84R8724 KSD-D
By: Seliger S.B. No. 778
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to performance-based tuition limitations for certain
public institutions of higher education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 54, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 54.05131 to read as follows:
Sec. 54.05131. PERFORMANCE-BASED DESIGNATED TUITION
LIMITATIONS. (a) In this section:
(1) "General academic teaching institution" and
"public state college" have the meanings assigned by Section
61.003.
(2) "Performance measure" includes only:
(1) the four-year graduation rate of first-time,
full-time, bachelor's degree-seeking students;
(2) the six-year graduation rate of first-time,
full-time, bachelor's degree-seeking students;
(3) the persistence rate of first-time, full-time,
degree-seeking freshman students after one academic year;
(4) the educator certification rate of teacher
education graduates;
(5) the percentage of students awarded a baccalaureate
degree who are first-generation college graduates;
(6) the two-year graduation rate of incoming full-time
undergraduate transfer students;
(7) the four-year graduation rate of incoming
full-time undergraduate transfer students;
(8) the percentage of lower-division semester credit
hours taught by tenured or tenure-track faculty; and
(9) the dollar value of external or sponsored research
expenditures.
(b) This section applies only to a general academic teaching
institution other than a public state college.
(c) This section applies to tuition charged for an academic
year by an institution to which this section applies only if the
institution did not satisfy, in the most recent state fiscal year
preceding that academic year for which information is available,
more than one-half of the target levels assigned to the performance
measures included in the General Appropriations Act as applicable
to the institution for that state fiscal year. The Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board in consultation with the Legislative
Budget Board shall determine whether an institution has satisfied
an applicable target level for purposes of this subsection.
(d) For an academic year in which this section applies to an
institution, the amount of tuition the governing board of the
institution charges under Section 54.0513 to a student for that
academic year may not exceed the total amount of tuition that the
governing board would have charged under that section to a
similarly situated student in the preceding academic year, as that
amount is adjusted for each academic year for inflation as
determined under Subsection (e). The governing board may not
increase the amount of tuition charged under this section to a
student more than once in any academic year. For purposes of this
subsection, students are similarly situated if they share the same
residency status, degree program, course load, course level,
tuition exemption status, and other circumstances affecting the
tuition charged to the student.
(e) Not later than January 31 of each year, or as soon
thereafter as practicable, the Legislative Budget Board shall
publish and certify to the governing board of each institution to
which this section applies the inflation rate to be used for
purposes of this section for the next academic year.
(f) The inflation rate is the percentage increase, if any,
as expressed in decimal form rounded to the nearest thousandth of
one percent, in the consumer price index, as defined by Section
341.201, Finance Code, for the preceding calendar year as compared
to the consumer price index for the year preceding that year.
SECTION 2. Chapter 322, Government Code, is amended by
adding Section 322.025 to read as follows:
Sec. 322.025. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PERFORMANCE MEASURES AND
ASSOCIATED TARGET LEVELS FOR CERTAIN INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER
EDUCATION. (a) In this section:
(1) "Institution of higher education" has the meaning
assigned by Section 61.003, Education Code.
(2) "Performance measure" means a performance measure
listed in Section 54.05131(a)(2), Education Code.
(b) Each institution of higher education to which Section
54.05131, Education Code, applies shall submit to the board, as
part of the institution's legislative appropriations request for
the general appropriations bill prepared by the board under Section
322.008, a requested target level for each performance measure
applicable to the institution for each of the state fiscal years
covered by the bill.
(c) The board, in preparing the general appropriations bill
under Section 322.008, after considering the performance measure
target levels requested by institutions under Subsection (b) of
this section, shall prescribe for each institution to which Section
54.05131, Education Code, applies and for which money is to be
appropriated in the bill, recommendations for target levels for the
performance measures that the board considers appropriate for the
institution for inclusion in the appropriations to the institution
for each of the state fiscal years covered by the bill.
(d) The board's staff shall:
(1) notify an institution if the staff's proposed
recommendations applicable to the institution are different from
the performance measure target levels requested by the institution
under Subsection (b); and
(2) provide the institution an opportunity to comment
on or request modification of the staff's proposed performance
measure target levels.
(e) The board shall establish a procedure under which an
institution that is dissatisfied with the staff's final
recommendation for one or more performance measure target levels
applicable to the institution may request a modification of the
level or levels in a hearing before the board held as soon as
practicable before the board prescribes its final recommendations
under Subsection (c) but not later than the date the general
appropriations bill is filed in the legislature.
SECTION 3. Section 54.05131, Education Code, as added by
this Act, applies beginning with tuition charged by a general
academic teaching institution to which that section applies for the
2018-2019 academic year. Tuition charged by an institution for an
academic year before that academic year is covered 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 September 1, 2015.