What Passed? What Didn't?

TSTA's legislative summarizes the fate of education bills in the regular session of the 81st Legislature. more

June 1, 2009
The Road Not Taken
Two major bills highlighted the education agenda this session; the school finance bill (House Bill 3646) and the school accountability bill (House Bill 3). This major legislation presented an opportunity to address the two key issues currently faced by the public schools. In both cases, policymakers faced clear alternatives in how to approach important issues that affect educators, students and their families alike.

In the area of school finance, almost everyone agrees the current system is severely broken. Schools don’t have the resources they need, and under the current school finance plan, they no longer have the capacity to generate additional resources at the local level. The franchise tax created in 2006 isn’t generating enough state revenue to offset local school property tax cuts the state mandated then. That funding imbalance drains an ever-increasing amount of state money to sustain the poorly funded system in place today, and that doesn’t begin to account for what is needed to provide excellence in public education.

Faced with making the difficult decisions about how to fix the problem, the legislative leadership used federal stimulus funds from President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to provide some modest improvements but elected to punt the larger funding problem to the 2011 session. By then, a more urgent school funding crisis is likely. More districts will be at the maximum tax rate, will have spent their reserve funds and will be looking at major cuts in programs and staff to balance their budgets. The 2 percent increase in the budget for the next biennium that is paid for with stimulus money will have to be replaced with state dollars just to keep up with current funding levels.

Instead of providing the necessary funding to provide a comprehensive fix for the school finance problem this year, legislative leaders decided to change the failed 2006 funding system. Unfortunately, they weren’t willing to pay for it, opting to put $9.5 billion in the state rainy day fund, meandering toward 2011 and very likely another lawsuit over school finance. In that context, we had to fight hard to overcome those who tried to deny a minimum $800 pass-through, across-the-board pay raise for each classroom teacher, full-time speech pathologist, full-time librarian, full-time counselor and full-time school nurse. Fortunately, we succeeded.

Given the wide range of problems associated with the current school accountability system, everyone in the education community hoped that when a task force was formed to suggest changes in the system, we would finally begin to turn away from a high-stakes “test and punish” system. Many stakeholders, including TSTA, urged legislators to adopt accountability system reforms that would use multiple measures to assess students, focus on the diverse needs of our 4.7 million students and provide assistance for schools that had high concentrations of at-risk kids.

Instead, the leadership largely elected for more of the same – a lot more of the same. When it was all said and done, the Legislature passed an incredibly complex 187-page bill that almost no one completely understands. After months of changes that alternated between better and worse, the final accountability bill includes a few good elements, but for the most part it offers more – not less – testing, and punishment is still very much the focus of the bill.

The final version of HB 3 eliminates one third-grade test in the elementary grades and replaces the high school TAKS exams with 12 standardized end-of-course exams. Students will be required to pass the English III and algebra II exams to graduate. Given the opportunity to forge a new path in student accountability, the leadership, at the urging of Gov. Rick Perry, decided to stay the course. The only good news is the bill is so complicated that it will probably take several years to implement it, and the Legislature will be back in session in 2011.

Looking ahead to the 2010 March primary and November general elections, we must work to elect candidates who will support the kind of change that swept through the rest of the country in November of 2008. Obviously, we have many friends in the Legislature, but we won’t break new ground on public education policy in Texas unless we elect more people who share our vision and our dedication to creating a first-rate public education system. This is particularly true at the highest levels of leadership in state government. We must make a difference in 2010 get state government out of a rut that has us stuck with leaders who continue to spend as little as they can get away with and put the squeeze on public schools and public school employees.

Pay Raise Heads to the Governor
The Texas Senate today unanimously passed House Bill 3646, the school finance bill that contains the $800 across-the-board pay raise for each classroom teacher, full-time speech pathologist, full-time librarian, full-time counselor and full-time school nurse. The bill now goes to Gov. Rick Perry.

Because the Legislature used federal stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the U.S. Department of Education will also have to approve the raise.

The school district runs that the Legislative Budget Board distributed to the Legislature are here for fiscal year 2010 and here for FY 2011.

Senate OKs More Conference Committee Reports
On the final day of the 140-day regular session of the 81st Legislature, the Texas Senate today adopted conference committee reports on the following bills, all of which now go to the governor’s desk:

Senate Bill 78, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, relating to promoting awareness and education about the purchase and availability of health coverage, including education for high school students on this topic.

