At today's hearing of the Joint Select Committee on Higher Education Governance, Transparency, and Efficiency, Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) repeated her assertion that Texas higher education is "neither broken nor corrupt."

 

That's her opinion, and she certainly has a right to it. Most higher education reformers would not claim the whole system is "corrupt." But in recent times, the tuition increases of 2003 provided the financial oxygen, allowing university administrators to emphasize research over teaching and keep costs high and faculty teaching loads low.

 

Having covered the Legislature in 2003, the process used to adopt tuition deregulation was clearly broken and perhaps worse. It did not pass because legislators wanted it; it passed because the Speaker of the House at the time abused his power on that issue.

 

For those practicing selective amnesia, here's a quick refresher course.

 

First, there are a lot of inconvenient coincidences between Texans for A Republican Majority PAC (TRM-PAC) and supporters of the University of Texas administration. (TRM-PAC supported candidates who were favorable to eventual speaker Tom Craddick.) Travis County Criminal and Civil Courts have already found -- twice -- that TRM-PAC violated Texas campaign finance laws, and the trial of two other persons with TRM-PAC ties is pending. If the Legislature wants to conduct a fair investigation of higher education governance, then an investigation of the connections between TRM-PAC and tuition deregulation is in order.

 

There are several influential campaign donors in Republican circles who are afflicted with an Orange Cloud. They went to college in a different era, when administrators at the University of Texas were conservative (as opposed to hostile to conservatism, as is the case today), when teaching meant more in promotion and tenure decisions, and the university was more fiscally responsible than it is today. They "give back" by using their influence to support the left-wing, tax-and-spend ideas promoted by today's UT administrators.

 

The process the Legislature used to adopt tuition deregulation is littered with procedural irregularities and heavy-handed behavior, which is part of why I think an investigation of ties between TRM-PAC and supporters of UT administrators is in order.

 

In the 2002 elections, almost no one even mentioned the issue -- other than University of Texas administrators. The Legislature had an interim committee on the issue chaired by Sen. Steve Ogden (R-Bryan) and then-Rep. Rob Junell (D-San Angelo), and it recommended the Legislature keep control of resident undergraduate tuition rates (though it did advocate deregulating out-of-state and graduate tuition).

 

Then the GOP took control of both houses of the Legislature. At the press conference announcing for Speaker, Rep. Tom Craddick (R-Midland) told the press (and was quoted widely) telling reporters that under his leadership, Texans would see a member-driven house, and he would let the members decide what happened to legislation.

 

During the 2003 legislative session, Craddick broke his promises to the people of Texas and abused the powers of the Office of Speaker to pass tuition deregulation -- a policy that almost no one campaigned on but somehow managed to get to the top of leadership's agenda anyway.

 

The very last day of bill filing, Craddick's higher education chairman filed a tuition deregulation bill but couldn't find the votes to get it out of committee. Craddick helped solve that problem when Rep. Irma Rangel (D-Kingsville) died. He replaced Rangel on the committee with Rep. Tony Goolsby (R-Dallas), who voted for the bill.

 

But even with a 6-3 Republican majority, Craddick was having problems getting the bill out of committee. Rep. John Smithee (R-Amarillo) conveniently scheduled an insurance hearing the day of the vote. Insurance was an issue that everyone campaigned on, and given Smithee's long tenure in the House and the fact that he was an early Craddick pledge, the speaker knew better than to try and brow-beat him on tuition deregulation.

 

On the day of the vote, Reps. Joe Nixon (R-Houston) and Ken Mercer (R-San Antonio) still had concerns about the bill. Craddick actually showed up to the hearing in person -- accompanied by staff -- and had back room meetings with them while people were testifying against the bill. Shortly before the vote, Nixon admitted it was a bad bill but said he was voting for it so that it could be debated on the House floor. Both Nixon and Mercer voted for the bill, and it passed 5-3.

 

Then the bill hit the House floor. Reps. Harvey Hilderbran (R-Kerrville) and Sylvester Turner (D-Houston) lit it up. By the time they got through with it, when emerged from the House was a one-year experiment that sunset -- and even that only emerged due to a lot of behind-the-scenes negotiating.

 

The bill lacked the votes to get out of the Senate and appeared headed for the gallows.

 

But then Craddick did what he said he wouldn't do. He made passage of the UT administration's version of tuition deregulation (as opposed to what actually passed the House) a condition of passing the state's budget. That's right, he held the entire state budget hostage so the UT administration could spend like there's no tomorrow and bankrupt the next generation. (According to a statement entered by several rural members in the House journal, he also held community college budgets hostage.) So much for letting the members decide.

 

The Senate went along reluctantly, provided the House pass another bad bill -- a bill that allows universities to keep all of the lucrative overhead subsidies they get from federal research grants. Some legislators thought that would lessen the need for tuition increases. (They should have read the bill. It dedicated all of the overhead subsidies to additional research). Even with the state's budget hanging in the balance, tuition deregulation only passed the Senate 17-14, and several of those 17 have since publicly said they regret their vote.

 

The Legislature passes bills I disagree with all the time. While that doesn't make me happy, when I honestly believe that 76 and 16 duly elected representatives and senators wanted a bill, or at least recognized the need for it, then I accept it as part of the process.

 

But in this case, even a large portion of Republican legislators did not want this bill. It only passed due to a series of broken promises and abuses of power from the speaker's office.

 

To some extent, the system corrected itself. Craddick was replaced by Speaker Joe Straus in 2009. Mercer was defeated by a Democrat and tuition deregulation opponent in 2004. (The GOP retook the seat in 2010). Nixon lost a state senate race in 2006 to Sen. Dan Patrick (another tuition deregulation opponent). Goolsby was defeated by Democrat Carol Kent (a tuition deregulation opponent) in 2008.

 

Of the five members who voted to kick tuition deregulation out of committee, only Geanie Morrison and Fred Brown haven't lost an election since then (although Morrison declined to run for an open senate seat in 2006). The electoral consequences are really tragic, because Nixon and Mercer -- in particular -- are both good people who made one mistake, and Goolsby is a respected legislative veteran.

 

That said, legislators have tried to correct this abuse of power since then and have been stymied by leadership. For example, Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa (D-McAllen) filed a tuition freeze bill in 2009. Even though the bill was filed in November, it didn't even get referred to committee until April. The delay was fatal. Had the bill been referred and reported promptly, it would be law today -- saving Texas parents thousands.

 

Give Gov. Rick Perry credit -- he recognized he made a mistake signing tuition deregulation and is trying to correct it. That's more than I can say for a lot of people at the Capitol.

 

The process that led to tuition deregulation was not a fair process. There were actually a lot of abuses that I left out of this essay. Tuition deregulation and the cost structure of American higher education are out of control and broken. Legislative leadership ought to join Perry in attempting to fix this mistake.