By: Middleton S.B. No. 2714
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a prohibition on public institutions of higher
education requiring students to enroll in certain courses to
complete a certificate or degree program, using such courses to
satisfy general education requirements, funding such courses using
state appropriations, or requiring related faculty practices, and
to freshman student orientation at those institutions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter F, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 51.311 to read as follows:
Sec. 51.311. PROHIBITION ON REQUIRING CERTAIN COURSES. (a)
In this section:
(1) "governing board" and "institution of higher
education" have the meanings assigned by Section 61.003.
(2) "general education curriculum" means "core
curriculum" as assigned by Section 61.821(1) and any content-based
academic course requirement or guideline applicable to all students
of a college within a university.
(3) "constrain" means:
(A) establishing required curricular course
classifications based upon, or
(B) failing during any semester to provide
sufficient open seats in alternative courses for a student to
complete or progress toward completion of a degree or program
requirements.
(b) Except as provided by Subsections (d) and (e), the
governing board of an institution of higher education shall
prescribe courses and programs at the institution in a manner that
does not require or constrain students enrolled at the institution
to complete, as part of any program or degree requirement, a course
whose course description, course overview, course objectives,
proposed student learning outcomes, written examinations, or
written or oral assignments for which the student will receive a
grade do any of the following:
(1) relate to contemporary American society the topic
of critical theory, whiteness, systemic racism, institutional
racism, anti-racism, microaggressions, systemic or structural
bias, implicit bias, unconscious bias, intersectionality, gender
identity, social justice, cultural competence, decolonization,
allyship, race-based reparations, race- or gender-based privilege,
race- or gender-based diversity, race- or gender-based equity,
race- or gender-based inclusion, race- or gender-based
stratification, race- or gender-based power, or race- or
gender-based marginalization;
(2) promote the idea that racially neutral or
colorblind laws, policies, or institutions perpetuate oppression,
injustice, race-based privilege, including white supremacy or
white privilege, or inequity by failing to actively differentiate
on the basis of race, sex, or gender;
(3) promote the differential treatment of any
individual or group of individuals based on race or ethnicity in
contemporary American society;
(4) promote the idea that a student is biased on
account of the student's race or sex.
(c) Except as provided by Subsections (d) and (e), an
institution of higher education or the institution's employee may
not require, solicit, or incentivize the institution's faculty
members to, as a condition of approving a course, certificate, or
degree program or as a factor in the faculty member's performance
assessment or a decision regarding the faculty member's promotion,
tenure, salary, or any other incentive:
(1) include in a course content described by
Subsection (b);
(2) include or curate instructional materials on the
basis of the race, sex, or gender identity of the author or authors;
(3) participate in a workshop, training, seminar or
professional development on content described by Subsection (b).
(d) The governing board of an institution of higher
education may exempt in writing from the prohibitions under
Subsections (b) and (c) courses required for a certificate or
degree program whose title clearly establishes the program's course
of study as primarily focused on racial, ethnic, or gender studies,
provided that each of the following applies:
(1) a student enrolled at the institution is not
required or constrained to enroll in such a course to satisfy the
requirements of any other certificate or degree program.
(2) courses offered or listed under such programs
shall satisfy the academic degree program requirements of those
respective programs only and shall not be used to satisfy the degree
or program requirements for general education or other major,
minor, or certificate requirements beyond satisfying overall
university credit hour graduation requirements.
(3) the title of any currently established department
or degree or certificate program is not altered or replaced to
establish an emphasis on racial, ethnic, or gender studies.
(e) Subsections (b) and (c) shall not be construed to
prohibit:
(1) identifying and discussing historical movements,
ideologies or instances of racial hatred or discrimination,
including, but not limited to slavery, Indian removal, the
Holocaust, or Japanese-American internment.
(2) identifying genetic predispositions,
epidemiology, or physiology in medical education or biological
sciences that does not posit race-based injustice, discrimination,
or oppression.
(3) the identification of differences between, or bona
fide qualifications based on, biological sex that are reasonably
necessary to the normal operation of public institutions.
(f) The governing board of an institution of higher
education shall prescribe general education curricula in a manner
that does not include courses that distort significant historical
events or include curriculum that teaches identity politics or is
based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and
privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and
were created to maintain social, political, and economic
inequities.
(g) Nothing in this section may be construed to limit any
programming explicitly required by, and limited to, the institution
of higher education's obligations to comply with state or federal
anti-discrimination law or an applicable court order.
(h) A public institution of higher education may not require
a student to complete an additional course to meet a course
requirement that was completed by the student with a course that has
since been removed as meeting a general education or program
requirement.
(i) Beginning with the fiscal year beginning September 1,
2026, each public institution of higher education shall include as
part of its annual report to the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board as provided by Section 51.3525, Subsection (e)
certification of its compliance with this section. Violations of
this section shall be subject to the procedures provided by Section
51.3525, Subsections (g) through (i).
SECTION 2. Subchapter F, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 51.312 to read as follows:
Sec. 51.312. REQUIRED SOURCES OF FUNDING FOR CERTAIN
COURSES. (a) Instructional expenses associated with courses
specified in Section 51.311(b) shall not be funded by state
appropriations.
Section 3. SEVERABILITY. If any provision of this Act or its
application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the
invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this
Act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or
application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are declared
to be severable.
SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 2025-2026
academic year.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2025.