House Bill 171, by Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Missouri City, relating to consideration of mitigating factors in determining appropriated disciplinary action to be taken against a public school student.

House Bill 635, by Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, relating to the authority of the Texas Education Agency to seek, accept and distribute grants available for the benefit of public elementary and secondary education.

House Bill 1322, by House Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to the establishment of an online resource for teachers of students with special health needs.

May 31, 2009
House Approves Pay Raise and 13th Check
The Texas House of Representatives tonight unanimously approved the conference committee report on House Bill 3646, by Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston. The bill would require a minimum salary increase of the greater of $800 or $60 per weighted daily average attendance (WADA) for each classroom teacher, full-time speech pathologist, full-time librarian, full-time counselor and full-time school nurse. This salary increase would be in addition to any additional step increase the employee would receive under a school district’s current salary schedule, any local supplement to which the employee is entitled and any money representing a career ladder supplement.

The pay raise depends on the U.S. Education Department’s approval of using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for it. To avoid the possibility that USED would not approve, the Legislature could have used money from general revenue or the state’s rainy fund for the pay raise but chose not to do so.

As with the previous versions of the bill, the conference committee report does away with the Texas Educator Excellence Grant incentive pay program. Further, the report would require a local awards program to specify the criteria and any formulas on which the awards would be based before the beginning of the period in which the awards would be given. The bill also would require a comprehensive review of public school finance weights, allotments and adjustments. The basic allotment is now the greater of $4,765 or 1.65 percent of the average statewide property value per WADA for the first 100 pennies.

Earlier in the evening, the House unanimously approved House Bill 3347, by Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Southlake, relating to plan provisions required for maintaining retirement plan qualification for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, and House Resolution 2947, suspending limitations on conference committee jurisdiction on HB 3347. This would give TRS retirees a 13th check of up to $500, subject to the Texas attorney general’s approval of paying for it with money from outside of the TRS fund.

The Senate still has to act on these measures before they go to the governor. If they take effect, TSTA would appreciate the pay raise and the 13th check, even though both today’s difficult economy and politics make them less than educators and retirees deserve. We will continue working in the future to increase both educator pay and retiree pension payments, as well as to ensure adequacy in funding public schools and long-term solvency for TRS.

Both Chambers Unanimously Change Accountability
The Texas House of Representatives this evening and the Texas Senate tonight both unanimously concurred with the House-Senate conference committee report on House Bill 3, the accountability bill, by Public Education Committee Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands. The bill goes to Gov. Rick Perry, who earlier had expressed concerns about social promotion, which the conference committee addressed.

The conference committee report on HB 3 did not become available until after 5 p.m. today. It is a 185-page, extremely technical bill and will take us several days to fully analyze. We have read through it quickly and picked out some of the key provisions in the bill.

Student Promotion and Testing
A district is required to consider in grades other than five and eight:

• The recommendation of the student’s teacher;

• The student’s grade;

• The student’s score on an assessment instrument; and

• Any other necessary academic information as determined by the district.

The measure eliminates the provision that a student must pass third-grade reading to be promoted to the fourth grade but keeps the provisions that rising sixth graders must pass fifth-grade math and reading for promotion and that eighth graders must pass math and reading to go the ninth grade. It keeps current appeal and grade placement committees in place.

If a student fails an assessment instrument in grades 3-8, the district must provide accelerated instruction. A student who fails an assessment is required to complete accelerated instruction to be promoted.

A student who fails an assessment and is promoted must be assigned to a teacher who meets all state and federal qualifications to teach that subject and grade.

To graduate, a student must have a cumulative score for end-of-course exams for each subject in the foundation school curriculum that is equal to the product of the number of end of course assessment and a scale score that indicates satisfactory performance as determined by the commissioner of education. A student also must achieve a minimum score as determined by the commissioner to within a reasonable range of the scale score. The end of course exam is also 15% of the final grade for the course. A student must meet or exceed the score set by the commissioner on the algebra II and English III end-of-course exams to graduate under the recommended and advanced program.

