TCCTA Blog

Here Come the Vets!

The new G.I. bill kicks in soon, with enrollments at all institutions expected to swell with veterans from all branches of the armed services. The measure also provides benefits to those in the National Guard and Reserve, who account for more than half the veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and were shortchanged under the old bill, according to a recent article in the New York Times (registration). The online piece also contains links to sources for more information.

The article gets into the complexity involved with a comprehensive examination of requirements under the new legislation. 

For instance:

All benefits are prorated based on length of service. People who have served three years or were disabled are entitled to 100 percent tuition at a public two- or four-year institution; that includes vocational programs, but at degree-granting institutions only. Those who have served less than six months receive the minimum benefit — 40 percent of tuition. At private institutions, tuition and fees are covered up to the cost of the most expensive in-state public university.

AND THE OLD G.I. BILL?

Between the original G.I. Bill of Rights and the new one is the Montgomery G.I. Bill, which covers those serving before 9/11. But any vet who paid the $1,200 sign-up fee on enlisting can opt for its benefits (the new bill has no fee). Veterans groups are encouraging recruits to keep options open and pay the fee: benefits run up to $1,321 a month, paid directly to the student (unlike the new bill, which mandates payment to the college). That means the money can be applied to any program, including a technical school. And in parts of the country with low rent and tuition, the old bill may be a better deal.

Professor Punished for Publishing Plagiarism Perps

Apologies for the headline, but the best alliteration since Mr. Piper picked those peppers doesn't come along very often. 

The professor in question is Loye Young, who taught at Texas A&M International University—at least until he got fired. He was an adjunct instructor of management information systems, owns his own business, and didn't need to job to support himself. 

The story is covered fully in Inside Higher Ed. The university challenged Mr. Young's actions in revealing the names of alleged cheaters on his blog, citing the federal FERPA act that protects the privacy of students. The case has created a stir among faculty leaders on the campus, who charge that the administration is working much harder to protect the students than backing up the instructor.

Plagiarism is a perennial subject with educators, especially since the Web has made cheating much more convenient and difficult to detect. Recently a survey conducted in the UK (published in the Times Online) revealed that cheating is rampant at prestigious universities there. Law students are reportedly among the greatest offenders.

If you need a good list of arguments why plagiarism is just plain wrong, here's a classic article from Slate magazine on the subject. 

Bill Targets Textbook "Bundling"

It's probably the first of several bills on this subject in the forthcoming session. 

Lawmakers have listened to complaints for years from students and parents about the high cost of textbooks. In some cases, the books cost more than tuition and fees. During the 2007 session, one representative introduced a bill to criminalize (via a Class B misdemeanor) "gifts" from publishers to faculty that were "intended" to influence the instructor's decision on a required text. TCCTA testified against the bill, urging legislators to avoid placing arbitrary restrictions on academic freedom. The measure failed to pass. 

This week a bill was filed by Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) that would place an "administrative penalty" (to be determined by the Coordinating Board) on publishers who do not offer the components of a bundled text (containing supplemental CD ROMs, protected Internet material, etc.) separately in a manner that does not cost more than the bundle. The bill would bring in the Attorney General as the enforcer. 

A common complaint from students is that "bundled" material is often not required by professors, needlessly raising the cost of books.

The Regular Session convenes January 13. 

The full text of the bill is available here. 

TCCTA's "Talking Points" for use in communicating with lawmakers on this subject are available here. 

"Tracked" Bills Now Online

TCCTA has begun to post bills officially introduced in the Legislature that could affect community and technical colleges. The "tracking" list is updated continuously, providing educators with a glimpse each day of new bills and, after the session begins January 13, the progress of each measure during the arduous legislative process. Several thousand bills are introduced each session, with only a minority destined for passage. 

The TCCTA State Office will select bills that potentially relate to the mission of two-year schools. These will include measures dealing with health and retirement benefits, pedagogy, faculty rights and responsibilities, and curricula. 

