87R2677 MLH-D
By: Kolkhorst S.B. No. 369
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the notice required regarding the requirement to submit
a financial aid application as a condition of high school
graduation for public school students.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 28.0256(a), (c), and (d), Education
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) Before graduating from high school, each student must
complete and submit a free application for federal student aid
(FAFSA) or a Texas application for state financial aid (TASFA),
except as otherwise provided by Subsection (b).
(c) A school district or open-enrollment charter school
shall adopt a form to be used for purposes of Subsection (b). The
form must [be]:
(1) be approved by the agency; [and]
(2) provide the student or the student's parent or
other person standing in parental relation, as applicable, the
opportunity to decline to complete and submit a financial aid
application, as provided by Subsection (b); and
(3) be made available in English, Spanish, and any
other language spoken by a majority of the students enrolled in a
bilingual education or special language program under Subchapter B,
Chapter 29, in the district or school.
(d) If a school counselor notifies a school district whether
a student has complied with this section for purposes of
determining whether the student meets high school graduation
requirements under Section 28.025, the school counselor may only
indicate whether the student has complied with this section and may
not indicate the manner in which the student complied. A school
counselor may not indicate that a student has not complied with this
section if the school district or open-enrollment charter school
fails to provide the form adopted under Subsection (c) to the
student or the student's parent or other person standing in
parental relation to the student.
SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2021-2022
school year.
SECTION 3. 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, 2021.