HBA-NRS S.B. 974 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 974 By: Wentworth Higher Education 5/18/2001 Engrossed BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Current law requires each general academic teaching institution to admit an applicant for admission to the institution if the applicant graduated from an accredited public or private high school with a grade point average in the top 10 percent of the student's graduating class. However, such applicants are not required to complete the recommended or advanced high school curriculum or an equivalent curriculum to be automatically admitted. Senate Bill 974 requires high school students to take, at a minimum, the recommended high school curriculum to be eligible for admission to a general academic teaching institution. 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 51.807, Education Code) of this bill. ANALYSIS Senate Bill 974 amends the Education Code to require each general academic teaching institution to admit an applicant for admission to the institution if the applicant graduated from an accredited public or private high school with a grade point average in the top 10 percent of the student's graduating class and the applicant completed the recommended or advanced high school curriculum or an equivalent curriculum. The bill provides that the curriculum requirement does not apply to an applicant who graduated from a public high school that applies for and receives a waiver from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) due to the school's inability to offer or make available the recommended or advanced high school curriculum. The bill requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, after consulting with the TEA, to establish by rule standards for determining whether a private high school is accredited by a generally accepted accrediting organization and whether a person completed a high school curriculum that is equivalent to the recommended or advanced high school curriculum. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2003. The Act applies beginning the 2004-2005 academic year.