| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to student success-based funding recommendations for |
|
|
certain public institutions of higher education. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 61.0593(a), Education Code, is amended |
|
|
to read as follows: |
|
|
(a) The legislature finds that it is in the state's highest |
|
|
public interest to evaluate student achievement at institutions of |
|
|
higher education and to develop higher education funding policy |
|
|
based on that evaluation. Funding policies that promote |
|
|
postsecondary educational success based on objective indicators of |
|
|
relative performance, such as the number of degrees awarded [degree
|
|
|
completion rates], are critical to maintaining the state's |
|
|
competitiveness in the national and global economy and supporting |
|
|
the general welfare of this state. Therefore, the purpose of this |
|
|
section is to ensure that institutions of higher education produce |
|
|
student outcomes that are directly aligned with the state's |
|
|
education goals and economic development needs. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 61.0593(b)(1), Education Code, is |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(1) "At-risk student" means an undergraduate student |
|
|
of an institution of higher education: |
|
|
(A) who has previously received [been awarded] a |
|
|
grant under the federal Pell Grant program or met the Expected |
|
|
Family Contribution (EFC) criterion for a grant under that program; |
|
|
or |
|
|
(B) whose [who, on the date the student initially
|
|
|
enrolled in the institution:
|
|
|
[(i) was 20 years of age or older;
|
|
|
[(ii) had a] score on the SAT [Scholastic
|
|
|
Assessment Test (SAT)] or the ACT, excluding the optional essay |
|
|
test, is [American College Test (ACT) that was] less than the |
|
|
national mean of students' scores on the applicable [score for
|
|
|
students taking that] test[;
|
|
|
[(iii)
was enrolled as a part-time student;
|
|
|
or
|
|
|
[(iv)
had not received a high school
|
|
|
diploma but had received a high school equivalency certificate
|
|
|
within the last six years]. |
|
|
SECTION 3. Section 61.0593, Education Code, is amended by |
|
|
amending Subsection (d) and adding Subsections (d-1), (d-2), and |
|
|
(d-3) to read as follows: |
|
|
(d) This subsection applies only to a general academic |
|
|
teaching institution other than a public state college. In |
|
|
devising its funding formulas and making its recommendations to the |
|
|
legislature relating to institutional appropriations of funds |
|
|
under Section 61.059 for institutions to which this subsection |
|
|
applies, the board, in the manner and to the extent the board |
|
|
considers appropriate and in consultation with those institutions, |
|
|
shall prescribe a formula for allocating funds to the institutions |
|
|
in proportion to the number of weighted points earned by each of the |
|
|
institutions according to the following success measures |
|
|
[incorporate the consideration of undergraduate student success
|
|
|
measures achieved during the preceding state fiscal biennium by
|
|
|
each of the institutions. At the time the board makes those
|
|
|
recommendations, the board shall also make recommendations for
|
|
|
incorporating the success measures, to the extent the board
|
|
|
considers appropriate in consultation with those institutions,
|
|
|
into the distribution of any incentive funds available for those
|
|
|
institutions, including performance incentive funds under
|
|
|
Subchapter D, Chapter 62. The board's recommendations must provide
|
|
|
alternative approaches for applying the success measures and must
|
|
|
compare the effects on funding of applying the success measures
|
|
|
within the formula for base funding to applying the success
|
|
|
measures as a separate formula. The success measures considered by
|
|
|
the board under this subsection may include]: |
|
|
(1) the total number of bachelor's degrees awarded by |
|
|
the institution to not at-risk students; and |
|
|
(2) [the total number of bachelor's degrees in
|
|
|
critical fields awarded by the institution;
|
|
|
[(3)] the total number of bachelor's degrees awarded |
|
|
by the institution to at-risk students[; and
|
|
|
[(4)
as determined by the board, the six-year
|
|
|
graduation rate of undergraduate students of the institution who
|
|
|
initially enrolled in the institution in the fall semester
|
|
|
immediately following their graduation from a public high school in
|
|
|
this state as compared to the six-year graduation rate predicted
|
|
|
for those students based on the composition of the institution's
|
|
|
student body]. |
|
|
(d-1) In the formula prescribed under Subsection (d), the |
|
|
board shall: |
|
|
(1) compute points for each success measure using the |
|
|
average number of degrees awarded for the three most recent |
|
|
academic years for which the information is available; and |
|
|
(2) assign the following weights to each degree |
|
|
awarded by an institution to which that subsection applies: |
|
|
(A) 1.0, for a not at-risk student; and |
|
|
(B) 2.0, for an at-risk student. |
|
|
(d-2) The board's recommendations under Subsection (d) must |
|
|
provide and compare the alternative approaches of applying the |
|
|
success measures described by that subsection within the formula |
|
|
for base funding and applying the success measures described by |
|
|
that subsection outside the formula for base funding. |
|
|
(d-3) At the time the board makes its recommendations under |
|
|
Subsection (d) for institutions to which that subsection applies, |
|
|
the board shall also make recommendations for incorporating the |
|
|
success measures described by that subsection, to the extent the |
|
|
board considers appropriate in consultation with those |
|
|
institutions, into the distribution of any incentive funds |
|
|
available for those institutions, including performance incentive |
|
|
funds under Subchapter D, Chapter 62. |
|
|
SECTION 4. Sections 61.0593(b)(2), (c), and (e), Education |
|
|
Code, are repealed. |
|
|
SECTION 5. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board |
|
|
shall adopt rules for the administration of Section 61.0593, |
|
|
Education Code, as amended by this Act, not later than May 1, 2018. |
|
|
SECTION 6. 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, 2017. |