86R2683 KSD-D
By: Schaefer H.B. No. 4389
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to student success-based funding for certain public
institutions of higher education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 61.0593, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (d), (e), and (h) and adding Subsections
(d-1), (d-2), (d-3), (d-4), and (d-5) to read as follows:
(d) This subsection applies only to a general academic
teaching institution other than a public state college. In
devising its funding formulas and making its recommendations to the
legislature relating to institutional appropriations of funds
under Section 61.059 for institutions to which this subsection
applies, the board, [in the manner and to the extent the board
considers appropriate and] in consultation with those
institutions, shall prescribe a formula for distributing funds to
the institutions in proportion to the number of scaled points
earned by each of the institutions according to the following
performance metrics [incorporate the consideration of
undergraduate student success measures achieved during the
preceding state fiscal biennium by each of the institutions. At the
time the board makes those recommendations, the board shall also
make recommendations for incorporating the success measures, to the
extent the board considers appropriate in consultation with those
institutions, into the distribution of any incentive funds
available for those institutions, including performance incentive
funds under Subchapter D, Chapter 62. The board's recommendations
must provide alternative approaches for applying the success
measures and must compare the effects on funding of applying the
success measures within the formula for base funding to applying
the success measures as a separate formula. The success measures
considered by the board under this subsection may include]:
(1) the total number of undergraduate [bachelor's]
degrees awarded by the institution;
(2) the total number of undergraduate [bachelor's]
degrees [in critical fields] awarded by the institution, adjusted
by the institution's:
(A) six-year graduation rate; or
(B) three-year graduation rate, if the
institution offers only upper-division courses;
(3) the total number of undergraduate [bachelor's]
degrees awarded by the institution divided by the number of
full-time undergraduate student equivalents enrolled in the fall
semester, as reported in the board's higher education
accountability system, the quotient of which is multiplied by 100
[to at-risk students]; [and]
(4) the six-year graduation rate, or three-year
graduation rate if the institution offers only upper-division
courses, of at-risk students;
(5) retention rates of undergraduate students at the
institution having successfully completed at least 25 percent of
the student's degree requirements or having earned at least 30
credit hours toward a 120-credit-hour degree, including hours
earned toward the degree at another institution before transferring
to the institution;
(6) retention rates of undergraduate students at the
institution having successfully completed at least 50 percent of
the student's degree requirements or having earned at least 60
credit hours toward a 120-credit-hour degree, including hours
earned toward the degree at another institution before transferring
to the institution; and
(7) retention rates of undergraduate students at the
institution having successfully completed at least 75 percent of
the student's degree requirements or having earned at least 90
credit hours toward a 120-credit-hour degree, including hours
earned toward the degree at another institution before transferring
to the institution [as determined by the board, the six-year
graduation rate of undergraduate students of the institution who
initially enrolled in the institution in the fall semester
immediately following their graduation from a public high school in
this state as compared to the six-year graduation rate predicted
for those students based on the composition of the institution's
student body].
(d-1) In devising the formula under Subsection (d), the
board shall:
(1) determine the appropriate scale for each metric;
and
(2) compute each metric using the average of the
applicable variables for the three most recent academic years for
which the information is available, as determined on the January 1
preceding the state fiscal biennium for which the metric is
computed.
(d-2) In the formula prescribed under Subsection (d),
points may be assigned only for an institution's outcome on a metric
and not based on the institution's increase in performance on the
metric.
(d-3) In computing an institution's graduation rate under
Subsection (d), the board shall include each first-time, full-time,
undergraduate degree-seeking student who enrolled in at least 12
semester credit hours in the student's first fall semester at the
institution and who graduated from the institution or from any
other institution of higher education or private or independent
institution of higher education.
(d-4) The board's recommendations under Subsection (d) must
provide alternative approaches for applying the performance
metrics described by that subsection and must compare the effects
on funding of applying the performance metrics within the formula
for base funding to applying the performance metrics as a separate
formula.
(d-5) At the time the board makes its recommendations under
Subsection (d) for institutions to which that subsection applies,
the board shall also make recommendations for incorporating the
performance metrics described by that subsection, to the extent the
board considers appropriate in consultation with those
institutions, into the distribution of any incentive funds
available for those institutions, including performance incentive
funds under Subchapter D, Chapter 62.
(e) Notwithstanding Subsection (d):
(1) not more than 20 [10] percent of the total amount
of general revenue appropriations of base funds for undergraduate
education recommended by the board for all institutions to which
Subsection (d) applies for a state fiscal biennium may be based on
student success measures; and
(2) the board's recommendation for base funding for
undergraduate education based on performance metrics [student
success measures] does not reduce or otherwise affect funding
recommendations for graduate education.
(h) The board shall include in its findings and
recommendations to the legislature under Section 61.059:
(1) an evaluation of the effectiveness of the
performance metrics and student success measures described by this
section in achieving the purpose of this section during the
preceding state fiscal biennium; and
(2) any related recommendations the board considers
appropriate.
SECTION 2. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
shall adopt rules for the administration of Section 61.0593,
Education Code, as amended by this Act, not later than May 1, 2020.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.