By: West S.B. No. 2131
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to requirements for providing postsecondary education
  counseling to high school students.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 33.007, Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 33.007.  COUNSELING REGARDING POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION.
  (a)  Each school counselor at an elementary, middle, or junior high
  school, including an open-enrollment charter school offering those
  grades, shall advise students and their parents or guardians
  regarding the importance of postsecondary education, coursework
  designed to prepare students for postsecondary education, and
  financial aid availability and requirements.
         (b)  During the first school year a student is enrolled in a
  high school or at the high school level in an open-enrollment
  charter school, and again during each year of a student's
  enrollment in high school or at the high school level, a school
  counselor shall provide information about postsecondary education
  to the student and the student's parent or guardian. The
  information must include information accessible through the
  database of required lower division courses for specific majors, as
  well as information regarding:
               (1)  the importance of postsecondary education;
               (2)  the advantages of earning an endorsement and a
  performance acknowledgment and completing the distinguished level
  of achievement under the foundation high school program under
  Section 28.025;
               (3)  the disadvantages of taking courses to prepare for
  a high school equivalency examination relative to the benefits of
  taking courses leading to a high school diploma;
               (4)  financial aid eligibility;
               (5)  instruction on how to apply for federal financial
  aid;
               (6)  the center for financial aid information
  established under Section 61.0776;
               (7)  the automatic admission of certain students to
  general academic teaching institutions as provided by Section
  51.803;
               (8)  the eligibility and academic performance
  requirements for the TEXAS Grant as provided by Subchapter M,
  Chapter 56; [and]
               (9)  the availability of advanced academic programs in
  the district under which a student may earn college credit,
  including advanced placement programs[, dual credit programs,
  joint high school and college credit programs,] and international
  baccalaureate programs; and
               (10)  the availability of dual credit and joint high
  school and college credit programs, including the types of dual
  credit offered (core curriculum courses versus career and technical
  education courses) and the transferability and application of dual
  credit offerings to regional junior or community colleges, public
  technical colleges, and four-year colleges and universities.
         (c)  Schools and districts shall post on their website and
  update annually the information articulated in Subsection (b)(10)
  related to dual credit and joint high school and college credit
  programs.
         (d)  Each school district and open-enrollment charter
  school, in consultation with school counselors employed by the
  district or school, shall develop a procedure for documenting on
  each student's transcript any postsecondary advising services
  provided to the student under this section, including the name of
  the person or counseling provider who provided the services.
         (e) [(c)]  At the beginning of grades 10 and 11, a school
  counselor certified under the rules of the State Board for Educator
  Certification shall explain the requirements of automatic
  admission to a general academic teaching institution under Section
  51.803 to each student enrolled in a high school or at the high
  school level in an open-enrollment charter school who has a grade
  point average in the top 25 percent of the student's high school
  class.
         SECTION 2.  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.