Calling the Roll: Predicting Higher Education Legislation Outcomes

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Abstract

The past few decades have seen increasing polarization in higher education lawmaking – especially at the state level. In this era of legislative action in higher education, it is increasingly important to understand which bills in state houses likely will become law. This paper uses the state of Texas as a case study on lawmaking in higher education and attempts to understand what political characteristics of bills and the lawmakers who write them determine a bill’s chance of passing. Our preliminary results show that party and chamber matter in Texas higher education policymaking. Furthermore, as the law-making process unfolds, White legislators’ chances of passing higher education legislation grow, while the chance of passage for legislation proposed by people of color decreases.

Authors

• Christopher Russell Marsicano, Vanderbilt University - Peabody College

• Anna Drake, The University of Central Florida