By: Wilson H.B. No. 4909
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation of an electronic platform and submission
portal, known as My Texas Future, to facilitate the awareness and
application of public high school students into institutions of
higher education using the electronic common admission application
form.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 28.025(c), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(c) A person may receive a diploma if the person is eligible
for a diploma under Section 28.0251. In other cases, a student may
graduate and receive a diploma only if:
(1) the student successfully completes the curriculum
requirements identified by the State Board of Education under
Subsection (a) and complies with Sections 28.0256, 28.0257, and
39.025; or
(2) the student successfully completes an
individualized education program developed under Section 29.005.
SECTION 2. Chapter 28.0257, Education Code, is added to
read as follows:
Sec.28.0257. DIRECT ADMISSIONS DATA SHARING OPT-IN ELECTION
FOR HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION. (a) In this section:
(1) "Coordinating board" means the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board.
(2) "Institution of higher education" has the meaning
assigned by Section 61.003.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), before graduating
from high school, each student must elect whether to opt-in to
allowing the coordinating board to share the student's data and
education records, as necessary, with institutions of higher
education to allow the student to participate in the direct
admissions program established by the Coordinating Board pursuant
to Education Code 61.0511(b)(2).
(c) A student is not required to comply with Subsection (b)
if:
(1) The student's parent or other person standing in
parental relation submits a signed form indicating that the parent
or other person authorizes the student to decline to complete and
submit information necessary to participate in a program offered
under subsection (b);
(2) The student signs and submits the form described
by Subdivision (1) on the student's own behalf if the student is 18
years of age or older or the student's disabilities of minority have
been removed for general purposes under Chapter 31, Family Code; or
(3) A school counselor authorizes in writing the
student to decline to complete and submit the information necessary
to participate in a program offered under subsection (b).
(d) Each school district or open-enrollment charter school
shall use a form adopted by the Coordinating Board, in consultation
with the Texas Education Agency, to allow a student to opt-out
pursuant to subsection (c). The form shall:
(1) Provide the student or the student's parent or
other person standing in parental relation, as applicable, the
opportunity to elect whether to share the student's data or
education records, as necessary, with institutions of higher
education to facilitate the student's participation in a program
offered under subsection (b); and
(2) 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.
SECTION 3. Subchapter C, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
amended by adding subsection 51.763(d) to read as follows:
(d) Each institution of higher education shall publish
prominently on its admission application website a link to
MyTexasFuture.Org or its successor electronic platform and provide
notice to students that they may apply to the institution using the
electronic common admission application form found in
ApplyTexas.Org or via MyTexasFuture.Org.
SECTION 4. Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 61.0511 to read as follows:
Sec. 61.0511. Direct Admissions and Financial Aid Portal at
MyTexasFuture.Org.
(a) The board shall create, maintain, and administer an
electronic platform and submission portal, known as My Texas Future
(MyTexasFuture.Org), to facilitate the awareness and application
of students into institutions of higher education.
(b) My Texas Future, or any successor electronic platform
established pursuant to this section, shall include:
(1) A link or direct submission portal to the
electronic common admission application form adopted and
established pursuant to Section 51, Subchapter S;
(2) A Direct Admission's program that lists
institution of higher education to which a student may be directly
admitted based on the student's profile and information;
(3) To the greatest extent possible, a list of
financial aid awards that a student may be eligible to receive
based on the student's profile and information; and
(4) The data required by Section 61.09022 to assist
students in assessing the value of post-secondary credentials by
program.
(c) A Texas school district or an open-enrollment charter
school shall as part of the high school registration process
annually notify, in a manner prescribed by coordinating board rule,
each parent or guardian of a student who has earned at least three
high school course credits or not later than the end of a student's
first semester of ninth grade:
(1) Of the option to create or update annually a
profile and account in My Texas Future;
(2) That a student or their parent is permitted to
update or revise their own profile in My Texas Future;
(3) That a student or parent of a student who creates a
profile and account under this section, may opt-out of one or more
programs offered under Subsection (b); and
(4) Of the graduation requirement under Section
28.0257 for a student or parent to indicate whether the student
wishes to opt-in to allowing the board to share the student's data
and educational records with institutions of higher education for
the purpose of participating in the Direct Admissions Program
established under Subsection (b)(2).
(d) The Texas Education Agency and the Coordinating Board
shall jointly prepare and post on their respective Internet
websites a publication that includes the information required to be
provided under subsection (c) in a form that enables a school
district or open-enrollment charter school to reproduce the
publication for distribution under that subsection.
(e) The Texas Education Agency and each Texas public school
district or open -enrollment charter school shall make the data
available to the Coordinating Board necessary to administer this
Section.
(f) The board may adopt rules necessary to implement this
section.
(g) The board may share a student's contact information in
MyTexasFuture.Org with an institution of higher education unless
the student opts-out of sharing the student's contact information.
Any student information shared with an institution of higher
education is confidential pursuant to subsection (l). The board
shall ensure that a student may opt-out of sharing the student's
contact information with an institution of higher education.
(l) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, except
as provided by this section, information that relates to a current,
former, or prospective applicant or student of an educational
institution and that is obtained, received, or held by the board for
the purpose of administering this section or otherwise providing
assistance with access to postsecondary education is confidential
and excepted from disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code,
and may only be released in conformity with the Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g). The
Coordinating Board may withhold information prohibited from being
disclosed under this subsection without requesting a decision from
the attorney general under Subchapter G, Chapter 552, Government
Code.
SECTION 5. Section 61.0511, Education Code, as added by
this Act, applies beginning with the 2025-2026 academic year.
SECTION 6. Subsections 28.025 and 28.0257, Education Code,
as added by this Act, applies beginning with the 2026-2027 academic
year.
SECTION 7. 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, 2025.