Sec. 28.0024.  SCHOOL-BASED SAVINGS PROGRAM.  (a)  A school district or open-enrollment charter school may establish a school-based savings program to facilitate increased awareness of the importance of saving for higher education and facilitate personal financial literacy instruction.  A district or school may offer the program in conjunction with a personal financial literacy course under Section 28.0021.
(b)  A school-based savings program may, through partnerships with appropriate institutions, promote:
(1)  general savings, by offering savings accounts or certificates of deposit through partner financial institutions; or
(2)  savings dedicated for higher education, by offering through partner institutions the following accounts or bonds the primary purpose of which must be to pay expenses associated with higher education:
(A)  an account authorized under Section 529, Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
(B)  a Coverdell education savings account established under 26 U.S.C. Section 530;
(C)  a certificate of deposit;
(D)  a savings account; and
(E)  a Series I savings bond.
(c)  A district or school establishing a program under this section:
(1)  shall seek to establish partnerships with appropriate institutions that are able to offer an account or bond under Subsection (b); and
(2)  may seek to establish partnerships with public sector partners, private businesses, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropic organizations in the community.
(d)  A partnership established under Subsection (c) between a district or school and:
(1)  an appropriate institution may allow a student in the program or the student and an adult in the student's family jointly to have an opportunity to establish an account or purchase a bond under Subsection (b); and
(2)  an appropriate institution, public sector partner, private business, or nonprofit or philanthropic organization may provide:
(A)  a structure for the management of the program; and
(B)  incentives that encourage contribution to a school-based account or purchase of a bond under Subsection (b), including incentives that provide matching funds or seed funding.
Added by Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1265 (H.B. 3987), Sec. 1, eff. June 20, 2015.