85R3548 JRJ-F
By: Watson S.B. No. 644
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), (b), (e), (g), and (h) and adding
Subsection (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, early childhood education, 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) The coordinating board:
(1) shall authorize baccalaureate degree programs in
the fields of applied science and applied technology at each public
junior college that previously participated in a pilot project to
offer baccalaureate degree programs; and
(2) may authorize baccalaureate degree programs at one
or more public junior colleges that offer a degree program in the
fields of applied science, applied technology, early childhood
education, or nursing and have demonstrated a workforce need.
(e) In determining what baccalaureate degree programs 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 program with student enrollment and the adequacy of the
junior college's facilities, faculty, administration, libraries,
and other resources; and
(E) whether the junior college meets the taxable
property valuation amount established in Section 130.032.
(g) Except as provided by Subsection (g-1), a degree program
created under this section 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 created under this section.
(g-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (g), 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 that previously participated in a pilot
project to offer baccalaureate degree programs receive
substantially the same state support for junior-level and
senior-level courses in the fields of applied science and applied
technology offered under this section as that provided to a general
academic teaching institution for substantially similar courses.
For purposes of this subsection, in [In] determining the contact
hours attributable to students enrolled in a junior-level or
senior-level course in the field of applied science or applied
technology 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 to which this
subsection applies [offered under this section].
(h) Each biennium, each [Each] public junior college
offering a baccalaureate degree program under this section shall
conduct a review of each baccalaureate degree program offered and
prepare a [biennial] report on the operation, quality, and
effectiveness of those [the junior college's baccalaureate] degree
programs. A [and shall deliver a] copy of the report shall be
delivered to the coordinating board in the form and at the time
determined by the coordinating board.
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.