The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (Coordinating Board) adopts repeal of Texas Administrative Code, Title 19, Part 1, Chapter 4, Subchapter B, §§4.21 - 4.36, Transfer of Credit, Core Curriculum and Field of Study, without changes to the proposed text as published in the January 15, 2021, issue of the Texas Register (46 TexReg 426). The rules will not be republished.

In conjunction with this rulemaking, the Coordinating Board repealed Chapter 27 of the Board Rules that previously implemented the advisory committee requirements of §61.823, and replaced that chapter with a new Chapter 1, Subchapter V. The Board repealed existing Chapter 4, Subchapter B, and via separate rulemaking re-adopted Chapter 4, Subchapter B.

Agency staff conducted more than twenty-four meetings, over a span of six months, using an informal stakeholder workgroup to develop a conceptual framework for both the substantive revisions of rules governing Field of Study Curriculum and transfer of credit between institutions. The stakeholder workgroup was composed of an equal number of representatives from public junior colleges and general academic teaching institutions. The adopted rules in this subchapter and the adopted Texas Transfer Advisory Committee rules in Title 19, Chapter 1, Subchapter V, address longstanding challenges in the transfer system to enable students to earn and reliably transfer credits among institutions of higher education. These rules create additional certainty for students and institutions toward the goal of reducing the cost of higher education for Texas families.

No comments were received regarding the proposed repeals.

The repeal is adopted under Texas Education Code §61.027, which provides the Coordinating Board with general rulemaking authority; Texas Education Code §61.002, which establishes the Coordinating Board as the agency charged to provide leadership and coordination for the Texas higher education system; Texas Education Code §61.051, which provides the Coordinating Board with authority to coordinate institutions of public higher education in promoting quality education; and Texas Education Code §§61.821, 61.8221, 61.823-61.828, 61.830, 61.059(l), 61.059(p), and 61.0593, which provide for the development and implementation of field of study curricula, authorize the Board to form advisory committees to assist the Board, and authorize the Board to adopt rules as necessary. Texas Education Code §61.028(a) authorizes the Board to delegate duties to the Commissioner of Higher Education.