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Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
April 21, 2009
Creation institute sues coordinating board
The Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research Graduate School has sued the state’s higher education agency for denying permission to offer a master’s degree in science education.
The Bible-oriented group contends in a lawsuit filed last week in federal court that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board violated its civil rights. The suit, first reported by the Dallas Morning News, argues that the coordinating board discriminated against the institute because it doesn’t support evolution.
Members of the coordinating board, who are gubernatorial appointees, voted 8-0 a year ago to reject the degree proposal. Higher Education Commissioner Raymund Paredes said at the time that the institute’s program, based on a literal interpretation of biblical creation, falls outside the realm of science and therefore could not be designated “science” or “science education.”
De Juana Lozada, a spokeswoman for the coordinating board, said today that the agency could not comment on the pending litigation.
Proposed legislation would exempt the institute from the coordinating board’s rules. The measure, authored by Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, is pending in the House Higher Education Committee. No hearing has been scheduled for House Bill 2800, making its prospects for passage doubtful.
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March 23, 2009
Proposal would encourage diploma mills, coordinating board warns
When I wrote a week ago about proposed legislation intended to exempt a Bible-oriented group from regulation by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the board was more or less in no-comment mode.
That has since changed. A statement issued by the board last week makes it clear that the agency is highly critical of the measure, filed by state Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, in behalf of the Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research. Here’s the statement:
HB 2800 appears to open the doors of Texas to potentially questionable institutions. Were the Bill to become law, it could have the effect of leaving students defenseless against exploitation by diploma mills and other substandard institutions. The Coordinating Board just last year eased restrictions on legitimate institutions of higher education desiring to operate in Texas. For legitimate institutions, the legislation is completely unnecessary.
As far it relates to ICR, we are concerned by the Bill’s vagueness. It appears that the Bill might well allow ICR to operate without Coordinating Board oversight. But, that’s not our biggest concern. The larger issue is that it would allow numerous non-profit entities to operate, leaving students without protection from entities of a predatory nature, such as diploma mills.
Berman’s proposal would exempt private, nonprofit educational institutions that do not accept state funding and state-administered federal funding from coordinating board rules.
The board voted 8-0 in April to reject the institute’s proposal to offer an online master’s degree in science education. Higher Education Commissioner Raymund Paredes said at the time that the institute’s program, based on a literal interpretation of biblical creation, falls outside the realm of science and therefore could not be designated “science” or “science education.”
Here’s my story from a week ago.
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December 29, 2008
Financial aid, community colleges among agency's legislative priorities
More money for the state’s main scholarship program, known as Texas grants. More money for community colleges. A strategic plan for delivering higher education that includes competitive funding for the University of Texas and Texas A&M University as well as resources to allow some additional campuses to rise into flagship status.
These are some of the bullet points in the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s “Key Recommendations for the 81st Texas Legislature.”
The report is here.
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August 1, 2008
Paredes defends need+merit approach to aid
A consultant’s recommendation to raise academic standards for the Texas Grant scholarship program has prompted debate on whether this would harm needy students. Raymund Paredes, the state’s higher education commissioner, penned the following missive on the subject this week:
FINANCIAL AID NUMBER ONE PRIORITY FOR HIGHER EDUCATION BOARD
By Raymund A. Paredes Texas Commissioner of Higher Education
Recent wire reports and other stories have reported that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board recently adopted new proposals on financial aid that will adversely affect needy college students. In actuality, the proposals under consideration do not adversely affect students, and the Board has not yet taken a position on those proposals.
Here are the facts.
In mid-2007, the Texas Legislature directed the Coordinating Board to undertake a study of financial aid to be submitted to the legislature by August 1, 2008. The Coordinating Board, in turn, commissioned Higher Education Insights Associates (HEIA) to conduct the feasibility study. During late 2007 and early 2008, HEIA undertook its review of financial aid programs and offered recommendations in a report to the Coordinating Board in June 2008. The Coordinating Board met and discussed the recommendations for over three hours in a meeting on July 24. At the end of the meeting, the Coordinating Board did not approve or endorse any recommendations but simply authorized that the study be forwarded to the legislature as required by August 1. The Board directed me and other Board staff to gather data on the impact the recommendations could have on students so that they can consider final recommendations at the next meeting of the Board in October.
