HBA-LJP C.S.H.B. 1387 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 1387
By: Dukes
Higher Education
4/27/2001
Committee Report (Substituted)



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 has become an issue.  C.S.H.B. 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

C.S.H.B. 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

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001. 

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 1387 amends the original to add to the criteria for a program to
be considered a special program that the program must have been in
operation in the 2000-2001 school year and that the students of the special
program must be recruited, selected, or admitted among the students
residing in the attendance zones of not fewer than 10 regular high schools
in the district.  The substitute also adds to the criteria that the
students in a special program must constitute at least 35 percent of the
total number of students in the graduating class at the high school at
which the special program is conducted. 

The substitute provides that it 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 is for
purposes of automatic admissions in higher education.