The Texas Coordinating Board has approved two-year colleges to offer up to five bachelor’s degrees. This decision is part of the Texas Success Initiative, which aims to improve student success and prepare them for higher education.
The approval enables these institutions to provide a wider range of degree options, aligning with students’ academic and career goals.
The Texas teaching workforce is growing, but there are problems.
The changes approved by the Texas Coordinating Board were driven by examining what had been happening to their teaching workforce over the past decade.
- Texas had one of the highest percentages of uncertified teachers in the nation.
- The number of uncertified teachers in Texas increased from 12,900 in 2019-20 to 42,100 during the 2024-25 school year, accounting for 12% of the total Texas teaching workforce.
- Of the nearly 49,000 new teachers hired for the 2023-24 school year, about 34% did not have Texas teacher certifications.
- Research in Texas now shows that employing uncertified teachers with no teaching background has caused significant learning losses for their students (Kirksey, 2025).
A 2023 Policy Brief from Texas Tech University on community college baccalaureate programs highlighted the following:
- The programs have significantly increased the chances of earning a degree in high-demand fields within students’ local areas.
- Students from urban school districts, students with disabilities and males benefited the most from access to the programs. Rural communities also experienced growth, but to a lesser extent than urban areas.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the law and will now allow all community colleges to offer up to five four-year degrees, including the following items:
- Can a student enroll in an applied baccalaureate with an earned academic associate degree? The college establishes admission requirements for the baccalaureate program and may create a pathway for students who enter the program with an associate’s degree. The required upper-level courses will be consistent for all students.
- Is an articulation agreement with teach-out required? Yes. A teach-out is a student’s plan for completing their program after a school or program closure.
- Does the institution still need to complete a 50-mile notification before submitting a proposal? No, institutions are no longer required to submit a 50-mile notification before submitting a full proposal. Instead, the THECB will notify local institutions once proposals are received, and there will be a 30-day comment period during the approval process.
Trinity Community College’s response to receiving approval for baccalaureate degrees in elementary education
- How did your college receive approval for elementary baccalaureate degrees? Before my arrival as president, the Texas Coordinating Board granted several two-year colleges approval to offer up to five bachelor’s degrees.
- Was there much resistance to having your college offer these degrees? No, not at all. It is viewed as workforce development in our area. In elementary education, our college district’s K12 schools struggle to find qualified teachers.
- Are there any universities or four-year colleges working with you? The education code requires the college to establish an articulation agreement with a teach-out pathway for the first five years during which the baccalaureate program will be offered.
Texas had joined several other states in allowing its community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees in education to meet state workforce needs. For several years, all 27 of Florida’s community colleges have offered baccalaureate degrees in education.
References
Bonk, V. (2021, July 8). Texas community colleges will offer bachelor’s degrees and give countless more Texans access with the new law. Houston Daily. Retrieved November 20, 2025, Texas community colleges will offer bachelor’s degrees and ‘give countless more Texans access’ with new law | Houston Daily
Jacob Kirksey is an assistant professor of education policy at Texas Tech University. Kirksey is also the associate director of the university’s Center for Innovative Research in Change, Leadership, and Education.
Texas Coordinating Board (2015). Retrieved October 21, 2025, at Program Rule Changes & Implementation – Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
