Shaheen’s bill ending tenure at Texas public universities

The text as introduced · 2,638 words

89R4607 RDR-D

By: Shaheen
H.B. No. 1830

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to tenure and employment status at public institutions of

higher education in this state.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 21.801(d), Education Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(d) The public institution of higher education shall:

(1) reward faculty instructing in the teacher

residency program;

(2) identify faculty who can prepare teachers to

impact student achievement in high-need schools;

(3) provide institutional support of faculty who work

with the teacher residency program by providing time to teach the

courses [ and valuing the faculty's contributions with rewards in

the university tenure process ]; and

(4) develop and implement a program that acknowledges

and elevates the significance and professional nature of teaching

at the primary and secondary levels.

SECTION 2. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is

amended by adding Section 51.9415 to read as follows:

Sec. 51.9415. TENURE AND FACULTY EMPLOYMENT STATUS. (a) In

this section, "institution of higher education" has the meaning

assigned by Section 61.003.

(b) An institution of higher education may not grant an

employee of the institution tenure or any type of permanent

employment status.

(c) Subsection (b) does not apply to a faculty member or

other employee of the institution of higher education who is

employed by or under contract for employment with the institution

on September 1, 2025, and who was awarded tenure or any type of

permanent employment status by the institution before September 1,

2025, provided that the person remains continuously employed or

continuously under a contract of employment beginning September 1,

2025.

(d) This section does not prohibit the board of regents of

an institution of higher education from establishing an alternate

system of tiered employment status for faculty members provided

that the system clearly defines each position and requires each

faculty member to undergo an annual performance evaluation.

SECTION 3. Section 51.942(c-1), Education Code, is amended

to read as follows:

(c-1) Each governing board of an institution of higher

education shall adopt policies and procedures regarding

tenure. The policies and procedures must:

(1) [ address the granting of tenure;

[ (2) ] allow for the dismissal of a tenured faculty

member at any time after providing the faculty member with

appropriate due process, on a determination that:

(A) the faculty member has:

(i) exhibited professional incompetence;

(ii) continually or repeatedly failed to

perform duties or meet professional responsibilities of the faculty

member's position;

(iii) failed to successfully complete any

post-tenure review professional development program;

(iv) engaged in conduct involving moral

turpitude that adversely affects the institution or the faculty

member's performance of duties or meeting of responsibilities;

(v) violated laws or university system or

institution policies substantially related to the performance of

the faculty member's duties;

(vi) been convicted of a crime affecting

the fitness of the faculty member to engage in teaching, research,

service, outreach, or administration;

(vii) engaged in unprofessional conduct

that adversely affects the institution or the faculty member's

performance of duties or meeting of responsibilities; or

(viii) falsified the faculty member's

academic credentials;

(B) there is actual financial exigency or the

phasing out of the institution's programs requiring elimination of

the faculty member's position; or

(C) there is other good cause as defined in the

institution's policies; and

(2) [ (3) ] provide for a periodic performance

evaluation process for all tenured faculty at the institution.

SECTION 4. Section 51.943(c), Education Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(c) For the purposes of this section, an institution of

higher education is not required to provide an annual contract to

tenured [ tenure or tenure-track ] faculty, but must provide tenured

[ tenure and tenure-track ] faculty with [ any ] written notification

[ required in the institution's tenure policy ] of any [ a ] change in a

term of employment according to the policies of the institution,

but no later than the 30th day prior to the change.

SECTION 5. Section 51.948(b), Education Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(b) A contract entered into by a governing board under this

section may not:

(1) provide for employment for more than three years;

(2) allow for severance or other payments on the

termination of the contract to exceed an amount equal to the

discounted net present cash value of the contract on termination at

a market interest rate agreed upon in the contract; or

(3) allow for development leave that is inconsistent

with Section 51.105[ ; or

[ (4) award tenure in any way that varies from the

institution's general policy on the award of tenure ].

SECTION 6. Section 51.9745(a), Education Code, is amended

to read as follows:

(a) Each general academic teaching institution, as defined

by Section 61.003, shall make available to the public on the

institution's Internet website the following information for the

institution:

(1) the student/faculty ratio;

(2) the percentage of all full-time equivalent faculty

members with teaching responsibility who are tenured [ or tenure

track ];

(3) the percentage of semester credit hours taken by

students classified as freshmen or sophomores that are taught by

tenured [ and tenure track ] faculty members;

(4) the number of faculty members in each of the

following faculty ranks, including a breakdown for each rank

showing the numbers of faculty members by race, ethnicity, and

gender:

(A) professor;

(B) associate professor;

(C) assistant professor;

(D) instructor;

(E) nontenured [ or nontenure track ]; and

(F) teaching assistant;

(5) average faculty salaries by rank;

(6) the amount of money appropriated by the

legislature per full-time equivalent faculty member and full-time

equivalent student;

(7) the total revenue the institution spent per

full-time equivalent faculty member and full-time equivalent

student;

(8) the amount of federal and private research

expenditures per tenured [ or tenure track ] full-time equivalent

faculty member;

(9) the number and percentage of faculty members

holding extramural research grants;

(10) the number and names of awards to faculty members

from nationally recognized entities, including those identified by

The Center for Measuring University Performance; and

(11) the number of endowed professorships or chairs.