Graduation Plans and Requirements
Minimum graduation program requirements:
The student parent or guardian and a school counselor or administrator must agree, and the student must:
Be at least 16;
Have competed two credits required for graduation in each subject of the foundation curriculum; and
Have failed to be promoted to the 10th grade one or more times

Recommended and Advanced Requirements
Four credits in each subject of the foundation curriculum;
One-half credit in economics and government as part of the social studies requirements; and
Two credits in the same foreign language for the recommended program and three credits in the same language for the advanced program

Electives
The conference committee report:
Requires the State Board of Education to adopt rules requiring students in grades 6-8 to complete at least one fine arts course;
Prohibits the SBOE from specifying courses or the number of credits in the enrichment curriculum for the recommended program;
Requires six elective credits for the recommended program and five electives for the advanced program; and
Requires one credit in fine arts and one credit in physical education.

Campus and District Rating/Campus Intervention Teams
This is based on student performance in the current school year or student performance as averaged over the current school year and the preceding two school years.

An acceptable rating is assigned to the campus or district if it performs satisfactorily on 85% of the measures so long as the same measure excluded from the 85% does not occur for two consecutive years.

In the case of a campus that is being repurposed, the bill provides that teachers may be assigned to other positions if not retained on that campus.

The measure allows the commissioner of education to solicit proposals from qualified for-profit entities to assume management of a campus if no qualified non-profit respond to the request for proposals.

Other Provisions
The conference committee report gives the campus-level site-based decision-making committee the authority to limit the administration of locally required assessment instruments to 10% or a lower percentage of instructional days.

Legislature Sends Other Ed Bills to the Governor
Both chambers have adopted conference committee reports on these bills, so they are on their way to the governor’s desk.

House Bill 1041, by Rep. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, relating to school district policies addressing sexual abuse of children.

House Bill 2730, by Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, relating to the continuation and functions of the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas and the Texas Private Security Board. The conference committee report included House Bill 2491, by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington. It would exclude from public release under the Texas Public Information Act a school district employee or employment applicant’s home address, phone number, cell number, date of birth, criminal history record information, Texas driver’s license number, email address or Social Security number in custody of a school district, open-enrollment charter school or shared services arrangement. The bill also would require the release of previous criminal convictions and employee birth years upon request under the Public Information Act. TSTA supports Patrick’s portion of HB 2730.

House Bill 3076, by Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, relating to a parenting and paternity awareness program used in the health curriculum for public schools.

Senate Bill 1219, by Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, relating to a parenting and paternity awareness component of the health curriculum used in public high schools.

Senate Bill 2274, by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, relating to the authority of a school district to impose ad valorem taxes.

House OKs Conference Committee Report
The Texas House of Representatives tonight concurred with the conference committee report on Senate Bill 78, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, relating to promoting awareness and education about the purchase and availability of health coverage, including education for high school students on this topic.

The Texas Senate changed its rules to allow it to continue considering conference committee reports on Monday, so it could still act on this one.

Senate OKs Conference Committee Reports
The Texas Senate today concurred with conference committee reports on the following bills:

House Bill 1801, by Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston, relating to exemptions from the sales tax for a limited period for certain backpack and school supplies specified by the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement.

House Bill 3220, by Rep. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, relating to the applicability of certain laws to open-enrollment charter schools. This includes language from Senate Bill 1830, by Senate Education Committee Vice Chair Dan Patrick, R-Houston, which would allow the addition of up to 12 open-enrollment charter schools per year, with at least two of them to serve special education students, for the next four years.

House Bill 3461, by Rep. Rob Orr, R-Burleson, relating to the powers and duties of the School Land Board and the commissioner of the General Land Office.

Because the House did not change its rules to allow it to act on conference committee reports on Monday, any of them it did not act on by midnight Sunday are effectively dead – barring some kind of miraculous resurrection.

May 30, 2009
Both Chambers Work on Conference Reports
After 138 days, the Texas Legislature will deal with more than 200 bills on the 139th day of the 140-day session. Both chambers must suspend the rules to do anything but technical clean-up amendments on the last day of the session. Shortly before 6 p.m., the Senate did just that, suspending its rules to allow the adoption of conference committee reports on Monday.

