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.