HBA-BSM, LJP H.B. 1270 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1270 By: Hill Higher Education 2/25/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Recruitment and retention of teachers in Texas has been difficult. Incentives for people to teach would help schools compete with the private sector. House Bill 1270 waives college tuition fees for the children of classroom teachers who have taught for at least 10 years in Texas. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in SECTION 1 (Section 54.215, Education Code) and SECTION 2 of this bill. ANALYSIS House Bill 1270 amends the Education Code to require the governing board of each institution of higher education to exempt from the payment of tuition and required fees an undergraduate student enrolled in the institution who is the child of a classroom teacher. The child's parent must have 10 or more years of experience as a classroom teacher in this state, not including experience as a teaching aide or administrator, at the beginning of the semester for which the exemption is sought, and must: _be employed as a classroom teacher in this state; _be contracted to work as a classroom teacher in this state during all or part of that semester or session; or _if the child is enrolled for a summer session, be contracted to work as a classroom teacher in this state during the next school year. The bill requires that to be eligible for the exemption a student cannot have a baccalaureate degree. A student who has previously received at any institution of higher education a tuition exemption under these provisions for 10 semesters or summer sessions is not eligible for the exemption. The bill provides that a student must apply to the institution from which the refund is sought in the time and manner required by Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) rules. The bill requires THECB to adopt rules to govern the denial or granting of this exemption, determine eligibility for the exemption, and to create an application form for the exemption. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001. The Act applies beginning with the fall semester 2001.