State Rep. Garnet Coleman Discusses The Legislative Study Group Recommendations For Higher Education

On Sunday, Capitol Annex brought you a look at the Texas Legislative Study Group’s recommendations for higher education in Texas. Today, we bring you an interview with State Rep. Garnet Coleman, chair of the Texas Legislative Study Group about the first part of the LSG’s recommendations.

CAPITOL ANNEX: Part of the recommendations from the LSG mention increasing the number of Tier One universities in Texas. Is this meant to be primarily based on existing universities or does it include the creation of new ones?

REP. COLEMAN: The model is similar–but not the same–as the California model. In California model, they were all in one university system, the University of California system. In Texas, there are schools now like Texas Tech in Lubbock, the University of Houston in Houston, and the University of Texas in Dallas. Clearly, you would want to work toward UTSA becoming a Tier-One university to serve South Texas, as well as UT El Paso. Also, the University of North Texas. There are many schools, and they are in the report, where their research level is at such a point that, with an investment in additional research which would create more grant funding, they would rise to the different tiers very quickly.

The “Top Tier” ranking is by the Carnegie Endowment that says a school is in the “Top Tier,” and that’s not to be confused with our “flagship” universities as designated by the Texas Constitution.

CAPITOL ANNEX: There has been a lot of talk in recent legislative sessions about a law school for East Texas, perhaps one in North Texas, and even mention of one in East Texas. How do these things fit into the plan for more top tier universities, or is that something separate from this?

REP. COLEMAN: This is actually something that is mentioned in Part Two of our report. I believe that Texas is so big that, in terms of regions of the state, there ought to be what is now the basic of a four-year education as well as graduate and professional school. We are only going to grow as a state in terms of population. When we look, for example, at the need for more positions–dentists, lawyers, nurses, and other professionals, there is no doubt we will outstrip our capacity as we continue to grow. That applies to English, history and public affairs programs, but also MBA programs and the like. We have to have a full array of academic choices in each region.

CAPITOL ANNEX: The Texas Legislature–the House and Senate–are presently considering a set of “interim charges” on various issues, including higher education. How are the LSG’s recommendations different and why should Texans pay attention to them?

REP. COLEMAN: What is different is that it is a 180-degree turn from what the accepted policy is of the leadership in the Legislature. This leadership, in terms of tuition costs alone, has allowed unelected boards of regents to jack up tuition costs beyond the reach of middle income families. They do not understand that we have to be competitive when it comes to core academic programs to attract more businesses. The more we prepare Texans for the workforce, the better workforce we will have, and the more prosperous everyone will be. This is why people should read this report. It talks about the power of higher education infrastructure to change and improve a state and its people.

CAPITOL ANNEX: In the LSG report, the Top Ten Percent law is specifically mentioned as something that Texas needs to continue to improve higher education. That law has come under fire in recent years. Why is it important to tie this law into the overall improvement of Higher Education.

REP. COLEMAN: First of all, this law helps all regions of the state. It is important that people from different regions have access to all higher education institutions. The complaint has been that there are not enough slots in Tier One public educational institutions, A&M and UT-Austin in particular. The problem is not with the Top Ten Percent Law; the problem is not enough slots of excellence compared to both smaller and larger states. Really, the program is not a problem. The problem is that there are not enough Tier One universities and not enough freshman slots for those who want to seek excellence. The goal is to improve excellence at as many of the universities as we can so that they rank in that top category. As I said, if you look at California, they have 10 public universities that are Tier One. We have two. If you look at other states that have half the population [of Texas], they have six. What we are saying is that the problem is not the Top 10 Percent Law–the problem is that there is not enough investment in infrastructure for higher education to provide the appropriate number of slots for excellence because we are not investing in creating Tier One institutions.

Over the years, and I think this has changed now, UT has been hostile to the idea of creating more Tier One institutions. I believe that may have changed based on former Chancellor Yudof’s recent comments. Some are looking for leadership [from the Tier One universities themselves] because, quite frankly, it does no good to keep everyone else down to raise your stature.

Another thing in the second part of the report, we will discuss some of the flaws in how tuition has created the economic divide between those who can afford a four-year college and those who can only afford community college–something created by the increase in tuition. The Legislature has kept community college tuition low, and the problem has become that community college has become the only choice for some because of income even if they can get into a four-year university.

It should not be that there is an economic division based on ability to pay. Community colleges are very important, but not the most important thing when it comes to higher education. It must be a combination of both to make higher education work in the future. It is the universities that will produce the next Bill Gates, or person responsible for the next ‘big thing.’

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