Today the Texas Association of Scholars mailed a letter in support of the PROSPER Act to the 36 members of the U.S. House representing Texas. The letter, signed by more than thirty academics, scholars, and citizens in Texas, states that the PROSPER Act “represents the best chance for education reform in decades.”
The PROSPER Act, which would reauthorize and substantially reform the Higher Education Act, passed out of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and is currently awaiting a vote by the full House of Representatives.
The letter states that the bill would better protect freedom of speech and religious freedom, support marketplace competition, limit the role of government bureaucrats, and reform the “deeply flawed” Title IV student aid system. However, the letter also notes two areas of the bill that should be revised, including the reinstatement of the American History for Freedom program and the reinstatement of the requirement for colleges and universities to disclose gifts from foreign donors.
The Texas Association became the sixth NAS state affiliate to express support for the PROSPER Act.
For more information on the PROSPER Act, read NAS’s full review of the bill, or download our citizen toolkit to find out how individuals can play a role in the legislative process.