Most of the action today has been appointing all those committee and the meetings that are happening off somewhere in the backrooms of the Capitol and nearby state buildings. Bills that haven’t been read by most legislators are likely to become law without any significant input from the stakeholders who have spent the last 138 days reading bills, testifying in hearings and working on language.

The two most significant pieces of education legislation have not yet emerged from conference committees and under the rules must be voted on tomorrow in the House or tomorrow or Monday in the Senate. Both of them are large and complex bills, and we most likely will not have time to analyze them and respond before they get to the floor for the votes. Neither will any of the people who will vote on them. While we have expressed our concerns and opinions to the members of the conference committees, we know that language that isn’t in earlier House or Senate versions most likely will be in the final draft of each of these bills.

Whether or not they come back as good bills or bad bills, one thing is certain: None of you who are most affected by these decisions will ever have a chance to express your opinion of what is in the final version of these bills.

We are continuing to closely monitor these bills, as well as all the other education bills that are in conference committee, and will update you as soon as we possibly can.

Senate Concurs with House Amendments
The Texas Senate today concurred with House amendments to the following education bills:

Senate Bill 2033, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, states that a school district must adopt a grading policy, including provisions for the assignment of grades on class assignments and examinations, before each school year. A district grading policy would have to require a classroom teacher to assign a grade that reflects the student’s relative mastery of an assignment and would not be allowed to require a classroom teacher to assign a minimum grade for an assignment without regard to the student’s quality of work. The House amendment would allow a student a reasonable opportunity to make up or redo a class assignment or examination for which the student received a failing grade.

Senate Bill 300, by Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, would allow the commissioner of education to grant class size waivers on a yearly basis instead of on a per semester basis. The bill also would require the Texas Education Agency to report to the Legislature the number of waiver applications received, and granted or denied. The bill would make bus evacuation training permissive instead of mandatory. The bill also would require school boards to establish a long-range energy plan, including goals to reduce annual electric consumption. TSTA strongly opposed this bill and worked hard to get a number of bad provisions stripped from the bill. Patrick knew he faced significant opposition to the bill as filed and chose to strip SB 300 of the most objectionable portions.

Senate Bill 939, by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, would require the commissioner of education’s rules to ensure that the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) contains all information necessary to permit the Texas Education Agency to track the performance of students placed in foster care. The bill also would require the Department of Family and Protective Services to provide school districts or the agency, as appropriate, information regarding the identity of students placed in foster care. The House amendment did not appear to be germane to the bill.

May 29, 2009
House Adopts Final Budget, Reject Vouchers Again
The Texas House of Representatives on Friday overwhelmingly voted again to prohibit the commissioner of education from spending any tax dollars in the state budget for the upcoming biennium on vouchers or tuition for students in grades 1 through 12 to attend private schools.

The House took this action by following the Senate’s lead and passing the conference committee version of Senate Bill 1, the state’s $183.2 billion budget bill for the next two years. The House had inserted the no-voucher Rider 95, by Rep. Joe Heflin, D-Crosbyton, into its earlier version of the budget bill. The House-Senate conference committee retained this language in the final version of the bill, which the Senate and House now have both adopted.

This will bar the commissioner from spending state tax dollars on what amount to vouchers to private schools for dropout recovery, as the state did last year.

SB 1’s Article III appropriations for public schools run more than 20 pages of tiny type, totaling $75.42 billion ($49.14 billion from general revenue) for the biennium. The budget includes $1.5 billion for enrollment growth. SB 1 also includes $1.9 billion for new funding for public schools. That, however, is continent on the Legislature’s passing House Bill 3646, the school finance bill.

Among the highlights of SB 1’s Article III:

Foundation School Program funds for improving equity, reducing recapture and providing educator salary increases: $933 million for each of the next two years.

Student Success Initiative: $155,999,650 for each of the next two years, to focus on reading, math and post-secondary readiness.

Pre-kindergarten Early Start Grant Program: $104,300,000 for each of the next two years, to provide grants for pre-kindergarten programs. Of that, $12,500,000 for each of the next two years will go to quality full-day pre-kindergarten.

Educator Excellence Awards Program: $197,781,457 in each of the next two years.

Teacher Mentor Program: $15 million in each of the next two years.

Campus Turnaround Team Support: $1.5 million in each of the next two years, to implement a regional network of technical assistance providers to address t he needs of low-performing schools subject to assistance and intervention efforts.

