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.