BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3204

By: Metcalf

Higher Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

In August of 2024, the Texas State University System voted to reinstitute and rename the Josey School of Vocational Education as the Polytechnic College for the purpose of addressing the region's workforce challenges and growing industry demands. The bill author has informed the committee that employers are reporting difficulty finding workers with industry-specific skills, which can be remedied by enabling the college to offer career and technical education certificates to fill the gaps in key industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, and technical services. C.S.H.B. 3204 seeks to facilitate this process by restructuring the existing vocational school into the Polytechnic College to provide career and technical education that is aligned with current industry needs.

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. 3204 amends the Education Code to rename the Josey School of Vocational Education, as established at Sam Houston State University (SHSU), as the Polytechnic College and to provide for its operation as a division of SHSU, under the direction and control of the board of regents of the Texas State University System, with the administration of the college under the direction of the president of SHSU. The bill removes and applicably revises statutory provisions that established the Josey School, including provisions relating to the rate of tuition and scholarships under the former Josey School of Vocational Education. Whereas the Josey School was required to provide vocational training in vocational education in a number of statutorily specified fields, as well as certain other courses, the Polytechnic College is required under the bill's provisions to provide career and technical education designed to lead to career and technical education certificates, as defined by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). The bill retains for the Polytechnic College the requirement for the former Josey School to provide education for individuals who desire to avail themselves of short intensive courses.

C.S.H.B. 3204 requires that the college be funded in the same manner as Lamar State College‑‑Orange, Lamar State College--Port Arthur, or the Lamar Institute of Technology.

C.S.H.B. 3204 makes the college an eligible institution for purposes of the Texas Educational Opportunity Grant Program. This provision applies beginning with grants awarded under the Texas Educational Opportunity Grant Program for the 2026 fall semester. Grants awarded under that program for an academic term before that semester are governed by the law in effect immediately before the bill's effective date, and the former law is continued in effect for those purposes.

C.S.H.B. 3204 classifies the college as a lower-division institution of higher education for purposes of statutory provisions relating to the coordination of cybersecurity coursework development and the Texas Reskilling and Upskilling Through Education (TRUE) Program. The classification as a lower-division institution of higher education applies beginning with grants awarded under the TRUE Program for the 2025 fall semester.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 3204 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.

Both the introduced and the substitute provide for the renaming of the Josey School of Vocational Education as the Polytechnic College and remove and applicably revise statutory provisions that established the Josey School. However, the substitute does the following:

·changes the directing entity of the college from the board of regents, State Senior Colleges to the board of regents of the Texas State University System, which the introduced did not do;

·whereas the introduced revised the duties of the college by requiring the college to provide workforce training for individuals over the age of 18 who cannot qualify scholastically for college entrance and for other persons who desire to avail themselves of short intensive courses in workforce training, the substitute revises those duties by requiring the college to provide career and technical education for individuals who desire to avail themselves of short intensive courses in career and technical education;

·whereas the introduced revised the duties of the college by requiring the workforce training to be designed to lead to an occupational skills award, a level one certificate, or a level two certificate, the substitute revises those duties by requiring the career and technical education to be designed to lead to career and technical education certificates, as defined by the THECB; and

·replaces the requirement for the THECB, in making funding recommendations for the college, to recommend that the college be funded in the same manner as Lamar State College--Orange, Lamar State College--Port Arthur, or the Lamar Institute of Technology, as in the introduced, with the requirement for the college to be funded in the same manner as those public state colleges.