March 5, 2013    

Alexa Ura     

Higher education institutions can graduate more students by shifting the landscape of college classes toward innovative technological learning models, according to a panel of higher education officials who spoke Tuesday, the second day of SXSWedu.

UT-Brownsville president Juliet Garcia and Steven Mintz, executive director of the UT System's Institute for Transformational Learning, were part of a panel on teaching new educational methods to old colleges. They discussed integrating technology into the higher-education model and making changes to the roles of faculty members.

March 4, 2013    

Lyndsey Taylor    

Representatives from the Texas Senate and House discussed challenges in K–12 and higher education, highlighting issues such as required testing and accountability, fiscal pressures, and technology, at SXSWedu's panel March 3.

"We have a lot of work to do in education and we need to get real about it," said State Rep. Alma Allen, D–Houston.

Allen said one of her primary concerns is the number of mandatory tests students must take each year. Currently, the state requires students K–12 to take 15 exams per year, which Allen said is too strenuous.

The 83rd Texas Legislature is undergoing a discussion of the House Bill 5, which, if passed, would reduce the number of tests per year. It is not known yet how many tests the bill would eliminate, she said.

March 4, 2013    

Ryan Murphy    

Texas candidates and officeholders would have to file quarterly campaign finance reports — instead of semiannual ones — under legislation filed by Rep. Chris Turner, D-Arlington, who wants to overhaul parts of the state's financial disclosure laws.

Following in the footsteps of House Bill 413, which aims to undo an obscure loophole that makes it possible for politicians to simultaneously collect a salary and an annual pension, Turner's bills would require more detail in personal financial statements and a shift from semiannual campaign finance reports to a quarterly ones.

March 3, 2013    

The Daily Texan Editorial Board    

The SXSWedu Policy Forum takes place Monday and Tuesday at the Hilton Austin Downtown. Speakers include Texas House and Senate Higher Education Committee chairs Dan Branch, R-Dallas, and Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo. Subjects of discussion include higher education in the 83rd Legislature and the future of college in the Internet Age, a period of "dramatic disruption and innovation." Visit www.texastribune.org for more information about the times and locations of the many panels, which take place from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

March 1, 2013    

James Jeffrey     

Business and higher education representatives gave their backing Wednesday to a bill proposing completion-based funding for Texas higher education institutions.

State Rep. Dan Branch's House Bill 25 would tie up to 25 percent of higher education funding to graduation outcomes.

The issue for business is maintaining and growing an educated workforce, according to the Texas Association of Business. Increasingly in the future, it argues, post-secondary degrees and certificates will be needed to get the good paying jobs. And an educated workforce is needed to lure out-of-state businesses to Texas to create new jobs. Completion rates at institutions of higher education must improve to facilitate this.

March 1, 2013    

Associated Press    

Yesterday the King family and former California Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher announced a new legislative effort aimed at expanding Chelsea's Law beyond California into other states. To coordinate this new legislative undertaking, the King's created a new 501(c)4 organization called Chelsea's Shield. Over the last few months, Chelsea's Shield has worked with legislators in Illinois and Texas to introduce Chelsea's Law.

March 1, 2013    

Andrew Roush    

The chair of the Texas House committee on higher education calls it "self-evident." The state's higher education commissioner says it will reward universities for their "actual performance," rather than enrollment. It—in case you didn't know—is outcomes-based funding, and it's the next big thing in Texas higher education.

Graduating students on time has become the credo of higher education policymakers around the country. Texas House higher education chair Dan Branch (R-Dallas) has called the current state of college (in)completion a "crisis."

March 1, 2013    

Claire Cardona    

AUSTIN — A group of five Republicans and five Democrats co-authored a bill that would require university regents to be confirmed by the Senate before voting on any budgetary or personnel matters.

Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo (Harry Cabluck/AP)

Kel Seliger, chair of the Senate Higher Education committee, filed the bill in the hopes that it would "lend itself to good and systematic governance in universities."

March 1, 2013    

Reeve Hamilton    

House Higher Education Chairman Dan Branch, R-Dallas, is worried that the 2013 legislative session could become a repeat of 2011, when his agenda was overshadowed by tension between university system regents, academic leaders, and lawmakers over questions of governance and reforms.

The situation became so heated that a special oversight committee was formed to hold public hearings on the way higher education institutions in the state were governed, and how reforms were being implemented.

March 1, 2013    

Reeve Hamilton    

Dan Branch, the Dallas Republican who is the chairman of the House Higher Education Committee, worries that the 2013 legislative session could become a repeat of 2011, when his agenda was overshadowed by tensions between university system regents, academics and lawmakers over questions of governance and reforms.

The situation became so heated that a special House-Senate oversight committee was formed to hold public hearings on the way higher education institutions in Texas were governed, and how reforms were being carried out. Nearly two years later, Mr. Branch said he had believed that the controversies had subsided. He pointed to signs of progress, like the public, data-rich Web sites recently started by a number of state university systems to make their procedures more transparent.