HBA-LJP H.B. 1387 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1387 By: Dukes Higher Education 7/17/2001 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, a high school student is automatically admitted to an institution of higher education if the student graduates with a grade point average in the top 10 percent of the student's high school graduating class. Because some high schools have special programs such as magnet schools on the same campus, the method of calculating the class ranking of students in a special program in relationship to the class ranking of the other students of the high school had become an issue. House Bill 1387 separates the class ranking of a special program that is on the same campus as a high school from the class ranking of the other students of the high school for the purposes of top 10 percent admissions. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 1387 amends the Education Code to authorize a governing body of a school district, for the purposes of the automatic admissions policies of institutions of higher education, to treat a qualified high school magnet program, academy, or other special program conducted by the school district within a high school as an independent high school with its own graduating class separate from the graduating class of other students attending the high school. The bill sets forth the criteria for a program to be considered a separate special high school program. The bill applies only to the manner in which the members of a graduating class of the high school as a whole, including graduates of the special program, are ranked by grade point average for purposes of automatic admissions in higher education. EFFECTIVE DATE June 15, 2001.