Virtual Schools Network: $10,150,000 in each of the next two years.

House Names Conferees for School Finance Bill
The Texas House of Representatives today refused to concur with Senate amendments to House Bill 3646, the school finance bill. The House named the following members to the conference committee that will resolve the differences between the two versions of the bill: House Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston; House Public Education Committee Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands; Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen; Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington; and Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston.

House Acts on More Education Bills
The Texas House of Representatives on Friday concurred with Senate amendments to the following House bills:

House Bill 130, by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, relating to an enhanced quality full-day pre-kindergarten program provided by public school districts in conjunction with community providers. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 136, by Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, relating to providing notification to parents of eligible children of the availability of pre-kindergarten classes. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 192, by Rep. Roberto Alonzo, D-Dallas, relating to the absence of a student from school for activities in connection with obtaining United States citizenship. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 281, by Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, relating to grants for school-based health centers. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 339, by Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, relating to driver education and driver’s licensing requirements for minors.

House Bill 1259, by Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, relating to hiring outside legal counsel to provide legal services to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.

House Bill 2488, by House Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to open-source textbooks for public schools. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 2656, by Rep. Doug Miller, R-New Braunfels, relating to the composition of the board of trustees of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 3041, by Rep. Joe Farias, D-San Antonio, relating to a comprehensive schedule of public school reporting requirements. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 3480, by Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Southlake, relating to annuities and investments for certain public employees. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 4152, by Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, relating to certification of an educator in Texas who is certified in another state or country.

House Bill 4294, by Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, to instructional materials and technological equipment in public schools. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 4435, by Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, relating to the requirement for mandatory participation by certain principals in the School Leadership Pilot Program for Principals.

Senate Also Acts on More Education Bills
The Texas Senate on Friday concurred with House amendments to the following Senate bills:

Senate Bill 282, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, relating to grant programs to provide nutrition education to children. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 283, by Nelson, relating to the membership and activities of local school health advisory councils (SHACs).

Senate Bill 759, by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, relating to certain standards for group-administered achievement tests used by school districts.

Senate Bill 891, by Nelson, relating to the public school physical education curriculum.

Senate Bill 1290, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, relating to authorization for school districts to provide mentors for teachers assigned to a new subject or grade level. TSTA supports this bill.

May 28, 2009
Senate Passes Yet More Education Bills
The Texas Senate tonight concurred with a minor Senate amendment to Senate Bill 451, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, relating to staff development requirements in public schools.

The Senate passed House Bill 171, by Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Missouri City, on final reading late last night. HB 171 would mandate that consideration be given to, rather than making it discretionary, the following factors when determining whether a student should be suspended, removed to a disciplinary alternative education program or expelled: self-defense, intent or lack of intent at the time the student engaged in the conduct, a student’s disciplinary history or a disability that substantially impairs the student’s capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the conduct.

Senate Rejects Controversial SBOE Chair
The Texas Senate today rejected Gov. Rick Perry’s nomination of Bryan dentist Don McLeroy to chair the State Board of Education. Confirmation required a two-third majority of the 31 senators, but McLeroy received only 19 votes – all Republicans – while 11 of 12 Democrats voted against the nomination. Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, was present but did not vote.

Perry nominated McLeroy in July 2007. His original term as chair ended in February 2009 without his ever being confirmed by the Senate. Perry named him to a second term then. The Bryan Republican will remain a member of SBOE, to which he was first elected in 1998. Perry will name another chair for a term ending in February 2011.

McLeroy was widely criticized for his leadership on the board on controversial issues such as evolution and global warming. Of more immediate concern to TSTA members, he led a faction on the board that repeatedly disrespected and tampered with the recommendations of classroom teachers when the board discussed adopted Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards. McLeroy and his board allies attempted, with some success, to substitute ideological and pedagogically suspect standards for the pedagogically sound ones Texas teachers who actually work in the classroom recommended.

Read more about the Senate confirmation vote at http://www.beloblog.com/KVUE_Blogs/politicaljunkie/2009/
05/education-is-far-too-important.html and http://www.
statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/
politics/entries/2009/05/28/senate_rejects_mcleroy_confirm.
html.

