By: West S.B. No. 2086
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to measures to facilitate the transfer of students and
course credit within the public higher education system.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter S, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 61.834 to read as follows:
Sec. 61.834. REGIONAL CONSORTIUM FOR TRANSFER COMPACTS.
(a) The board shall divide the state into regions for the purpose
of establishing a regional consortium among the institutions of
higher education located within each region to facilitate the
transfer of students and the transfer of course credit between
institutions within the region. In developing the regions, the
board shall give consideration to existing consortiums.
(b) The board shall designate a general academic teaching
institution within each region as the lead institution. Each
public junior college, public state college, public technical
institute, and general academic teaching institution shall
participate in its assigned regional consortium.
(c) For the purposes of this section, each general academic
teaching institution shall annually identify and report to the
board the 25 degree programs with the greatest student enrollment
at the institution or the degree programs in which a major has been
declared that constitute at least 70 percent of the student
enrollment at the institution. The board shall compile the
information the board receives from the general academic teaching
institutions in each regional consortium and report to each
consortium the 25 degree programs at general academic teaching
institutions in that consortium with the greatest student
enrollment overall.
(d) Each regional consortium shall develop transfer
compacts that identify specific courses included in the common
course numbering system acceptable as credit toward the identified
degree programs under Subsection (c) in each region. The transfer
compacts must include agreements on the transfer of course credit
for those degree programs and related student advising, career
planning, and student support services at each institution in the
regional consortium.
(e) The board shall adopt rules for the operation of a
regional consortium established under this section.
SECTION 2. Section 61.830, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 61.830. PUBLICATION OF GUIDELINES ADDRESSING TRANSFER
PRACTICES. (a) In its course catalogs and on its website, each
institution of higher education shall publish guidelines
addressing the practices of the institution regarding the transfer
of course credit.
(b) In the guidelines, each [the] institution of higher
education must identify a course by using the common course
numbering system approved by the board.
(c) Each general academic teaching institution must include
the following in its guidelines:
(1) the identified degree programs under Section
61.834(c) in the regional consortium in which the institution
participates under Section 61.834 and the core curriculum and any
additional lower-division requirements for each of those degree
programs;
(2) a list of the courses offered by institutions of
higher education participating in the institution's regional
consortium that are considered by the board to be general academic
transfer courses that may be offered for state funding by public
junior colleges, public state colleges, and public technical
institutes; and
(3) the field of study curriculum for each degree
offered by the institution.
(d) Each public junior college, public state college, and
public technical institute must prominently indicate in its
guidelines any general academic teaching institution with which it
has entered into an agreement concerning the transfer of course
credit.
SECTION 3. (a) Not later than January 1, 2018, the Texas
Higher Education Coordinating Board shall establish the regional
consortiums required by Section 61.834, Education Code, as added by
this Act.
(b) Each regional consortium must develop the transfer
compacts required under Section 61.834, Education Code, as added by
this Act, to apply beginning with enrollment for the 2019 fall
semester.
SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act to Section
61.830, Education Code, apply beginning with the 2019-2020 academic
year.
SECTION 5. 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.