junior
college districts and allocate any available performance funding in
pursuit of those goals;
(7) provide direct training or facilitate the
provision of training to junior college district board members and
executive staff on matters ranging from best practices for fiscal
accountability to increasing transparency;
(8) represent the interests of junior college
districts before the legislature and the governor, including
funding requests, and represent the state's interests to the
districts;
(9) establish and enforce rules of fiscal
accountability for junior college districts, including minimum
internal audit standards;
(10) represent junior college districts officially in
all negotiations with state and federal entities;
(11) be responsible for the allocation of all or part
of federal financial aid for public junior colleges;
(12) act as an information resource to the
legislature, including providing the legislature with impact
statements and fiscal note data on the effects of proposed
legislation, as well as analysis of proposed substantive policy
actions affecting public junior colleges;
(13) conduct research, using system office resources
or by contract, on issues critical to public junior colleges and the
state, including transfer facilitation and dual credit programs;
and
(14) recommend changes to junior college district
service areas and taxing district boundaries as necessary to
reflect statewide interests.
Sec. 130.307. CONTRACTS WITH INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER
EDUCATION. The system may enter into a contract or other agreement
with an institution of higher education or a private or independent
institution of higher education for joint participation in any
program that may benefit the State of Texas.
Sec. 130.308. POSTSECONDARY WORKFORCE EDUCATION WORKGROUP.
The system office may establish and coordinate a workgroup composed
of representatives of the Texas Workforce Commission, the Texas
Education Agency, the coordinating board, and industry to make
recommendations regarding curriculum alignment and consistency in
postsecondary workforce education.
SECTION 2. Section 130.0011, Education Code, is repealed.
SECTION 3. (a) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board shall establish the Texas Junior College System office not
later than January 1, 2013.
(b) Beginning with the state fiscal biennium beginning
September 1, 2013, all functions of the Texas Junior College System
office described by Subchapter K, Chapter 130, Education Code, as
added by this Act, performed by the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board before the effective date of this Act are
transferred to the Texas Junior College System office if not
previously transferred to that office.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.