SECTION 7. Section 51A.053(c), Education Code, is amended

to read as follows:

(c) Except as otherwise provided by the coordinating board

under Subsection (a), the resume must include the following

information relating to the most recent state fiscal year for which

the information is available:

(1) under the heading "ENROLLMENT":

(A) the total number of students enrolled in the

institution during the fall semester that ended in the fiscal year

covered by the resume;

(B) the percentage of undergraduate students

enrolled in the institution for the first time during the fall

semester that ended in the fiscal year covered by the resume who are

transfer students; and

(C) a clearly identifiable link to the

information described by Paragraph (A) disaggregated by student

ethnicity;

(2) under the heading "DEGREES AWARDED":

(A) the number of bachelor's degrees, number of

master's degrees, number of doctoral degrees, and number of

professional degrees awarded by the institution; and

(B) a clearly identifiable link to the

information described by Paragraph (A) disaggregated by student

ethnicity;

(3) under the heading "COSTS":

(A) the average annual total academic costs for a

resident undergraduate student enrolled in 30 semester credit hours

at the institution;

(B) clearly identifiable links to information

regarding:

(i) the rate or rates of tuition per

semester credit hour charged by the institution; and

(ii) any mandatory fees, as defined by the

coordinating board, imposed by the institution;

(C) the average cost of on-campus room and board

per student; and

(D) the average cost to a resident undergraduate

student enrolled in 30 semester credit hours for total academic

costs and on-campus room and board, excluding the cost of books,

supplies, transportation, or other expenses;

(4) under the heading "FINANCIAL AID":

(A) the percentage of undergraduate students

enrolled in the institution who receive need-based grants or

scholarships;

(B) the percentage of undergraduate students

enrolled in the institution who receive need-based grants,

scholarships, loans, or work-study funds;

(C) the percentage of undergraduate students

enrolled in the institution who receive student loans;

(D) the average amount of an undergraduate

student's need-based grant and scholarship package;

(E) the average amount of an undergraduate

student's need-based grant, scholarship, loan, and work-study

package; and

(F) the average amount of an undergraduate

student's student loans;

(5) under the heading "ADMISSIONS":

(A) the middle 50 percent test score range of

first-time undergraduate students at the institution whose

Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) scores were in the 25th to 75th

percentile of students' scores at that institution;

(B) the middle 50 percent test score range of

first-time undergraduate students at the institution whose

American College Test (ACT) scores were in the 25th to 75th

percentile of students' scores at that institution; and

(C) the percentage of the students who applied

for first-time undergraduate admission to the institution who were

offered admission to the institution;

(6) under the heading "INSTRUCTION":

(A) the student/faculty ratio at the

institution;

(B) the percentage of organized undergraduate

classes offered by the institution in which fewer than 20 students

are enrolled;

(C) the percentage of organized undergraduate

classes offered by the institution in which more than 50 students

are enrolled; and

(D) the percentage of teaching faculty members of

the institution who are tenured [ or tenure-track ];

(7) under the heading "BACCALAUREATE SUCCESS":

(A) four-year, five-year, and six-year

graduation rates for full-time bachelor's degree-seeking students

at the institution, and links to that information disaggregated by

student ethnicity;

(B) the average number of fall and spring

semesters of enrollment attempted by a student to obtain a

bachelor's degree; and

(C) the retention rate of first-time, full-time,

degree-seeking entering undergraduate students enrolled in the

institution after one academic year and after two academic years;

(8) under the heading "FIRST-TIME LICENSURE OR

CERTIFICATION EXAMINATION PASS RATES," the first-time licensure or

certification examination pass rates in the fields of education,

law, pharmacy, nursing, and engineering of students enrolled in the

institution or who have graduated from the institution; and

(9) under the heading "FUNDING":

(A) the total amount of money appropriated by the

legislature to the institution, including money appropriated for

faculty and staff health coverage and retirement benefits, for that

state fiscal year and the corresponding percentage of the

institution's operating budget for that state fiscal year that the

total amount of money appropriated by the legislature represents;

(B) the total amount of federal funds from all

federal sources, including grants and research funds, received by

the institution in that state fiscal year and the corresponding

percentage of the institution's operating budget for that state

fiscal year that the total amount of federal funds represents;

(C) the total academic costs charged to students

by the institution in that state fiscal year and the corresponding

percentage of the institution's operating budget for that state

fiscal year that the total academic costs represent; and

(D) the total amount of money from any source

available to the institution in that state fiscal year.