Some media stories have totally mischaracterized the Board’s position on financial aid with statements such as “instead of increasing funding for student aid, Texas officials want to toughen eligibility standards.” In fact, increasing funding for state financial aid programs has been the Coordinating Board’s number one priority since the inception of the TEXAS Grant program in 1999. At the same recent meeting that the Board discussed financial aid criteria, it approved a request to the legislature for over $1.41 billion in student financial aid for 2010-2011, an increase of nearly 90% over the $746 million currently authorized. Not only does the Board propose increases for TEXAS Grant which primarily is received by university students, but also for financial aid at community colleges, where the largest number of Texas students begin their college studies. The feasibility study makes sixteen recommendations regarding financial aid, but the sticking point lies principally with one that suggests several stronger academic criteria— ACT and SAT scores, class standing, more rigorous courses—for new TEXAS Grant recipients. I happen to agree that the academic eligibility criteria for TEXAS Grants should be strengthened, and for several years, I have expressed support for “need+ merit” approaches to financial aid. A large body of research indicates that the best way to help all students, including the poor and students of color, is to set high academic standards for all and to provide each student the academic support necessary to reach them. I categorically reject arguments that suggest any group of students cannot achieve - or should not be held to - high standards.
During its discussion on the financial aid feasibility study last week, I again expressed this view to the Coordinating Board and made suggestions of my own. But it is important to note that the Coordinating Board still has not formally adopted any recommendations. Over the next several months, Coordinating Board staff and I will be examining various financial aid models that combine need with merit criteria that are challenging but not onerous. We will confer with political leaders as well as educators and financial aid experts. Only then will we offer recommendations for the Coordinating Board’s consideration. Meanwhile, we will also be working with our K12 colleagues and with business and community leaders to improve educational outcomes for all the young people of Texas.
Raymund A. Paredes is Texas Commissioner of Higher Education. He also served as an officer of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund where he was responsible for scholarship and outreach programs and had a 30-year career as a faculty member and administrator at UCLA.
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April 24, 2008
Coordinating board satisified with Angelo State transfer
The Texas State University System and the Texas Tech University System are still squabbling about the legislatively ordered transfer of Angelo State University from the former to the latter.
However, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is satisfied that the aspects it oversees have been resolved. The board on Thursday adopted a motion to that effect. Among other details, $53 million in bond debt for the campus in San Angelo has been transferred from the Texas State System to the Texas Tech System, officials said.
The coordinating board heard discussion about, but did not weigh in on, a dispute between the two systems over the disposition of $1.8 million in Angelo State dormitory revenues held by the Texas State System’s foundation. Texas Tech System officials want that money transferred to their system.
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April 23, 2008
Panel rejects creation institute's proposal
A panel of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board voted today to reject a proposal by a Bible-oriented group to offer a master’s degree in science education.
The unanimous vote by the board’s Academic Excellence and Research Committee came after Higher Education Commissioner Raymund Paredes recommended against the plan submitted by the Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research.
Paredes said the institute’s program is infused with creationism and runs counter to conventions of science that hold that claims of supernatural intervention are not testable and therefore lie outside the realm of science. He also said the institute failed to demonstrate that its proposal for a master’s of science degree in science education met the coordinating board’s standards.
“Religious belief is not science,” Paredes said. “Science and religious belief are surely reconcilable, but they are not the same thing.”
The full board, which makes the final call for the agency, is scheduled to consider the matter Thursday. Judging by the panel’s unanimous vote, it appears likely that the board will also reject the institute’s proposal.
Henry Morris, CEO of the Institute for Creation Research, said its options — assuming the full board rejects the proposal — include appealing to the board, submitting a new proposal and going to court.
Steve Schafersman, president of Texas Citizens for Science, an advocacy group, praised Paredes for a recommendation that was “very strong and courageous.”
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