May 27, 2009
Any Rule Can Be Suspended
That was the response of Texas House Speaker Pro Tempore Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, to a question regarding suspending a rule of the House of Representatives. As we go into the last five days of the session, it is the main thing that we need to keep in mind regarding passing legislation. The Senate sent more than 400 House bills back to the House tonight, many of them including dozen of amendments or even entire bills attached to them. Tomorrow should be the last day for the House to deal with those bills, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Legislators like to pass bills, especially their bills.

So we anticipate that lots of rules will be suspended and that lots of conference committees will be appointed. We are reading amendments and tracking all the various education bills. The real danger in this crunch at the end of the process comes from conference committees, which never meet in public, are allowed to go outside the bounds of the bills that passed and report out their assigned bills on the last day of the session, June 1

One major conference committee we are concerned about is the one on House Bill 3 and Senate Bill 3, the two chambers’ considerably different accountability bills. The committee hasn’t posted a single public meeting. If a conference committee is created on House Bill 3646, the school finance bill, it will also be one that would happen very late in the session. Any response to problems with either of those bills would happen very, very quickly so check you email often over the waning days of the session.

House Gives Its Final Approval to Education Bills
The Texas House of Representatives got seriously back to work today, after almost a week of slowdown, and passed the following education bills on final reading:

Senate Bill 300, by Senate Education Committee Chair Dan Patrick, R-Houston, relating to eliminating certain mandates on school districts.

Senate Bill 939, by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, relating to the capability of the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) to provide information regarding public school students placed in foster care.

Senate Bill 1798, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, relating to certifying the eligibility of certain educational aides to receive an exemption from tuition and fees charged by public institutions of higher education.

Senate Bill 2033, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, relating to adoption of a school district grading policy, would ensure that students receive the grades they actually earn. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 2248, by Zaffirini, relating to public school students placed in foster care.

Senate Bill 2258, by Zaffirini, relating to intensive summer programs for public school students and to college readiness programs at public institutions of higher education.

Senate Bill 2274, by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, relating to the authority of a school district to impose ad valorem taxes.

Senate Gives Its Final Approval to Education Bills, Too
The Texas Senate today passed the following education bills on final reading:

House Bill 130, by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, relating to an enhanced quality full-day pre-kindergarten program provided by public school districts in conjunction with community providers. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 281, by Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, would expand current law to allow for federal or state funds to be used for a grant program, with grants awarded not only to school districts, but also to nonprofit organizations that contract with school districts. Rural districts would be given preference and the grant could be used to open, expand or operate a school-based health center.

House Bill 1322, by House Public Education Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to the establishment of an on-line resource for teachers of students with special health needs. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 3480, by Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Southlake, relating to certain investment products made available to certain public school employees and the companies authorized to provide those products.

Senate Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, persuaded the Senate to add her Senate Bill 1362 to House Bill 3689, relating to the functions and continuation of the Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission and to the functions of the Office of Independent Ombudsman for the TYC. Shapiro’s amendment would provide for a TYC comprehensive plan to improve student reading skills and behavior. The Senate passed the amended HB 3689.

Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, persuaded the Senate to add House Bill 3419, by Rep. Diane Patrick, to House Bill 2730, the Department of Public Safety sunset bill. TSTA supports HB 3419, the educator privacy bill relating to the disclosure of criminal history record information regarding public school employees. The Senate adopted the amended HB 2730.

May 26, 2009
TSTA Members’ Phone Calls Save Pay Raise
Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, the dean of the Texas Senate, tonight persuaded his colleagues to keep the proposed pass-through, across-the-board $800 annual pay raise for every teacher, full-time speech pathologist, full-time librarian, full-time nurse and full-time certified counselor in Texas. That was in the version of House Bill 3646 that the House of Representatives had passed but was not in the Senate version.

Senate offices received hundreds of phone calls from TSTA members across the state Monday and Tuesday. That made the difference in persuading enough senators to support the across-the-board pay raise. Without those phone calls, the pay raise would have depended on district discretion, rather than being across-the-board statewide.

The substitute for HB 3646 that Senate Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, wanted the chamber to pass would have allowed districts to decide whether to not to spend new state money on across-the-board pay raises. Whitmire eloquently and effectively argued that Texas – which already lags behind the national average teacher salary by $6,000 – cannot afford to fall further behind. Shapiro urged the Senate to table the Whitmire amendment, but the Senate rejected that motion on a 12-19 vote. That was a strong, bipartisan vote for public school educators, so Shapiro then accepted this amendment.

