85R14246 JRJ-F
By: Lucio S.B. No. 1926
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to authorization by the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board for certain public junior colleges to offer
baccalaureate degree programs.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 130.0012, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (d), (e), and (g) and adding Subsections
(b-4), (b-5), (e-1), and (g-1) to read as follows:
(a) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board may
[shall] authorize public junior colleges to offer baccalaureate
degree programs in the fields of applied science, [and] applied
technology, and nursing under this section. Offering a
baccalaureate degree program under this section does not otherwise
alter the role and mission of a public junior college.
(b-4) The coordinating board shall establish a pilot
project to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of authorizing
a baccalaureate degree program in the field of nursing to be offered
by the South Texas Community College District if it has
demonstrated a workforce need.
(b-5) Not later than January 1, 2019, the coordinating board
shall prepare a progress report on the pilot project established
under Subsection (b-4). Not later than January 1, 2021, the
coordinating board shall prepare a report on the effectiveness of
the pilot project, including any recommendations for legislative
action regarding the offering of baccalaureate degree programs in
the field of nursing by a public junior college. The coordinating
board shall deliver a copy of each report to the governor, the
lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of representatives,
and the chair of the standing committee of each house of the
legislature with primary jurisdiction over higher education.
Unless the authority to continue offering a baccalaureate degree
program in the field of nursing is continued by the legislature, a
public junior college may not:
(1) enroll a new student in a baccalaureate degree
program under the pilot project after the 2022 fall semester;
(2) offer junior-level or senior-level courses for
those degree programs after the 2025 fall semester, unless the
coordinating board authorizes the college to offer those courses;
or
(3) award a baccalaureate degree under the pilot
project after the 2025 fall semester, unless the coordinating board
approves the awarding of the degree.
(d) A public junior college offering a baccalaureate degree
program under this section may not offer more than six [five]
baccalaureate degree programs at any time. The degree programs are
subject to the continuing approval of the coordinating board.
(e) In determining whether a public junior college may offer
[what] baccalaureate degree programs and what degree programs may
[are to] be offered, the coordinating board shall:
(1) apply the same criteria and standards the
coordinating board uses to approve baccalaureate degree programs at
general academic teaching institutions; and
(2) consider the following factors:
(A) [(1)] the workforce need for the degree
programs in the region served by the junior college;
(B) [(2)] how those degree programs would
complement the other programs and course offerings of the junior
college and whether the associate degree program offered by the
junior college in the same field has been successful;
(C) [(3)] whether those degree programs would
unnecessarily duplicate the degree programs offered by other
institutions of higher education; and
(D) [(4)] the ability of the junior college to
support the degree programs with student enrollment [program] and
the adequacy of the junior college's facilities, faculty,
administration, libraries, and other resources.
(e-1) A public junior college may offer a baccalaureate
degree program under this section only if its junior college
district meets the taxable property valuation amount established in
Section 130.032.
(g) Except as provided by Subsection (g-1), in [In] its
recommendations to the legislature relating to state funding for
public junior colleges, the coordinating board shall recommend that
a public junior college receive substantially the same state
support for junior-level and senior-level courses offered under
this section as that provided to a general academic teaching
institution for substantially similar courses. In determining the
contact hours attributable to students enrolled in a junior-level
or senior-level course offered under this section used to determine
a public junior college's proportionate share of state
appropriations under Section 130.003, the coordinating board shall
weigh those contact hours as necessary to provide the junior
college the appropriate level of state support to the extent state
funds for those courses are included in the appropriations. This
subsection does not prohibit the legislature from directly
appropriating state funds to support junior-level and senior-level
courses offered under this section.
(g-1) For the first two years in which a degree program
created under Subsection (b-4) is offered, the degree program may
be funded solely by a public junior college's proportionate share
of state appropriations under Section 130.003, local funds, and
private sources. This subsection does not require the legislature
to appropriate state funds to support a degree program under
Subsection (b-4).
SECTION 2. 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, 2017.