bill opens FAST dual credit to private and home schoolers

The text as introduced · 607 words

89R5138 KJE-D

By: Hughes
S.B. No. 895

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a student's eligibility to participate in the Financial

Aid for Swift Transfer (FAST) program.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Sections 28.0095(c), (e), (f), and (h),

Education Code, are amended to read as follows:

(c) A student is eligible to enroll at no cost in a dual

credit course under the program if the student:

(1) is enrolled:

(A) in high school in a school district , [ or ]

charter school , or private school, including a home school ; and

(B) in a dual credit course at a participating

institution of higher education; and

(2) was educationally disadvantaged at any time during

the four school years preceding the student's enrollment in the

dual credit course described by Subdivision (1)(B).

(e) Each school district , [ or ] charter school , or private

school shall:

(1) on a high school student's enrollment in a dual

credit course, determine whether the student meets the criteria for

the program under Subsection (c)(2); and

(2) notify the institution of higher education that

offers the dual credit course in which the student is enrolled of

the district's or school's determination under Subdivision (1).

(f) A school district , [ or ] charter school , or private

school may make the determination under Subsection (e)(1) based on

the district's or school's records, the agency's records, or any

other method authorized by commissioner or coordinating board rule.

If the district or school bases the determination on a method other

than the agency's records, the district or school shall report the

method used and the data on which the method is based to the agency

for purposes of verification.

(h) The coordinating board shall distribute money

transferred to the coordinating board under Section 48.308 , or

appropriated to the coordinating board for purposes of paying costs

for eligible students enrolled in a private school, to the

participating institutions of higher education in proportion to the

number of dual credit courses in which eligible students are

enrolled at the institution.

SECTION 2. Section 48.308(b), Education Code, as added by

Chapter 378 (H.B. 8), Acts of the 88th Legislature, Regular

Session, 2023, is amended to read as follows:

(b) An institution of higher education participating in the

FAST program is entitled to an allotment in an amount equal to the

amount of tuition set by coordinating board rule under Section

28.0095(d) for each dual credit course in which a student who is

enrolled in a school district or open-enrollment charter school and

is eligible to participate in the FAST program is enrolled at the

institution.

SECTION 3. Section 61.059, Education Code, is amended by

adding Subsection (u) to read as follows:

(u) In its instruction and operations formula applicable to

an institution of higher education participating in the Financial

Aid for Swift Transfer (FAST) program under Section 28.0095, the

board shall include the amount of tuition set by coordinating board

rule under Section 28.0095(d) for each dual credit course in which a

student who is enrolled in a private school and is eligible to

participate in the FAST program is enrolled at the institution.

SECTION 4. Section 28.0095, Education Code, as amended by

this Act, applies beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives

a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as

provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this

Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this

Act takes effect September 1, 2025.