HBA-NRS S.B. 974 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 974
By: Wentworth
Higher Education
5/18/2001
Engrossed



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current law requires each general academic teaching institution to admit an
applicant for admission to the institution if the applicant graduated from
an accredited public or private high school with a grade point average in
the top 10 percent of the student's graduating class. However, such
applicants are not required to complete the recommended or advanced high
school curriculum or an equivalent curriculum to be automatically admitted.
Senate Bill 974 requires high school students to take, at a  minimum, the
recommended high school curriculum to be eligible for admission to a
general academic teaching institution.  

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 51.807, Education Code) of this bill. 

ANALYSIS

Senate Bill 974 amends the Education Code to require each general academic
teaching institution to admit an applicant for admission to the institution
if the applicant graduated from an accredited public or private high school
with a grade point average in the top 10 percent of the student's
graduating class and the applicant completed the recommended or advanced
high school curriculum or an equivalent curriculum. The bill provides that
the curriculum requirement does not apply to an applicant who graduated
from a public high school that applies for and receives a waiver from the
Texas Education Agency (TEA) due to the school's inability to offer or make
available the recommended or advanced high school curriculum.  

The bill requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, after
consulting with the TEA,  to establish by rule standards for determining
whether a private high school is accredited by a generally accepted
accrediting organization and whether a person completed a high school
curriculum that is equivalent to the recommended or advanced high school
curriculum. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2003. The Act applies beginning the 2004-2005 academic year.