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Texas Education Code - Section 54.204. Children Of Disabled Firemen And Peace Officers

Legal Research Home > Texas Lawyer > Education Code > Texas Education Code - Section 54.204. Children Of Disabled Firemen And Peace Officers

§ 54.204. CHILDREN OF DISABLED FIREMEN AND PEACE 
OFFICERS.  (a) In this section:
		(1)  "Eligible employee" means a full-paid or volunteer 
firefighter, or a full-paid municipal, county, or state peace 
officer, or a custodial employee of the Texas Department of 
Corrections, or a game warden.
		(2)  "Disability" means inability to engage in any 
substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically 
determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to 
result in death or to be of long-continued and indefinite duration.  
An individual shall not be considered to be under a disability 
unless he furnishes such proof of its existence as may be required.
	(b)  The governing board of each institution of higher 
education shall exempt from the payment of all dues, fees, and 
charges any person whose parent is an eligible employee who has 
suffered an injury, resulting in death or disability, sustained in 
the line of duty according to the regulations and criteria then in 
effect governing the department or agency in which he was employed.  
The exemption does not apply to general property deposits or to fees 
or charges for lodging, board, or clothing.
	(c)  A person is not entitled to the exemption if the person:                  
		(1)  does not apply initially for the exemption before 
the date the person: 
			(A)  becomes 21 years of age, if the person is not 
covered by Paragraph (B);  or
			(B)  becomes 22 years of age, if the person is 
eligible to participate in a school district's special education 
program under Section 29.003;
		(2)  does not meet all entrance requirements of the 
institution;  or        
		(3)  does not maintain a scholastic average sufficient 
to remain in good standing.
	(d)  Subject to Subsection (e), a person may receive an 
exemption only for the first 120 undergraduate semester credit 
hours for which the person registers.
	(e)  A person is not entitled to an exemption for any term or 
semester the person begins after the date the person becomes 26 
years of age.
	(f)  A person entitled to an exemption under the provisions 
of this section shall, when transferring from a public junior 
college to a public senior college or university, meet the standard 
entrance requirements required by the senior college or university 
of an applicant for admission not covered by the provisions of this 
section.
	(g)  An eligible employee whose injury results in a 
disability shall submit to a physical examination by a physician 
designated by the United States Social Security Administration to 
conduct physical examinations and to make disability reports to the 
Social Security Administration.  If the physician decides the 
injury received has resulted in a disability, he shall certify this 
fact to the head of the department which employs the employee.
	(h)  The head of the department which employed the eligible 
employee at the time he sustained the injury shall file a 
certificate with the Coordinating Board, Texas College and 
University System, on a form prepared by the board for the purpose.  
The head of the department shall attach the certificate of the 
examining physician if an examination is required by Subsection (g) 
of this section.  A copy of the certificate on file with the 
coordinating board is sufficient evidence for the institution to 
grant the exemption.

Acts 1971, 62nd Leg., p. 3072, ch. 1024, art. 1, § 1, eff. Sept. 
1, 1971.  Amended by Acts 1975, 64th Leg., p. 1386, ch. 534, § 1, 
eff. Sept. 1, 1975;  Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1531, § 1, eff. 
Aug. 30, 1999;  Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 465, § 1, 2, eff. June 
11, 2001.

Last modified: August 10, 2007