Bill Text: TX HB539 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to repealing certain limitations on the automatic admission of undergraduate students to general academic teaching institutions.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-02-13 - Referred to Higher Education [HB539 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-HB539-Introduced.html

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83R1777 KSD-D
By: Alonzo H.B. No. 539

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to repealing certain limitations on the automatic
admission of undergraduate students to general academic teaching
institutions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The following laws are repealed:
(1) Sections 51.803(a-1), (a-2), (a-3), (a-4), (a-5),
(a-6), (j), (k), and (l), Education Code; and
(2) Section 56.485, Education Code.
SECTION 2. Section 51.803(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) Each [Subject to Subsection (a-1), each] general
academic teaching institution shall admit an applicant for
admission to the institution as an undergraduate student if the
applicant graduated with a grade point average in the top 10 percent
of the student's high school graduating class in one of the two
school years preceding the academic year for which the applicant is
applying for admission and:
(1) the applicant graduated from a public or private
high school in this state accredited by a generally recognized
accrediting organization or from a high school operated by the
United States Department of Defense;
(2) the applicant:
(A) successfully completed:
(i) at a public high school, the curriculum
requirements established under Section 28.025 for the recommended
or advanced high school program; or
(ii) at a high school to which Section
28.025 does not apply, a curriculum that is equivalent in content
and rigor to the recommended or advanced high school program; or
(B) satisfied ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks
on the ACT assessment applicable to the applicant or earned on the
SAT assessment a score of at least 1,500 out of 2,400 or the
equivalent; and
(3) if the applicant graduated from a high school
operated by the United States Department of Defense, the applicant
is a Texas resident under Section 54.052 or is entitled to pay
tuition fees at the rate provided for Texas residents under Section
54.241(d) [54.058(d)] for the term or semester to which admitted.
SECTION 3. Section 56.484, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 56.484. INITIAL ELIGIBILITY FOR SCHOLARSHIP. To be
eligible for a scholarship under this subchapter, a student must:
(1) have graduated from a public or accredited private
high school in this state while ranked in the top 10 percent of the
student's graduating class, subject to Section 56.487(b);
(2) have completed the recommended or advanced high
school curriculum established under Section 28.025 or its
equivalent;
(3) have applied for admission as a first-time
freshman student for the 2010-2011 academic year or a subsequent
academic year to an institution of higher education [that has
elected to offer admissions for that academic year to applicants as
provided by Section 51.803(a-1)];
(4) enroll as a first-time freshman student in an
institution of higher education not later than the 16th month after
the date of the student's high school graduation;
(5) have been awarded a TEXAS grant under Subchapter M
for the same semester or other academic term for which the
scholarship will be awarded;
(6) be a Texas resident under Section 54.052; and
(7) comply with any other eligibility requirements
established by coordinating board rule.
SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act to Section
51.803, Education Code, apply beginning with admissions to general
academic teaching institutions for the 2014-2015 academic year.
Admissions to a general academic teaching institution before that
academic year are governed by the law in effect before the effective
date of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act to Subchapter
R, Chapter 56, Education Code, apply beginning with scholarships
awarded under that subchapter for the 2014-2015 academic year.
Scholarships awarded for an academic period before that academic
year are governed by the law in effect before the effective date of
this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.