89R15342 MM-D
By: Reynolds H.B. No. 4997
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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)(1), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(1) "Governing board" has [and "university system"
have] the meaning [meanings] assigned by Section 61.003.
SECTION 3. Section 51.942, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (b), (c), (c-1), (c-2), and (c-3) and adding
Subsection (d) 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 and procedures providing [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] for a periodic performance evaluation
process for all tenured faculty at the institution.
[(c-2)] The governing board may design its policies and
procedures to fit the institution's particular educational
mission, traditions, resources, and circumstances relevant to the
institution's character, role, and scope, in addition to other
relevant factors determined by the governing board in the policies
and procedures adopted under this section. The governing board
shall seek advice and comment from the institution's faculty before
adopting any policies and procedures under 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) [(c-3)] In addition to any other provisions adopted by
the governing board, the policies and procedures adopted by the
governing board under Subsection (b) [(c-1)] must include
provisions providing that:
(1) each tenured faculty member 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 evaluation conducted under
this subsection, 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].
(d) A faculty member subject to termination on the basis of
an evaluation conducted under this section must be given the
opportunity for referral of the matter to a nonbinding alternative
dispute resolution process as described in Chapter 154, Civil
Practice and Remedies Code. If both parties agree, another type of
alternative dispute resolution method may be elected. The governing
board must give specific reasons in writing for any decision to
terminate a faculty member on the basis of an evaluation conducted
under this section.
SECTION 4. The following provisions of the Education Code
are repealed:
(1) Section 51.942(a)(4); and
(2) Section 51.942(c-4).
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.