Latest news with #Shofner
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rep. Shofner bill requiring average class grade on transcripts passes Texas House
NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KETK) — Students' transcripts could soon include a class average next to their grade after House Bill 4234 passed the Texas House on Tuesday, giving graduate schools or employers an insight into their performance relative to their peers. Bishop Greg Kelly discusses Pope Leo XIV, significance of being first American Pontiff HB 4234 was introduced by East Texas State Rep. Joanne Shofner and was passed by a vote of 85 yeas to 50 nays in the Texas House. The bill would implement that class average grades are shown next to the student's individual grade on their transcripts. This passage mostly has an effect on students that need a transcript when apply to undergraduate or graduate programs. When asked what purpose the bill served, Shofner said including the class average grade could benefit students who score a high grade in a class that also has a high average grade, showing the person did well in a competitive class. On the other hand, if a student earns an 85 and the average class grade is a 65, schools or employers can see the student did very well in the class. Rep. Chris Turner asked Shofner if there was any concern that including the average grade could inadvertently diminish the work of a student who earned a high grade in a class with a high grade average. Longview ISD board votes to create district police department Shofner answered by saying it is the student's responsibility to explain the correlation between the grades to whatever educational or occupational program is asking. According to section 39, article III of the Texas Constitution, if the bill passes the senate and is signed into law by Gov. Gregg Abbott it will become effective immediately if it receives at least a two-thirds vote. If a two-thirds vote is not accomplished, the bill will take effect on Sept. 1, 2025. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas proposals would open more options for college accreditation. Here's why some oppose.
In what proponents say is a 'simple cleanup' and opponents call an 'unnecessary risk,' the Texas House and Senate education committees both are considering bills to expand college accreditation options for all the state's universities. 'The moment we have all been waiting for,' House Higher Education Committee Chair Rep. Terry Wilson, R-Georgetown, said at the Tuesday hearing as the audience laughed. Accreditation is a yearslong process of peer review that ensures universities and their degrees and courses are held to certain standards of excellence and quality, and it has been part of the U.S. higher education system since the 1880s. Institutions need accreditation to qualify for federal financial aid and research grants, and they must get recertified every eight to 10 years. Because of changes in 2019 under the first Trump administration, led by U.S. Education Secretary Betsy Devos, the federal government now gives institutions a choice over accreditors, which were typically only available regionally, but Texas law hasn't kept up. More recently, Republican lawmakers have accused the accreditation process of perpetuating progressive values and have called for drastic reform. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Republican President Donald Trump said accrediting agencies were his 'secret weapon' in reforming universities away from 'indoctrinating America's youth,' and promised to fire left-leaning accreditors. In Texas, state Rep. Joanne Shofner, R-Nacogdoches, filed House Bill 1705, and Sen. Kevin Sparks, R-Midland, filed a companion bill, Senate Bill 530, as a quick fix to eliminate the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges as the sole accreditor and allow universities to choose any accreditors from an approved list drawn up by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. "There is no fiscal impact, there's no mandate' with this bill, Shofner said. 'The purpose of this bill is simply to give choice." Research by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an influential conservative think tank, states that accreditors rarely discipline universities for poor student outcomes or 'worrisome' academic programs. Shofner, a freshman lawmaker, said the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges is associated with the highest debt-to-income ratio for bachelor's degrees, citing the policy foundation's 2022 report, which concluded that SACSCOC is the "worst" accreditor. 'HB 1705 is a simple fix to sync Texas law with the THECB's March 2024 decision. It's common sense, it's bipartisan, and it keeps our higher education system running smoothly,' said Tom Lindsay, a senior fellow at the policy foundation. Belle Wheelan, president of SACSCOC, said in a 2022 letter that the policy foundation's report "reflects a flawed conclusion based on a flawed study," stating that its finding was made based on a minority of SACSCOC students, as the majority within the accreditor's region don't take out federal student loans, and it didn't consider other measures of success. "SACSCOC continues to work to improve higher education for the benefit of society and welcomes feedback from all interested parties. However, I believe the TPPF report includes inaccurate information and, therefore, in no way captures the progress that SACSCOC member institutions continue to make in student achievement; nor does it provide useful critiques that can be used to further drive student achievement," Wheelan said in her letter. "The facts demonstrate that SACSCOC institutions' academic and student achievement performance continues to remain in line with, or slightly exceed, those of other former regional accreditors," she said. The Texas higher education board currently recognizes 16 accreditors, including SACSCOC, all of which are currently recognized by the U.S. Education Department, said Sarah Keyton, deputy commissioner for the board, in response to questioning. The state legislative proposals would allow an institution to pick any accrediting agency on the board's list to satisfy accreditation requirements. Opponents, however, say the bill's language is too vague. 'It's not guaranteed that this will always have federally recognized agencies on' the approved list, Amanda Garcia, speaking on behalf of the American Federation of Teachers, said at the House education panel's hearing Tuesday. 