Bill Text: TX SB18 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to the tenure and employment of faculty members at certain public institutions of higher education.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 13)

Status: (Passed) 2023-06-17 - Effective on 9/1/23 [SB18 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-SB18-Enrolled.html

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S.B. No. 18

AN ACT
relating to the tenure and employment of faculty members at certain
public institutions of higher education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Section 51.942, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 51.942. [PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF TENURED] FACULTY
TENURE.
SECTION 2. Section 51.942(a), Education Code, is amended by
amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivision (4) to read as
follows:
(1) "Governing board" and "university system" have the
meanings [has the meaning] assigned by Section 61.003.
(4) "Tenure" means the entitlement of a faculty member
of an institution of higher education to continue in the faculty
member's academic position unless dismissed by the institution for
good cause in accordance with the policies and procedures adopted
by the institution under Subsection (c-1).
SECTION 3. Section 51.942, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (b), (c), and (g) and adding Subsections
(c-1), (c-2), (c-3), and (c-4) to read as follows:
(b) Only an institution of higher education's governing
board, on the recommendation of the institution's chief executive
officer and the university system's chancellor, if applicable, may
grant tenure.
(c) The granting of tenure may not be construed to create a
property interest in any attribute of a faculty position beyond a
faculty member's continuing employment, including his or her
regular annual salary and any privileges incident to his or her
status as a tenured professor.
(c-1) Each governing board of an institution of higher
education shall adopt policies [rules] 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
(3) provide [providing] for a periodic performance
evaluation process for all tenured faculty [tenured] at the
institution.
(c-2) The governing board may design its policies [rules]
and procedures to fit the institution's particular educational
mission, traditions, resources, and circumstances relevant to the
institution's [its] character, role, and scope, in addition to
other relevant factors determined by the governing board in the
policies and procedures [rules] adopted under [pursuant to] this
section. The governing board shall seek advice and comment from the
institution's faculty [of the institution] before adopting any
policies and procedures under [rules pursuant to] this section.
The advice and comment from the faculty on the performance
evaluation of tenured faculty shall be given the utmost
consideration by the governing board.
(c-3) [(c)] In addition to any other provisions adopted by
the governing board, the policies and procedures adopted by the
governing board under Subsection (c-1) must [rules shall] include
provisions providing that:
(1) each tenured faculty member [tenured] at the
institution be subject to a comprehensive performance evaluation
process conducted no more often than once every year, but no less
often than once every six years, after the date the faculty member
was granted tenure or received an academic promotion at the
institution;
(2) the comprehensive performance evaluation be based
on the professional responsibilities of the faculty member, in
teaching, research, service, patient care, and administration, and
include peer review of the faculty member;
(3) the comprehensive performance evaluation process
be directed toward the professional development of the faculty
member;
(4) the comprehensive performance evaluation process
incorporate commonly recognized academic due process rights,
including notice of the manner and scope of the comprehensive
performance evaluation, the opportunity to provide documentation
during the comprehensive performance evaluation process, and,
before a faculty member may be subject to disciplinary action on the
basis of a comprehensive performance [an] evaluation conducted
under [pursuant to] this subsection [section], notice of specific
charges and an opportunity for hearing on those charges; [and]
(5) a faculty member be subject to revocation of
tenure or other appropriate disciplinary action if, during the
comprehensive performance evaluation, incompetency, neglect of
duty, or other good cause is determined to be present; and
(6) for a faculty member who receives an
unsatisfactory rating in any area of any evaluation conducted under
this section, the evaluation process provide for a short-term
development plan that includes performance benchmarks for
returning to satisfactory performance.
(c-4) The policies and procedures adopted by the governing
board under Subsection (c-1) may include provisions that authorize
the summary dismissal of a tenured faculty member based on a finding
that the faculty member committed serious misconduct, as defined by
the institution's policies, at any time after providing the faculty
member with appropriate due process in accordance with this
subsection. The policies and procedures for summary dismissal must
ensure that the institution provides the faculty member with
appropriate due process, including:
(1) before summarily dismissing the faculty member,
providing the faculty member:
(A) written notice of the allegations against the
faculty member together with an explanation of the evidence
supporting dismissal; and
(B) an opportunity for the faculty member to
respond to the allegations in a hearing with a designated
administrator;
(2) requiring the designated administrator to
consider the faculty member's response under Subdivision (1)(B) and
make a written determination of whether the institution will
proceed with the summary dismissal of the faculty member;
(3) promptly providing to the faculty member a copy of
the designated administrator's written determination under
Subdivision (2) that:
(A) clearly indicates whether the faculty member
will be subject to summary dismissal; and
(B) either:
(i) includes the effective date of the
dismissal and information regarding the faculty member's
opportunity for a post-dismissal appeal, if the designated
administrator's decision is in favor of summary dismissal; or
(ii) states that the faculty member is not
subject to summary dismissal, if the designated administrator's
decision is against summary dismissal; and
(4) following a designated administrator's written
determination to summarily dismiss a faculty member, providing the
faculty member with the opportunity for a post-dismissal appeal in
accordance with the institution's policies and procedures.
(g) Each governing board shall file a copy of the policies
and procedures [rules] adopted under [pursuant to] this section,
and any amendments to such polices and procedures [rules], with the
coordinating board on or before September 1 of each year.
SECTION 4. Section 51.942(d), Education Code, is repealed.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 18 passed the Senate on
April 20, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 18, Nays 11; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendments on May 27, 2023, by the
following vote: Yeas 19, Nays 12.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 18 passed the House, with
amendments, on May 23, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 83,
Nays 61, two present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor