HBA-CBW H.B. 3253 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3253
By: Giddings
Public Education
4/23/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Efforts to identify Texas high school seniors, including those in the top
10 percent, have been difficult without a state database of  names and
addresses.   Texas colleges and universities have been forced to rely on
such testing agencies as  the College Board and ACT Inc. to  purchase
names.  Recruitment efforts and encouragement of Texas high school
graduates to attend Texas institutions of higher education could be
facilitated if a source for information of this nature were available.
Such a database could provide another tool to assist universities in
working to reach the state's goal of closing the gaps in higher education
and to provide another avenue for universities to recruit more minority
students.  House Bill 3253 requires each school district and charter school
to collect certain information from each student in grade levels 10 through
12 for release by the Texas Education Agency to institutions of higher
education. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that  rulemaking
authority  is  expressly delegated to the commissioner of education in
SECTION 1 (Section 25.902, Education Code) of this bill. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 3253 amends the Education Code to require each school district
and charter school, in accordance with the federal Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, to collect the following information for
each student in grade levels 10 through 12: 

  _the student's name and address;

  _the student's ranking in the preceding school year by quartile and
decile in the student's class; 

  _to the extent determined appropriate by the commissioner of education
(commissioner) and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB),
the student's participation in the minimum, recommended, and advanced high
school graduation programs; 

  _any other student information determined appropriate by the commissioner
and THECB. 

The bill requires that each school district and open-enrollment charter
school (charter school) report this information to the Texas Education
Agency (TEA) in a format and on a schedule determined by the commissioner.
The bill requires the commissioner to require each school district and
charter school to report whether a student's parent objected  as permitted
by federal law to the release of any information. The bill requires TEA on
request to release the information regarding students whose parents did not
object to its release to any institution of higher education that admits
students to an undergraduate degree program. The bill authorizes TEA to
charge a fee to recover the costs of compiling and releasing the
information. 

 The bill sets forth provisions regarding the confidentiality of
information released to each institution of higher education.  The bill
authorizes a school district or charter school to designate such student
information as directory information that is not for public release.  The
bill authorizes the school district or charter school to use the directory
information in connection with specified school activities. 

The bill provides that a school district or charter school is not required
to release the information as public information under certain conditions.
The bill authorizes the commissioner to make rules as necessary to
implement the Act and, to the extent feasible, requires the commissioner to
use the Public Education Information Management System for purposes of
collecting the information. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

The Act takes effect beginning with the 2001-2002 school year.