'How the (state) Education Code is currently written ensures that we have that safeguard." David Albert, Austin Community College's chapter president for the American Federation of Teachers union, said HB 1705 is an "unnecessary risk" to a system that's already working efficiently, and it could eventually lower the standards higher education institutes are held to. Brian Evans, president of the Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors, said that SACSCOC has specific rules that require universities to involve faculty members in decision-making. Republican state senators have also filed multiple bills this session aimed at restricting faculty senates and regulating shared governance at public universities In response to the American-Statesman's emailed questions, Wheelan said SACSCOC, which has accredited Texas universities since 1895, has standards that are approved and developed in consultation with the institutions. "Folks from institutions from ALL of our states serve on the Board that has final approval of them," Wheelan said in an email. "Peer evaluators from member institutions identify the standards and then serve on evaluation teams that determine if and how well institutions are meeting the standards." Wheelan, however, said SACSCOC is not opposed to the bill as it is already the practice at the federal government level. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas lawmakers weigh bills to open college accreditation options
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why an East Texas lawmaker wants to name I-35 through Austin after President Donald Trump
If Democrats are all aquiver over the prospect of carving the likeness of Donald Trump into the Harney Peak granite of Mount Rushmore, perhaps they'll like the idea of naming one of the most cursed and congested stretches of highway in Texas after the Republican president of the United States. Less than two months after U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Florida, introduced federal legislation to enshrine Trump alongside the images of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt in the iconic national monument in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Freshman Texas state Rep. Joanne Shofner of Nacogdoches raised the ante. Or maybe lowered it. Shofner, a first-term Republican, filed House Bill 5503, which would name the perennially bogged down Interstate 35 through the heart of Democrat-friendly Austin after the president. Ironically, the highway's name change would begin and end at the Travis County boundaries just about where I-35 starts snaking through countryside that's a bit more hospitable to Trump. If the measure passes — and it's a big "if" considering that six of the seven House members and two of the three senators representing Travis County are Democrats — Shofner, whose East Texas district is some 230 miles from the exit on I-35 that leads to the Capitol, said it'd be an appropriate name change to the highway that bisects the city that serves as the seat of state government. More: Honk if you agree: Austin's I-35 ranked among top congested roads in Texas, worst for truck traffic "It is fitting that this designation is located in our state capital, recognizing a president whose impact on Texas and the country is profound and enduring," she said in a news release that lavishes praise on Trump's return to the White House. Some on social media suggested the proposal is a dig at the Democrats who control the city's and county's governments. "If that's not a pointy finger in the eye of deep blue Austin, I don't know what is," the conservative newsletter, Shooting News Weekly, said in a post on X. Shofner said that is not the purpose of her bill. "It's not a poke in the eye of beautiful Austin," she told the American-Statesman. "I'm not like that." Still, some couldn't resist noting the antipathy for the interstate in Austin. "People hate IH35 already," former Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who is both a Republican and a Trump critic, said on X. "This ain't gonna help." According to a 2024 analysis by the Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University, the 8-mile stretch of I-35 between U.S. 290 and Texas 71, which includes the double-decked portion through the heart of downtown Austin, has the the highest "congestion cost" in the state. That refers to the "monetary value of the time, fuel, and other resources wasted due to traffic congestion," according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Trump would not be the first president to have a major highway named for him in Texas. Just four days after Democratic President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, Nueces County commissioners renamed what was then called the Padre Island Causeway in his honor. Kennedy's successor and native Texan, Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson, became the namesake for I-635, a beltway that opened in 1959 as an alternative to the I-35 East that allowed motorists to bypass downtown Dallas' heavier traffic. The highway was named for LBJ in 1974, the year after his death. The President George Bush Turnpike is part of a toll road network that was designed and built to relieve pressure on the highway system serving the suburbs on the outer loop of the greater Dallas area. While those presidential projects were aimed at relieving congestion or connecting a destination beach island to the mainland, a Trump highway through Austin might be viewed by some as an homage to gridlock. "No one is awful enough to deserve to have I-35 named after them," said an X user who calls himself "a political heretic." "I can't condone such cruelty." This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Should Texas Legislature name I-35 in Austin after Donald Trump?
CBS News
20-03-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Texas lawmaker proposes renaming portion of I-35 after President Trump
An East Texas lawmaker is proposing renaming a portion of a major Texas highway after President Donald Trump. Rep. Joanne Shofner, who represents the Nacogdoches area, filed a bill to rename a portion of I-35 in Travis County to the President Donald J. Trump Highway. The measure would need to pass both the Texas House and Senate before Gov. Greg Abbott can sign the bill, making it a law. A press release from Shofner's office said the renaming would "honor the president…for his "big, beautiful" impact on the nation and the state of Texas." "It is fitting that his designation is located in our state's capital, recognizing a president whose impact on Texas and the country is profound and enduring," Shofner's statement said, in part. The proposed portion of the highway runs through Austin. According to state records, the bill, HB 5503, was filed on March 14. No other actions have been taken since then. If Abbott ends up signing the bill, it will take effect on Sept. 1.