We are currently in the "pre-filing" phase, so bills can't advance until the session begins. However, they collectively provide an interesting snapshot of what newly elected lawmakers hope to accomplish. The TCCTA Blog will also occasionally direct members to particularly interesting or troubling proposed legislation.

Here's the link to the TCCTA "Tracked" Bills. Mark it as a favorite!

Bills Filed in Legislature

Pre-filing of bills as begun in the House and Senate. As in previous sessions, TCCTA plans to maintain a "tracking list," containing bills that could affect two-year colleges in Texas. Please visit the Web site frequently for the latest information leading up to the Regular Session, which begins on January 13. The ongoing list, updated overnight, should be available here soon.

One bill filed on the first day sort of jumps out at you. 

Rep. Fred Brown (R-College Station) has filed a measure to cut in half the statutory requirement of American history and government courses for students to earn a bachelor's degree. Under current law, students must complete six hours of each subject. Rep. Brown's bill reduces it to three each. Other courses in the Core Curriculum are not mandated by statute in the same manner as history and government. 

Of course instructors in these two fields will be particularly interested in the progress of this bill. Rep. Brown, in previous sessions, has served on both the Appropriations and Higher Education committees. Committee assignments—often crucial to the passage of legislation—will be conducted after the session convenes and are dependent upon the speaker's appointments. And the speaker's race, as reported earlier, is far from certain.

Rep. Brown's bill is HB 100. The text is available here. 

High School Graduation at Tenth Grade?

New Hampshire recently announced plans for a new rigorous battery of exams to be given to tenth graders. Students who pass will be prepared to move on to the state's community or technical colleges, skipping the last two years of high school. It sort of takes dual credit to the next level. 

According to a recent article in Time magazine, "Students may take the exams—which are modeled on existing AP or International Baccalaureate tests—as many times as they need to pass. Or those who want to go to a prestigious university may stay and finish the final two years, taking a second, more difficult set of exams senior year."

Part of the idea is to allow schools to focus on those students who need help, as well as allow talented students to move on. 

From the article:

But can less schooling really lead to better-prepared students at an earlier age? Outside of the U.S., it's actually a far less radical notion than it sounds. Dozens of industrialized countries expect students to be college-ready by age 16, and those teenagers consistently outperform their American peers on internationalstandardized tests.

With its new assessment system, New Hampshire is adopting a key recommendation of a blue-ribbon panelcalled the New Commission on Skills of the American Workforce. In 2006, the group issued a report called "Tough Choices or Tough Times," a blueprint for how it believes the U.S. must dramatically overhaul education policies in order to maintain a globally competitive economy. "Forty years ago, the United States had the best educated workforce in the world," says William Brock, one of the commission's chairs and a former U.S.Secretary of Labor. "Now we're No. 10 and falling."

As more and more jobs head overseas, Brock and others on the commission can't stress enough how dire the need is for educational reform. "The nation is running out of time," he says.

New Hampshire's announcement comes as Utah and Massachusetts declared that they, too, plan to enact some of the commission's other proposals, such as universal Pre-K and better teacher pay and training. Still more states are expected to sign on in December. And the largest teacher union in the U.S., the National Education Association, is encouraging its affiliates to support such efforts.

Technology Seminars Offered

Among the most popular features of the TCCTA annual convention are the Technology Seminars. These sessions are designed to give faculty members a "hands on" experience in new developments, software, and instructional techniques.

All sessions will be conducted at the Renaissance Hotel on Friday afternoon, February 20. No fee or pre-registration is required, but seating may be limited. Room locations will be published in the program, which is distributed at convention registration. Attendees who have laptop computers may wish to bring them for any "hands on" training or software that may be available at some sessions.

Here is a list of the sessions scheduled so far. 

