Media interest in higher education frequently shifted throughout the Texas Legislature’s 84th regular session, from reforms concerning campus carry to those on funding veterans’ education and reintroducing tuition limits. Yet in the end, almost none of the many reforms proposed for improving higher-education quality, affordability, or transparency lived to reach the governor’s desk. By far the most significant piece of higher-education legislation passed was HB 100, which would authorize $3.1 billion in tuition revenue bonds for campus construction projects.
Legal Limits: The ABA’s Stranglehold on Legal Education
The American Bar Association (ABA) has long held a stranglehold on accrediting U.S. law schools. In Texas, the ABA gets to decide which schools’ students can take the bar exam, a prerequisite to practicing law. Entrusting a private, out-of-state organization with control over Texas legal education is problematic for three reasons: the ABA pushes politically biased standards,...