(a) - (b)(No change.)
(c)Standards for approval. To be approved as a provider
by the Commission, the applicant must meet the following standards:
(1)the applicant must satisfy the Commission as to
the applicant's ability to administer courses with competency, honesty,
trustworthiness and integrity. If the applicant proposes to employ
another person to manage the operation of the applicant, that person
must meet this standard as if that person were the applicant;
(2)the applicant must demonstrate that the applicant
has sufficient financial resources to conduct its proposed operations
on a continuing basis without risk of loss to students taking courses
from the approved provider; and
(3)that any proposed facilities will be adequate and
safe for conducting courses.
(d)Financial review. An applicant shall provide the
following information to enable the Commission to determine if an
applicant has sufficient financial resources to conduct its proposed
operations:
(1)business financial statements prepared in accordance
with generally accepted accounting principles, which shall include
a current income statement and balance sheet [
of financial condition and a current statement of net worth];
(2)a proposed budget for the first year of operation;
and
(3)a market survey indicating the anticipated enrollment
for the first year of operation.
(e) - (g)(No change.)
(h)Payment of an annual operation fee.
(1)An approved provider shall submit the Commission
approved form and pay an annual operation fee prescribed by §535.101
of this title no later than each anniversary of the date of the provider's
approval.
(2)An approved provider who fails to pay the annual
operation fee as prescribed shall be placed on inactive status and
notified in writing by the Commission.
(3)The approved provider will remain on inactive status
until the annual fee is paid.
(4)The Commission will not give credit for courses
given by a provider on inactive status.
(i)(No change.)
(j)Subsequent Approval [Renewal].
(1)Not earlier than 90 days before the expiration
of its current approval, an approved provider may apply for subsequent
approval [renewal] for another four year period.
(2)Approval or disapproval of a subsequent [
renewal] application shall be subject to:
(A)the standards for initial applications for approval
set out in this section; and
(B)whether the approved provider has met or exceeded
the exam passage rate benchmark established by the Commission under
subsection (k).
(3)The Commission will not require a financial review
for subsequent approval [renewal] if the applicant
has provided a statutory bond or other security acceptable to the
Commission under §1101.302 of the Act, and there are no unsatisfied
final money judgments against the applicant.
(k)Exam passage rates and benchmark.
(1)The exam passage rate for an approved provider
shall be: [For purposes of this subsection, a student is
affiliated with the approved provider where the student took his or
her last qualifying course. The Commission will not count the student
in calculating the approved provider's exam pass rate if the student's
last qualifying course was taken more than two years before the date
the approved provider or student submitted the course to the Commission.]
(A)calculated for each license category
for which the provider offers courses; and
(B)displayed on the Commission website
by license category.
(2)The Commission will calculate the exam
passage rate of an approved provider [providers
for each category of license will be calculated] on a monthly [
quarterly] basis by:
(A)determining [dividing]
the number of students affiliated with that approved provider[,]
who passed the examination on their first attempt in the two [
four]-year period ending on the last day of the previous month;
and [quarter,]
(B)dividing that number by the
total number of students affiliated with that provider [the
approved provider's graduates] who took the exam for the first
time during that same period.
(3)A student is affiliated with a
provider under this subsection if the student took the majority of
his or her hours of qualifying education with the provider in the
two year period prior to taking the exam for the first time.
(4)[(3)]For purposes of
approving a subsequent application under subsection (j), [If
an approved provider offers courses to multiple license categories,
the exam results for that approved provider will be calculated by
license category. The passage rate for each license category that
will be used to determine whether the approved provider has met or
exceeded] the established exam passage rate benchmark
for each [the] license category is 80%
of the average percentage of the total examinees for that
license category who passed the examination on the first attempt in
the two year period ending on the last day of the previous month. [
most current rate published by the Commission as of the date the Commission
receives the timely application for renewal or, if the approval expired
before being renewed, the most recent rate published by the Commission
as of the expiration date of that provider's approval.]
(5)[(4)] If at the time
the Commission receives a subsequent application for a provider, the
provider's exam passage rate does not [Providers who do
not] meet the established benchmark for a license category the
provider will be: [may be denied renewal]
(A)disapproved for that license
category if the provider's exam passage rate is less than 50%
of the average percentage of the total examinees for that license
category who passed the examination on the first attempt in the two
year period ending on the last day of the previous month; or
(B)placed on probation by the Commission
if the provider's exam passage rate is 50% or greater of the average
percentage of the total examinees for that license category who passed
the examination on the first attempt in the two year period ending
on the last day of the previous month [under terms acceptable
to the Commission].
(6)The exam passage rate of a provider
on probation will be reviewed annually at the time the annual operating
fee is due to determine if the provider can be removed from probation,
remain on probation or have its license revoked, based on the criteria
set out in paragraph (5) of this subsection.
[(5)In determining whether an approved
provider qualifies for renewal for a particular license category based
on its examination passage rate, the Commission may consider a variety
of factors, including:]
[(A)the overall passage rate for
sales, broker, and inspector applicants; and]
[(B)any trends within the approved
provider's passage rate over the four-year approval period.]
[(6)The Commission will publish the
exam passage rate of providers by category of license on the Commission's
website on a quarterly basis.]
The agency certifies that legal counsel has reviewed
the proposal and found it to be within the state agency's legal authority
to adopt.
Filed with the Office
of the Secretary of State on August 20, 2015
TRD-201503260 Kerri Lewis
General Counsel
Texas Real Estate Commission
Earliest possible date of adoption: October 4, 2015
For further information, please call: (512) 936-3092
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