Aerospace Scholars Program Benefits CC Students

Community College Aerospace Scholars (CAS) is a program funded by the State of Texas and administered by NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). Each community college district across Texas will nominate students interested in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to travel together to NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) for a 2 1/2 day experience. This opportunity will provide a hands-on project featuring engineering career possibilities. Selected students will begin the semester commitment with Web-based preparation prior to visiting JSC. The 2 1/2 day experience at JSC will allow participants to:

• Participate in team project directed by NASA engineers

• Attend engineer, scientist and astronaut briefings

• Tour NASA JSC facilities

• Interact with students from across Texas

In 2009, four separate CAS workshops will be held:

• March 19-21

• April 2-4

• April 16-18

• April 23-25

Each Community College district has an identified Point of Contact (POC) faculty member who will travel with the selected students to NASA in the spring.   Several districts are still without POCs, please check the website to see if your school district has an identified faculty member. If you are interested in serving as this position, please email jsc-ae-cas@mail.nasa.gov.

Students and faculty can find more information and apply online at:

https://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/CAS/

Official Election Returns Available

The best source for the official election returns from last Tuesday is the Texas Secretary of State's Web site. Visitors can access all legislative races and even find out how their county voted in each contest. Here is the link.

As reported earlier, the race for Texas Speaker of the House is heating up, with several efforts by both Republicans and Democrats to oust the current speaker, Rep. Tom Craddick (R-Midland). One of the most astute observers of this highly competitive yet largely secretive contest is Paul Burka of Texas Monthly. Here's the link to his blog, which contains the latest information and numerous comments posted to the site as well. The result won't become official until January, but Mr. Burka can certainly provide insights and previews.

From Thursday's Austin American-Statesman:

Election returns, still unofficial, produced a 76-74 GOP majority, but Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, was clinging to a 29-vote victory margin. (Her original 25-vote margin increased after Dallas County officials double-checked the votes.)

It will be Monday at the earliest before Dallas election officials can review 280 provisional ballots given to voters who initially could not be found on the registration rolls. Those ballots — not part of the election night total — could give Democrat Rob Romano the Irving seat.

A lengthy election challenge over that seat makes a quick resolution of the speaker's race unlikely as members wait to see what the final partisan split will be. The speaker is elected by House members.

As Capitol insiders contemplated the unprecedented prospect of a chamber split down the middle, Craddick's spokeswoman, Alexis DeLee, said, "We're confident we'll hold onto that seat."
How significant would the switch of one vote be?

"As long as Republicans have the majority," DeLee said, "we're confident he'll remain speaker."
Last year, Craddick faced a contested speaker election at the start of the legislative session and was challenged again at the end. Challenging a sitting speaker is rare. The last time it happened was 1959. Now, it appears to be becoming a regular occurrence as some members have criticized Craddick's leadership style.

At 75-75, a speaker's election would only get more complicated. House members would face an unprecedented dilemma. It is one thing for members of a minority party to support the majority to elect a speaker. In the case of a tie, however, anyone who crosses the aisle, in effect, would be giving the gavel — and the power — to the other political party. That, some lawmakers suggested, might be difficult to explain to party activists and primary voters.

The slim margin seemed to encourage more House members from both parties to file as speaker candidates.

Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, faxed his entry overnight to the Texas Ethics Commission. Rep. Allan Ritter, D-Nederland, filed the paperwork Wednesday afternoon. And Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, announced his candidacy at a news conference in his Capitol office.

They join Craddick, Reps. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock; Sylvester Turner, D-Houston; Jim Keffer, R-Eastland; and Sefronia Thompson, D-Houston; as official candidates.

Others are being mentioned in the discussions about who should be speaker.

Rep. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown, is a member of Craddick's inner circle, but he said Wednesday that he is getting a significant number of calls from Republicans and Democrats.

"I have discussed with them my concern about the House and how we manage it and my concern about the party with my fellow Republicans," Gattis said. "But I haven't asked any members for votes."

At his news conference, Merritt laid the problems of the divided House at Craddick's feet.
"Arrogance and abuse of political power split this House and damaged life-long alliances forged in what was best for Texas," he said.

Merritt said that Republicans, who had 88 House members six years ago, have lost seats in each of the past three election cycles under Craddick's leadership.

He offered himself as a reform candidate. He said he would push for the speaker's election to be done by secret ballot to prevent a speaker from punishing members who opposed him. He also said speaker candidates should not solicit pledge cards, which members sign promising to support a speaker candidate, because too many times the pledges are tied to political donations.

