The Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC) and the Community College Association of Texas Trustees (CCATT) support the following legislative priorities.
Community College Finance Reform
Support legislation developed from the final recommendations of the Texas Commission on Community College Finance. The new proposed model ties funding directly to measurable outcomes such as transfer rates, credentials of value, credentials in high-demand fields, and dual credit. Most notably, it moves away from a funding model that is static to one that is dynamic and provides colleges with predictable funding based on their own success. The recommendations also include additional funds for colleges to support low-income or academically unprepared students, and adult learners.
Texas Education Opportunity Grants (TEOG)
Texas Education Opportunity Grants are the state’s primary method for providing financial aid to community college students. However, colleges are required to provide matching funds to draw down this aid. TACC seeks to provide the same flexibility allowed for four-year universities to match the financial aid program for their students. Specifically, by allowing Pell Grants to count for that match with TEOG the way they do with TEXAS Grants.
Cybersecurity & IT Modernization
During the 87th Texas Legislature, HB 4018 was passed establishing a Joint Operations Committee (JOC) of the legislature to oversee state funding for IT modernization projects across state agencies and institutions of higher education. Community colleges submitted reports on their modernization strategies and timelines in the fall of 2022. TACC will advocate to utilize one-time funding to the extent it’s made available, to meet those needs for community colleges should funding be provided to other state agencies or institutions of higher education.
Clinical Nursing Sites
There is statewide demand for growing our nursing workforce. The Board of Nursing has noted the lack of clinical nursing hours as a key constraint on the state’s nursing pipeline. TACC will seek to address the nursing shortage and ensure that availability for clinical nursing sites is prioritized for students from Texas community colleges through statutory authority via the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB).
Texas Transfer Framework
For the past three years the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) has developed and implemented the new Texas Transfer Framework, to improve transferability and portability of credit hours between two-year and fouryear institutions, and revise the current Fields of Study curricula. However, the THECB lacks statutory authority to enforce articulated Fields of Study disciplines. TACC will advocate for additional statutory authority for the THECB to better implement Texas Transfer Framework.
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