SECTION 8. Section 61.057, Education Code, is amended to

read as follows:

Sec. 61.057. PROMOTION OF TEACHING EXCELLENCE. To achieve

excellence in the teaching of students at institutions and agencies

of higher education, the board shall:

(1) develop and recommend:

(A) minimum faculty compensation plans, basic

increment programs, and incentive salary increases;

(B) minimum standards for faculty appointment,

advancement, promotion, and retirement;

(C) general policies for faculty teaching loads,

and division of faculty time between teaching, research,

administrative duties, and special assignments;

(D) faculty improvement programs, including a

plan for sabbatical leaves, appropriate for the junior and senior

colleges and universities, respectively; and

(E) minimum standards for academic freedom[ , ]

and academic responsibility[ , and tenure ];

(2) pursue vigorously and continuously a goal of

having all college and university academic classes taught by

persons holding the minimum of an earned master's degree or its

equivalent in academic training, creative work, or professional

accomplishment;

(3) explore, promote, and coordinate the use of

educational television among institutions of higher education and

encourage participation by public and private schools and private

institutions of higher education in educational television;

(4) conduct, and encourage the institutions of higher

education to conduct, research into new methods, materials, and

techniques for improving the quality of instruction and for the

maximum utilization of all available teaching techniques, devices,

and resources, including but not limited to large classes, team

teaching, programmed instruction, interlibrary exchanges, joint

libraries, specially-designed facilities, visual aids, and other

innovations that offer promise for superior teaching or for meeting

the need for new faculty members to teach anticipated larger

numbers of students; and

(5) assume initiative and leadership in providing

through the institutions of higher education in the state those

programs and offerings which will achieve the objectives set forth

in Section 61.002 of this code.

SECTION 9. Section 61.0902(b), Education Code, is amended

to read as follows:

(b) Not later than the next November 1 following the

completion of an academic year, each general academic teaching

institution shall provide to the board one or more reports

containing data related to:

(1) the qualifications of the entering freshman class

for the academic year covered by the report, including:

(A) the average Texas Academic Skills Program

Test scores of the class;

(B) the average scores of the class on each

generally recognized test or assessment used in college and

university undergraduate admissions, including the Scholastic

Assessment Test and the American College Test;

(C) the range of scores of the class from the 25th

to the 75th percentile on each generally recognized test or

assessment used in college and university undergraduate

admissions, including the Scholastic Assessment Test and the

American College Test;

(D) the overall grade point average of the class

for the academic year covered by the report;

(E) the number of students in the class who

graduated in the top 10 percent of the student's high school

graduating class; and

(F) enrollment percentages by ethnicity; and

(2) student performance and institution efficiency,

including:

(A) the retention rate of full-time students

after the completion of one academic year at the institution;

(B) the percentage of full-time degree-seeking

undergraduate students who earn a baccalaureate degree before the

sixth anniversary of the date of the student's first enrollment at

the institution;

(C) the percentage of lower-division semester

credit hours taught by tenured [ or tenure-track ] faculty;

(D) the percentage of undergraduate classes with

fewer than 20 students;

(E) the percentage of undergraduate classes with

more than 50 students;

(F) the student-to-faculty ratio for

undergraduate students;

(G) the percentage of students receiving

financial aid;

(H) the average cost of tuition and fees for an

undergraduate student enrolled for 12 semester credit hours;

(I) the average cost of on-campus room and board

for an academic year, excluding summer sessions;

(J) the number of disciplines in which master's

degrees are offered;

(K) the number of disciplines in which doctoral

degrees are offered;

(L) a description of any departments, schools, or

certificate or degree programs of the institution that have a

statewide or national reputation for excellence; and

(M) statistics regarding job placement rates for

students awarded certificates or degrees by the institution.

SECTION 10. Section 141.001(3), Education Code, is amended

to read as follows:

(3) "Faculty member" means a person who is tenured [ or

is in a tenure track position ] and [ is ] employed by a public senior

college or university.

SECTION 11. Section 142.001(5), Education Code, is amended

to read as follows:

(5) "Faculty member" means a person who is tenured by

an eligible institution [ or is in a tenure track position ] or who is

a research professional employed by an eligible institution.

SECTION 12. Sections 51.942(b) and (f), Education Code, are

repealed.

SECTION 13. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.