DeLee denied the charge that Craddick governs by fear or retribution. As for secret ballot, she noted that any vote of the House must be recorded if three members request it. She declined to discuss pledge cards.

Craddick was in Austin on Wednesday, communicating with supporters. He had donated about $2 million from his political bank account to help his supporters, both Democrats and Republicans, win election.

Still, some incumbents — both pro- and anti-Craddick — didn't survive Tuesday night: Bill Zedler, R-Arlington; Juan Garcia, D-Corpus Christi; Tony Goolsby, R-Dallas; and Dan Barrett, D-Fort Worth.

Another incumbent, Chuck Hopson, D-Jacksonville, survived with a 102-vote margin and could face a recount.

Meanwhile, about 65 Democrats met for a chaotic four hours Wednesday afternoon, trying to mediate past differences. They agreed to unite in opposition to Craddick, who had 14 Democratic supporters last year.

The proposal of a Gattis speakership — backed by Democrats — resulted in a heated, lengthy debate about the Georgetown Republican.

Finally, about 60 Democrats signed a pledge promising not to support Craddick for speaker under any circumstances. The anti-Craddick pledge is supposed to remain confidential until enough Republicans sign it to reach 75 — enough members to block Craddick's re-election.

There was no consensus, however, to support any candidate.

"There was no 'Kumbaya,' " one Democrat said.

In the Senate, Sen. Kim Brimer (R-Fort Worth) was defeated by Wendy Davis, a Democrat. According to press reports, this may affect procedures in the upper chamber which operates according to the policy called the Two-Thirds Rule. The rule requires two-thirds of senators to agree before any bill can be considered for public debate in the Senate.

According to the American-Statesman, "Before Davis, the Democrats had 11 votes — just the number required to invoke the rule, assuming they all voted to stick together, which they often did not. Now, with 12 Democrats in the 31-member Texas Senate, their clout increases." 

As noted earlier here, party affiliation is not crucial in the Texas Legislature for two-year colleges, as members of both parties represent districts containing these schools.

Legislative Returns Launch Speaker Race

It's too early to tell whether the reported gains by Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives will cause the downfall of Speaker Tom Craddick (R-Midland). As reported this morning in the Austin American-Statesman, citing unofficial overnight returns, the GOP will still have a 76-74 majority. However, the race for presiding officer (which will not be official until January) traditionally cuts across party lines. It's a whole other species from Congress in Washington. 

There will be a lot of private meetings going on today once the dust settles. 

As reported earlier, this is important to community and technical colleges, since the speaker picks the most important chairs and allocates many committee assignments. The House panels TCCTA monitors closely include the committees on Appropriations, Higher Education, and Pensions and Investments. 

The official results, along with any late-breaking news, will be posted here soon.

For now, here's the key passage from the Statesman piece:

Republicans now have lost seats in every election since their high-water mark in 2002 when Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, was first elected speaker with 88 Republicans in the House. Tuesday night’s three-seat loss could prompt some of Craddick’s lieutenants to consider making their own run.

Craddick’s team was working the phones early Wednesday morning to shore up his support.

The House Democratic Caucus will meet at 2 p.m. Wednesday to try and unite behind a candidate.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Keffer, an Eastland Republican who abandoned Craddick last year, was first out with a statement:

“The Texas House of Representatives will have a new Speaker. Bipartisanship has won a clear victory tonight in the Texas House of Representatives. I now have a consensus group of Republicans behind my candidacy for Speaker and I now plan to respectfully ask for the full support of the Texas House Democrat Caucus, which is meeting tomorrow.

“My Speaker platform calls for restoring bipartisanship and parliamentarian rules to the business of the Texas House. Furthermore, I will respect the right of all members to be heard from the Texas House floor and I will respect seniority requests for committee appointments. I will also sign a pledge to honor speaker term limits of no more than three terms. Finally, the Texas House belongs to all the people of Texas and their elected members; accordingly, I will put an end to the practice of special interests having more access to the process than the elected membership.”