Bill Text: TX HB298 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Engrossed

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Bill Title: Relating to measures to facilitate the transfer, academic progress, and timely graduation of students in public higher education.

Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2015-05-05 - Referred to Higher Education [HB298 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB298-Engrossed.html

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84R17115 KSD-F
By: Wu, Morrison, Alvarado, King of Hemphill, H.B. No. 298
McClendon, et al.

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to measures to facilitate the transfer, academic progress,
and timely graduation of students in public higher education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 51.96852 to read as follows:
Sec. 51.96852. TRANSFER OF CREDIT FROM LOWER-DIVISION
INSTITUTIONS; ARTICULATION AGREEMENTS. (a) In this section:
(1) "Articulation agreement" means a formal written
agreement between a public junior college and a general academic
teaching institution identifying courses offered by the public
junior college that must be accepted for credit toward specific
course requirements at the general academic teaching institution.
(2) "Lower-division institution of higher education"
means a public junior college, public state college, or public
technical institute.
(3) "Public junior college" and "general academic
teaching institution" have the meanings assigned by Section 61.003.
(b) Each general academic teaching institution shall:
(1) publish on the institution's Internet website for
use by prospective undergraduate students a detailed description
developed by the institution's faculty of the learning objectives,
content, and prior knowledge requirements for at least 12 courses
offered by the institution for which credit is frequently
transferred to the institution from lower-division institutions of
higher education;
(2) identify the public junior colleges from which the
general academic teaching institution regularly receives transfer
students; and
(3) establish, for at least five degree plans for
which credit is frequently transferred to the institution from
lower-division institutions of higher education, articulation
agreements with each public junior college from which the general
academic teaching institution has received an average of at least
five percent of the institution's transfer students in the three
preceding academic years.
(c) A general academic teaching institution's participation
in an articulation agreement under this section does not affect the
institution's admissions policies.
(d) In consultation with general academic teaching
institutions and public junior colleges, the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board, using the negotiated rulemaking procedures
under Chapter 2008, Government Code, shall adopt any rules the
coordinating board considers necessary for the administration of
this section.
SECTION 2. Section 61.0515, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) to read as
follows:
(a) To earn a baccalaureate degree, a student may not be
required by a general academic teaching institution to complete
more than the minimum number of semester credit hours required for
the degree by the institution's board-recognized accrediting
agency [Southern Association of Colleges and Schools or its
successor] unless the institution determines that there is a
compelling academic reason for requiring completion of additional
semester credit hours for the degree.
(d) The board shall adopt any rules the board considers
necessary for the administration of this section. In adopting
rules under this subsection, the board shall use the negotiated
rulemaking procedures under Chapter 2008, Government Code.
SECTION 3. Section 61.05151, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) to read as
follows:
(a) To earn an associate degree, a student may not be
required by an institution of higher education to complete more
than the minimum number of semester credit hours required for the
degree by the institution's board-recognized accrediting agency
[Southern Association of Colleges and Schools or its successor]
unless the institution determines that there is a compelling
academic reason for requiring completion of additional semester
credit hours for the degree.
(d) The board shall adopt any rules the board considers
necessary for the administration of this section. In adopting
rules under this subsection, the board shall use the negotiated
rulemaking procedures under Chapter 2008, Government Code.
SECTION 4. Section 61.822, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a-1) and adding Subsection (f) to read as
follows:
(a-1) The board, with the assistance of advisory committees
composed of representatives of institutions of higher education,
shall develop a recommended core curriculum of at least 42 semester
credit hours, including a statement of the content, component
areas, and objectives of the core curriculum. Administrators of an
institution of higher education may serve as representatives of the
institution on any advisory committee under this section. At least
a majority of the members of any advisory committee named under this
section shall be faculty members of an institution of higher
education. An institution shall consult with the faculty of the
institution before nominating or recommending a person to the board
as the institution's representative on an advisory committee.
(f) In an effort to facilitate the transfer of major-related
coursework beyond the general education core curriculum, the board,
with the assistance of the advisory committees described by
Subsection (a-1), shall:
(1) develop a course-specific core curriculum for each
broad academic discipline within the general core curriculum; and
(2) identify those degree programs offered at
institutions of higher education to which the course-specific core
curriculum, if successfully completed by a student at another
institution of higher education, is fully transferable.
SECTION 5. Not later than May 31, 2017, each general
academic teaching institution shall publish on the institution's
Internet website the information required by Section 51.96852,
Education Code, as added by this Act, and establish articulation
agreements in accordance with that section.
SECTION 6. The changes in law made by this Act to Sections
61.0515(a) and 61.05151(a), Education Code, apply beginning with
undergraduate students who initially enroll in an institution of
higher education for the 2017 fall semester. An undergraduate
student who initially enrolls in an institution of higher education
before that semester is covered by the law in effect before the
effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for
that purpose.
SECTION 7. Not later than May 31, 2017, the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board shall develop core curricula for broad
academic disciplines included within the general core curriculum
that conform to the requirements of Section 61.822, Education Code,
as amended by this Act.
SECTION 8. 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, 2015.