HBA-BSM, LJP H.B. 1270 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1270
By: Hill
Higher Education
2/25/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Recruitment and retention of teachers in Texas has been difficult.
Incentives for people to teach would help schools compete with the private
sector.  House Bill 1270 waives college tuition fees for the children of
classroom teachers who have taught for at least 10 years in Texas.       

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board in SECTION 1 (Section 54.215, Education Code) and SECTION 2 of this
bill. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 1270 amends the Education Code to require the governing board of
each institution of higher education to exempt from the payment of tuition
and required fees an undergraduate student enrolled in the institution who
is the child of a classroom teacher.  The child's parent must have 10 or
more years of experience as a classroom teacher in this state, not
including experience as a teaching aide or administrator, at the beginning
of the semester for which the exemption is sought, and must: 

_be employed as a classroom teacher in this state;

_be contracted to work as a classroom teacher in this state during all or
part of that semester or session; or 

_if the child is enrolled for a summer session, be contracted to work as a
classroom teacher in this state during the next school year. 

The bill requires that to be eligible for the exemption a student cannot
have a baccalaureate degree. A student who has previously received at any
institution of higher education a  tuition exemption under these provisions
for 10 semesters or summer sessions is not eligible for the exemption.  The
bill provides that a student must apply to the institution from which the
refund is sought in the time and manner required by Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board (THECB) rules. 

The bill requires THECB to adopt rules to govern the denial or granting of
this exemption,  determine eligibility for the exemption, and to create an
application form for the exemption. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001. The Act applies beginning with the fall
semester 2001.