The 12 senators – all Republicans – who voted to table the Whitmire amendment were Robert Duncan of Lubbock, Craig Estes of Wichita Falls, Troy Fraser or Horseshoe Bay, Chris Harris of Arlington, Glenn Hegar of Katy, Mike Jackson of La Porte, Jane Nelson of Lewisville, Steve Ogden of Bryan, Dan Patrick of Houston, Florence Shapiro of Plano, Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio and Tommy Williams of The Woodlands.

Republican senators who voted for public school educators by voting not to table the Whitmire amendment were Kip Averitt of Waco, John Carona of Dallas, Robert Duell of Greenville, Kevin Eltife of Tyler, Joan Huffman of Houston, Robert Nichols of Jacksonville and Kel Seliger of Amarillo.

All the Democratic senators voted with us: Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, Rodney Ellis of Houston, Mario Gallegos of Houston, Chuy Hinojosa of Mission, Eddie Lucio Jr. of Brownsville, Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso, Carlos Uresti of San Antonio, Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio, Kirk Watson of Austin, Royce West of Dallas, John Whitmire of Houston and Judith Zaffirini of Laredo.

TSTA encourages members to thank the senators from both parties who voted for our public school educators.

The Senate went on to consider other amendments to the school finance bill before unanimously passing the measure.

Senate Passes Additional Education Bills
The Texas Senate today passed the following bills on final reading:

House Bill 1218, by Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, relating to a pilot project to exchange secure electronic information between the Health and Human Services Commission and local or regional health information exchanges. Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, persuaded the Senate to amend the bill to add the language found in his Senate Bill 939. That measure would require the commissioner of education’s rules to ensure that the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) contains all information necessary to permit the agency to track the performance of students placed in foster care. The bill also would require the Department of Family and Protective Services to provide school districts or the Texas Education Agency, as appropriate, information regarding the identity of students placed in foster care.

Committee substitute for House Bill 2656, by Rep. Doug Miller, R-New Braunfels, relating to the composition of the board of trustees of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. The amended version the House passed would limit the governor to appointing only three members of the TRS board and would expand the role of TRS members and retirees in choosing the board. The committee substitute the Senate passed would give the governor authority to name eight board members, limiting the House-proposed role of TRS members and retirees in choosing the board. TRS supported the House-passed version.

House Bill 3041, by Rep. Joe Farias, D-San Antonio, would mandate that TEA provide a reporting schedule for districts laying out all the requirements to be reported. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 3220, by Rep. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, relating to the applicability of certain laws to open-enrollment charter schools. Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, persuaded the Senate to amend the bill to add his Senate Bill 1830, which would expand the number of open-enrollment charter schools in Texas.

House Bill 3347, By Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Southlake, relating to plan provisions required for maintaining retirement plan qualification for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, would allow for differential wage payments to be treated as earned compensation while the employee is performing qualified military service.

House Bill 3918, by Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, relating to testing liquefied petroleum gas systems in certain school facilities.

House Bill 4152, by Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, would require the State Board for Educator Certification to issue a certificate to an applying teacher who holds a certificate in another state or country, and, among other things holds a certificate or other credential issued by another state or country to teach mathematics, science, special education, bilingual education, or another subject area that the commissioner of education determines has a shortage of teachers. 

Senate Continued Working Late Last Night
Late last night, the Texas Senate passed the following bills on final reading:

House Bill 339, by Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, relating to driver education and driver’s licensing requirements for minors.

House Bill 635, by Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, relating to the authority of the Texas Education Agency to seek, accept and distribute grants available for the benefit of public elementary and secondary education.

House Bill 1041, by Rep. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, relating to school district policies addressing sexual abuse of children.

After the Senate adjourned, its Higher Education Committee briefly met and voted to recommend House Bill 999, by Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, favorably to the full Senate for action. Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, would not bring up the bill, effectively punting it to the Higher Education Committee. HB 999 would require that before a school board may close a campus, it must hold a public hearing and allow residents of the district to comment. Seven days before the date for the hearing, the board must provide written notice of the hearing to the parent of each student affected by the closure, publish notice of the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation, and the notice must include the subject matter including the reason for the proposed closure, and the location, date and time of hearing. Upon approval by the board, the closure must be sent to the commissioner of education for approval.

