The Texas Senate K-16 Committee Hears Major Reform Bills

On March 20th the Senate K-16 Committee, with responsibilities for both public and higher education, held a hearing on major reform bills. Chief among them was Senate Bill 37 by Senator Creighton. In addition to being authored by the committee chairman, SB 37 is one of the stated priorities of Lt Governor Dan Patrick. The bill includes several sections we deem problematic, highlights of which include:

• Creation of “general education review committees" at institutions that could include local industry partners to make recommendations on core curriculum.
• A provision requiring boards to approve or deny hiring of specific provisions down to the associate dean level. The process for such approval would include public posting of all finalists along with extensive professional information 30 days prior to a public hearing at which the board would consider the candidates.
• Regulation of faculty senates, including requirements that only tenured faculty may serve, that only two members from each college or school may serve, and that one of the two members be appointed by the president of the institution rather than elected. In addition, the bill prescribes the activities of the faculty senate and aggressive board oversight.
• Approval by the board in a public meeting of any posting or advertisement for hiring tenured faculty “in a field other than science, technology, engineering, or mathematics.”
• Ongoing board review of minor and certificate programs that requires “specific industry data to substantiate workforce demand to avoid consideration for consolidation or elimination.”
• Creation of an “Office of Excellence in Higher Education” to address “matters of discourse” at institutions. The Office would have broad investigative powers and report directly to the Executive Branch and Legislature.

The broad ranging provisions of this bill would serve to compromise shared governance and curriculum choices, disrupt normal administrative processes and institutional chains of command, potentially politicize hiring decisions, and create duplicative, politicized regulation institutions. Taken as a whole, the bill would seriously reduce the competitiveness of Texas institutions of higher education, creating barriers to efficient management, healthy collaboration, hiring, and recruitment of student talent.

The March 20th hearing took place with 48 hours notice during Spring Break for many institutions, reducing the opportunity for public testimony. However, we joined with other organizations to quickly inform and provide advocacy expertise to available members.  As a result, twenty-eight members of the public, most of them professors, spoke at the hearing, addressing the concerns highlighted above and others. A small number of invited witnesses expressed support, but every public witness opposed the bill. During and at the end of the hearing, Chairman Creighton and Senator West had a discussion about amending the bill, which resulted in the chairman soliciting amendments from the opponents of the legislation.

No guarantees of acceptance were offered, but we are now working on amendments for submission, even as we continue to oppose the bill as a whole. The bill is currently pending in the committee, and can now be voted and advanced to the Senate floor at any committee hearing or formal meeting without a specific posting requirement.

What You Can Do

• Read SB 37 (text may be read here https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/pdf/SB00037I.pdf#navpanes=0). : the highlights above are just that. The bill, though only eighteen pages long, contains many major and subtle provisions affecting faculty, governing boards, and the institutions and students they both serve.
• Contact your state senator and members of the Senate K-16 Committee (https://capitol.texas.gov/Committees/MembershipCmte.aspx?LegSess=89R&CmteCode=C532) expressing your opinion of and position on the legislation without delay. Your personal opinions and experiences are valuable, and should be important to your legislators. We do recommend that you apply those opinions and experiences to the impact that this legislation would have on the overall competitiveness of your institutions, and your ability to serve students.
• Encourage your colleagues to join you in the effort. If SB 37 and many other associated bills become law, they will affect every faculty member in Texas. Now is the time to recruit your colleagues to join our organization and get involved.

Looking Ahead

The legislative session is now in full swing, with committee hearings every week, Senate and House floor sessions every day, and over 9000 bills and substantive resolutions filed. We are currently tracking 284 bills directly related to higher education, and more bills that may have a tangental effect or might be amended in the furious days at the end of session. We are working with the legislative committees and members to encourage hearings for positive legislation and raise issues with problem bills. We continue to collaborated with allies, communicate with our institution representatives, deploy strategic messaging, and execute weekly tactical plans to make your voices heard in the legislative process.

As with SB 37 above, we will ask you to weigh in on legislation as it moves in the process. Our expertise and opinions delivered both inside and from outside the capitol are vital to our efforts to preserve the historically strong system of public higher education in Texas. Thank you in advance, and stay tuned!