Bill Text: TX SB1887 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to the requirements for the early college education program and the transfer of course credit among public institutions of higher education.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-05-23 - Effective immediately [SB1887 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-SB1887-Comm_Sub.html
Bill Title: Relating to the requirements for the early college education program and the transfer of course credit among public institutions of higher education.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-05-23 - Effective immediately [SB1887 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-SB1887-Comm_Sub.html
By: West | S.B. No. 1887 | |
(In the Senate - Filed March 8, 2023; March 20, 2023, read | ||
first time and referred to Subcommittee on Higher Education; | ||
April 24, 2023, reported favorably from Committee on Education by | ||
the following vote: Yeas 12, Nays 0; April 24, 2023, sent to | ||
printer.) | ||
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relating to the requirements for the early college education | ||
program and the transfer of course credit among public institutions | ||
of higher education. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 29.908(b), Education Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(b) The program must: | ||
(1) provide for a course of study that enables a | ||
participating student to combine high school courses and | ||
college-level courses during grade levels 9 through 12; | ||
(2) allow a participating student to complete high | ||
school and enroll in a program at an institution of higher education | ||
that will enable the student to, on or before the fifth anniversary | ||
of the date of the student's first day of high school, receive a | ||
high school diploma and either: | ||
(A) an applied associate degree, as defined by | ||
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board rule; or | ||
(B) an academic associate degree, as defined by | ||
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board rule, with a completed | ||
field of study curriculum developed under Section 61.823 that is | ||
transferable [ |
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baccalaureate degree at one or more general academic teaching | ||
institutions, as defined by Section 61.003; | ||
(3) include articulation agreements with colleges, | ||
universities, and technical schools in this state to provide a | ||
participating student access to postsecondary educational and | ||
training opportunities at a college, university, or technical | ||
school; and | ||
(4) provide a participating student flexibility in | ||
class scheduling and academic mentoring. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 51.4033, Education Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
Sec. 51.4033. REPORT OF NONTRANSFERABLE CREDIT. (a) Not | ||
later than May [ |
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the coordinating board, each general academic teaching institution | ||
shall provide to the coordinating board and the legislature a | ||
report describing any courses in the Lower-Division Academic Course | ||
Guide Manual or its successor adopted by the coordinating board for | ||
which a student who transfers to the institution from another | ||
institution of higher education is not granted: | ||
(1) academic credit at the receiving institution; or | ||
(2) if the student has declared a major and has not | ||
changed majors, academic credit toward the student's major at the | ||
receiving institution. | ||
(b) A report required by this section must indicate: | ||
(1) the course name and type; | ||
(2) which institution of higher education provided | ||
academic credit for the course; and | ||
(3) the reason why the receiving institution did not | ||
grant academic credit for the course as described by Subsection | ||
(a), including whether the institution complied with the dispute | ||
resolution process under Section 61.826. | ||
SECTION 3. Section 51.4034(a), Education Code, is amended | ||
to read as follows: | ||
(a) Not later than May [ |
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prescribed by the coordinating board, each public junior college | ||
shall provide to the coordinating board and the legislature a | ||
report on courses taken by students who, during the preceding | ||
academic year, transferred to a general academic teaching | ||
institution or earned an associate degree at the college. | ||
SECTION 4. Section 61.823, Education Code, is amended by | ||
adding Subsection (a-1) and amending Subsection (b) to read as | ||
follows: | ||
(a-1) The board by rule may authorize a general academic | ||
teaching institution to adopt, for each field of study curriculum | ||
developed by the board for which the institution offers a degree | ||
program, a set of courses specific to that field of study, not to | ||
exceed a total of six semester credit hours or the equivalent, that | ||
must be completed as part of the field of study curriculum for that | ||
institution. Each general academic teaching institution that | ||
adopts a set of courses for a field of study curriculum under this | ||
subsection shall post on the institution's Internet website in a | ||
manner easily accessible to students the set of courses with the | ||
associated course numbers under the common course numbering system. | ||
(b) If a student successfully completes a field of study | ||
curriculum developed by the board, that block of courses may be | ||
transferred to a general academic teaching institution and, subject | ||
to completion of the set of courses adopted by the institution for | ||
that field of study under Subsection (a-1), must be substituted for | ||
that institution's lower division requirements for the degree | ||
program for the field of study into which the student transfers, and | ||
the student shall receive full academic credit toward the degree | ||
program for the block of courses transferred. | ||
SECTION 5. Sections 61.826(c), (d), and (e), Education | ||
Code, are amended to read as follows: | ||
(c) If an institution of higher education proposes to deny | ||
the application toward a student's degree requirements of [ |
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institution of higher education in the other institution's core | ||
curriculum or in a field of study curriculum developed by the board | ||
under Section 61.823, that institution must: | ||
(1) [ |
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other institution of that institution's intent to deny [ |
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application [ |
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requirements and the reasons for the proposed denial; | ||
(2) [ |
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credit to the student's degree requirements with the other | ||
institution and the student in accordance with board rules; | ||
(3) resolve the dispute not later than the 45th day | ||
after the date on which the student enrolls in that institution; and | ||
(4) if [ |
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to the satisfaction of the student or the institution at which the | ||
credit was earned, [ |
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higher education of its denial to apply the course credit to the | ||
student's degree requirements and the reasons for the denial. | ||
(d) Not later than the 20th business day after the date the | ||
commissioner of higher education receives notice of a dispute | ||
concerning the application of course credit to a student's degree | ||
requirements under Subsection (c)(4), the [ |
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final determination about the [ |
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the involved student and institutions. If the commissioner or the | ||
commissioner's designee determines that the institution may not | ||
deny the application of course credit described by Subsection (c) | ||
to the student's degree requirements, the institution shall apply | ||
that course credit toward the student's degree requirements. A | ||
determination by the commissioner or the commissioner's designee | ||
under this subsection is final and may not be appealed. | ||
(e) The board shall: | ||
(1) collect data on the types of transfer disputes | ||
that are reported and the disposition of each case that is | ||
considered by the commissioner of higher education or the | ||
commissioner's designee; and | ||
(2) post on the board's Internet website a list of each | ||
case that is considered by the commissioner of higher education or | ||
the commissioner's designee under this section, including the | ||
disposition of the case. | ||
SECTION 6. Subchapter S, Chapter 61, Education Code, is | ||
amended by adding Section 61.834 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 61.834. TEXAS DIRECT ASSOCIATE DEGREE. An institution | ||
of higher education shall award a student a "Texas Direct" | ||
associate degree and include an appropriate notation on the | ||
student's transcript if the student completes a field of study | ||
curriculum developed by the board under Section 61.823 and: | ||
(1) the institution's core curriculum; or | ||
(2) 42 semester credit hours of lower-division courses | ||
transferable to one or more general academic teaching institutions. | ||
SECTION 7. This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024 | ||
academic year. | ||
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, 2023. | ||
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