Dear UH System Colleagues,

The 89th Texas Legislative session ended its session with many pieces of legislation directly impacting public colleges and universities. While these bills await final approval, I wanted to provide you with a briefing and the next steps forward. 

Legislative Budget:

Two major budget items applicable to all universities in the UH System are below.

1. The legislature has provided a modest increase to the base budget based on enrollment growth. As you know, the base budget is the primary source of faculty/staff compensation as well as university operations. If you remember, we are prohibited from increasing tuition, which means that the only additional funding to universities is due to the growth in our enrollment, whether by admitting more students or by retaining the ones we currently enroll.
   
   The legislature has shown interest in funding universities in the future based on performance rather than growth. I urge you to start focusing on measures of student success like graduation rate, retention rate, market demand and job placement, as these have been the areas of legislative interest this session.
    
2. The state has given a modest increase to the Higher Education Fund (HEF), a fund dedicated to deferred maintenance and construction support.

In addition, there were specific budget requests for each of the system universities, and we have been successful in securing most of them. Your presidents will communicate the status of these requests directly with you.

I thank our Board of Regents, Government Relations team, our alumni and everyone who either testified or engaged in advocacy on behalf of our universities. We are grateful to our legislative and executive leaders for supporting us and believing in our potential to serve the state.

Other State Legislation of Direct Impact:

Senate Bill 2615 requires full-time university employees to work on-site, with limited exceptions for illness, disability, professors who teach strictly online and several other specific work situations. This law will take effect on Sept. 1.

Senate Bill 2972 strengthens protections for expressive activities, such as protests, speeches and petitions, for students and university employees, while prohibiting other persons from conducting protests on university campuses.

House Bill 127 relates to measures to protect institutions of higher education from foreign adversaries and would also establish a Research Security Council composed of research security officers, but from a broader range of Texas universities. HB 127 also requires the establishment of an international travel approval and monitoring program.

Senate Bill 5 – Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (DPRIT) relates to the creation of the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas to create and expedite innovation in research on dementia, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and related disorders. If approved by Texas voters, it will create a $3 billion fund to support brain research by Texas universities and medical colleges.

House Bill 4751- Quantum Initiative relates to the establishment and administration of the Texas Quantum Initiative, which would leverage the expertise and capacity of regulatory stakeholders and institutions of higher education and industry to advise and provide input to the office regarding the comprehensive strategic plan.

Senate Bill 37 creates new processes for universities and their Board of Regents to review curriculum and degree programs, to establish faculty senate/councils and the hiring of university leadership.

Faculty Shared Governance under SB 37:

SB 37 is complex legislation requiring new Board policies in three specific areas: (1) policy on faculty shared governance; (2) policy on curriculum review and (3) policy on program evaluation.

As of September 1, 2025, the Faculty Senate, in its current form, will cease to exist. SB 37 requires the Board of Regents to establish a Faculty Council of elected and appointed members as the new body. The legislation further defines the Council’s role to be advisory and its officers to be appointed by the university president.

For us to transition smoothly and to help ensure faculty’s voice through the Council, we must work through the summer.  It is necessary for us to get these policies approved by the Board of Regents by the August meeting so that Council elections could be held at the beginning of the semester. With this goal in mind, I am asking university presidents to appoint a small task force to help us to draft these policies. At UH, I have already appointed a task force of faculty, department chairs, deans and VPs to help us draft these policies. The proposed board policies will allow small variations based on university mission; however, all must be approved by the Board of Regents.

We will  send your President these draft policies for sharing and seeking feedback from all faculty sometime in July in the hope of finalizing them by early August. Under the authority given to the Board by SB 37, the Board may change, approve or reject these draft policies.

Program Evaluation Under SB 37:

SB 37 requires that all minors and certificate programs be reviewed for their relevance and performance. We currently have a process in place to review all degree programs. It is likely that we will extend the scope of this review to include degree minors and certificates. You will receive further updates on this process.

Review of Curriculum under SB 37:

SB 37 outlines several conditions that must be met for courses to be qualified as a part of the core curriculum: (1) foundational and fundamental in nature; (2) educating about civic and professional life; (3) preparing for workforce and (4) possessing breadth of knowledge. The Board of Regents must conduct a comprehensive review of these courses to ensure they meet these standards.  Once universities establish their Faculty Councils in September, they will be asked to participate in the collaborative review of current course offerings to ensure compliance with these stated objectives.

SB 37 also requires the Board of Regents to certify its institution’s compliance with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and legislative standing committees on higher education on an annual basis.

Leadership Changes:

I am proud to announce that Dr. Mike Johnson, my Chief of Staff, has been appointed as president of the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, GA.  He has given me, my cabinet and the System tremendous support during his 10-year tenure with us. We wish him all the best as he makes a name for himself and for his most recent learning grounds, the University of Houston System and UH. I have asked Dr. Micah Glenn, currently serving as the Director of the UHS Board office, to also serve as my Chief of Staff. In addition to office management, Dr. Glenn has formal training in analytics and program evaluation, adding to an additional dimension in my office.

I appreciate your attention to these issues. SVC Chase will continue to work with university provosts, and I will continue to be engaged directly with university presidents.  If you have any comments or suggestions, you may direct them to your provost or president.

Thank you,

Renu Khator
Chancellor