BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3041

By: Paul

Higher Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Last session, the legislature enacted H.B. 3993, which amended the "top 10 percent rule" to require a general academic teaching institution to calculate the class rank of an applicant with a nontraditional secondary education that does not include a high school graduating class ranking using the average high school graduating class rank of applicants who have equivalent standardized testing scores. However, the bill author has informed the committee that the acceptance policies for the highly selective general academic teaching institutions in Texas are unfairly skewed against home-schooled students—often requiring the student to score in the top one percent on the SAT to qualify for automatic admission. C.S.H.B. 3041 seeks to ensure that students from nontraditional educational backgrounds are fairly compared to their public school peers and have equal access to certain state-funded scholarships.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3041 amends the Education Code to require The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), with respect to its exemption from the automatic admission requirement in excess of the number required to fill 75 percent of UT Austin's enrollment capacity designated for first‑time resident undergraduate students in an academic year, to do the following if UT Austin elects to offer admission in excess of that percentage:

·offer admission to qualifying applicants who completed a nontraditional secondary education and whose score on a standardized test on a college entrance examination meets or exceeds a benchmark test score set by UT Austin instead of offering admission to such applicants by high school graduating class percentile rank;

·set the benchmark test score to be used for such purposes for an academic year based on the standardized test scores on a college entrance examination of applicants to UT Austin who completed a nontraditional secondary education and who were offered automatic admission in the academic year preceding the academic year by two years and in a manner designed to ensure that the percent of applicants who completed a nontraditional secondary education and who are offered automatic admission for an academic year will be the same as the percent of applicants who completed a traditional secondary education and who are offered such admission for that year; and

·in the manner prescribed by the Texas Education Agency and not later than September 15, provide to each public school district, for dissemination of the information to high school junior-level students and their parents, notice of what benchmark test score will be used by UT Austin to offer admission in excess of that percentage during the next school year to students who qualify for automatic admission and who complete a nontraditional secondary education.

The bill specifies that the 75 percent enrollment capacity threshold for purposes of the exemption includes applicants qualified for automatic admission who completed a nontraditional secondary education and are offered admission based on benchmark test score. For these purposes, the bill defines "nontraditional secondary education" by reference as a course of study at the secondary school level in a nonaccredited private school setting, including a home school.

C.S.H.B. 3041 changes the method by which a public institution of higher education that sorts applicants by high school graduating class rank in its undergraduate admission review process includes in that sorting process applicants who have successfully completed a nontraditional secondary education that does not include a high school graduating class ranking from placing any such applicant at the average high school graduating class rank of the institution's undergraduate applicants who have equivalent standardized testing scores as the applicant to assigning a class rank to any such applicant by doing the following:

·calculating for each class rank of other applicants to the institution the median score on each college entrance examination the institution considers in admissions; and

·assigning to the applicant the highest class rank for which the applicant's score on such a college entrance examination is at least equal to the median score for that class rank as calculated.

The bill requires the institution of higher education to post on the institution's website the median score on each college entrance examination the institution considers in admissions calculated for each class rank for the preceding admissions cycle.

C.S.H.B. 3041 establishes that its provisions relating to UT Austin and to the admission of a student with a nontraditional secondary education by an institution of higher education apply beginning with admissions to such institutions for the 2026 fall semester. Admissions to such an institution for a term or semester before the 2026 fall semester are governed by the law in effect immediately before the bill's effective date, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

C.S.H.B. 3041 requires an institution of higher education, in admitting or enrolling high school students in a dual credit course, to apply the same criteria and conditions to each student wishing to enroll in the course without regard to whether the student attends a public school or a private or parochial school, including a home school. For these purposes, a student who attends a school that is not formally organized as a high school and is at least 16 years of age is considered to be attending a high school. These provisions apply beginning with admissions or enrollment in a dual credit course at an institution of higher education for the 2026 fall semester. Admissions or enrollment in a dual credit course at an institution of higher education for a term or semester before the 2026 fall semester is governed by the law in effect immediately before the bill's effective date, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

C.S.H.B. 3041 expands the requirement for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to disseminate to each public or accredited private high school in Texas information regarding available financial assistance for resident undergraduate and graduate students funded from designated tuition by requiring the THECB to also post that information on the THECB website.

C.S.H.B. 3041 makes a person who has graduated or is graduating from high school initially eligible for a grant under the Toward Excellence, Access, & Success (TEXAS) grant program if the person presents evidence of successful completion of a nontraditional secondary education and otherwise meets the program's applicable eligibility requirements. However, the bill conditions that eligibility for a person who is otherwise initially eligible for the grant as a person who graduated from high school before May 1, 2013, and who presents evidence of successful completion of a nontraditional secondary education on the person's official transcript or diploma indicating, not later than the end of the person's junior year, whether the person has completed or is on schedule to complete the recommended or advanced high school curriculum required for grant eligibility. The bill requires the THECB to post a copy of the rules adopted under provisions relating to the TEXAS grant program on the THECB website.

C.S.H.B. 3041 makes an otherwise eligible student who presents evidence of successful completion of a nontraditional secondary education eligible for a scholarship awarded by the THECB for students graduating in the top 10 percent of a high school class. The bill requires the class rank of a student who presents evidence of successful completion of a nontraditional secondary education to be calculated in the manner by which an institution of higher education sorts such applicants in its undergraduate admission review process, as provided by the bill.

C.S.H.B. 3041 establishes that its provisions relating to student financial assistance apply beginning with student financial assistance awarded by an institution of higher education for the 2026 fall semester. Student financial assistance awarded by an institution of higher education for a term or semester before the 2026 fall semester is governed by the law in effect immediately before the bill's effective date, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2025.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 3041 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute includes provisions absent from the introduced regarding the automatic admission into UT Austin of students who have completed a nontraditional secondary education.

The substitute also includes a requirement absent from the introduced for an institution of higher education, in admitting or enrolling high school students in a dual credit course, to apply the same criteria and conditions to each student wishing to enroll in the course without regard to whether the student attends a public school or a private or parochial school, including a home school. Accordingly, the substitute includes a provision absent from the introduced establishing that this provision applies beginning with admissions or enrollment in a dual credit course at an institution of higher education for the 2026 fall semester.