The Senate State Affairs Committee voted to recommend House Bill 2491, by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, favorably to the full Senate for action. This bill would exclude from public release under the Texas Public Information Act an applicant’s or employee’s home address, phone number, cell number, date of birth, criminal history record information, Texas driver’s license number, email address or Social Security number in custody of a school district, open-enrollment charter school or shared services arrangement. The bill also would require the release of previous criminal convictions for certain felonies and employee birth years upon request under the Public Information Act. TSTA supports this bill.

House Chubbing: Day Six
Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives continued chubbing noncontroversial bills on final reading to prevent action on the controversial and highly partisan voter ID bill. Any Senate bill, including the voter ID measure, that the House does not pass on second reading by midnight tonight dies.

On the eastern side of the Capitol, senators were busily loading their bills that might die in the House onto House bills as amendments. After midnight, that will be the only way that Senate bills the House did not pass on second reading can be enacted.

8:45 p.m. Update: We Win!
Our amendment--to use the salary money provided in House Bill 3646 for an across-the-board educator pay raise--is now in the bill! A motion to table failed 12-19. Read "Still Time to Call Senators to Save Pay Raise" below for background.

May 25, 2009
Still Time to Call Senators to Save Pay Raise
If you have not yet done so yet, you need to call your state senator – using the number below – to save your pay raise. And please walk the halls to make sure this message gets to each and every one of your fellow TSTA members in your local. This is critically important.

Unless members from across the state call their members of the Texas Senate from both parties and tell them to save the $800 across-the-board, pass-through educator pay raise, the Legislature could wind up taking away even that small increase from many, perhaps most, of you who should be eligible to receive it.

House Bill 3646, the school finance bill, was placed on the Senate Calendar on Saturday evening, opening it up for debate anytime thereafter. The Senate did not meet Sunday and did not take it up Monday, so it could come up Tuesday. We must act immediately to urge senators to correct a major flaw in the bill that resulted from a change made by Senate Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano.

HB 3646 passed the House of Representatives with a guaranteed minimum across-the-board, pass-through pay raise of $800 for every teacher, full-time speech pathologist, full-time librarian, full-time nurse and full-time certified counselor. While the change that was made in Senate committee allocates the greater of $800 per employee on the minimum salary schedule or $65 per weighted average daily attendance, it leaves it up to the district to decide how to allocate that salary money. That means all the funding could be used for incentive pay or to reward only certain teachers, absent a provision to require an across-the-board pay raise.

The effect of the change made by Shapiro was unclear during committee proceedings, but we have since received that clarification from Shapiro’s staff and were told the Plano Republican does not support across-the-board teacher pay raises.

An amendment will be introduced on the Senate floor to require an across-the-board, pass-through pay raise. TSTA members need to call Senate offices as soon as possible before the bill comes up for debate.

We have a simple message: Support an amendment to use the salary money provided in House Bill 3646 for an across-the-board educator pay raise.

You can use the TSTA toll free number: 1-800-260-5444. Just stay on the line and you will be connected to your senator’s office.

Thank you to all who have called already. Thanks to your calls, TSTA is making progress on gaining support for the proposed Senate amendment. But it is far from a done deal just yet. So members who have not yet called really need to do so. Please make sure all of the members of your local know this and follow through.

Texas Senate Passes More Education Bills
The Texas Senate today passed the following education bills on final reading:

House Bill 192, by Rep. Roberto Alonzo, D-Dallas, relating to the absence of a student from school for activities in connection with obtaining United States citizenship. Senate Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, persuaded the Senate adopt an amendment adding language from her Senate Bill 1577. The amendment would provide for excused absences for students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder on the day of the student’s appointment with a health care practitioner to receive a generally recognized service for persons with autism spectrum disorder, including applied behavioral analysis, speech therapy and occupational therapy. TSTA supports both parts of the amended HB 192.

House Bill 200, by Rep. Joe Heflin, D-Crosbyton, would repeal a portion of the Education Code regarding continuing education requirements for public school principals that requires the State Board of Educator Certification to propose rules establishing a process for identifying continuing education courses and programs that fulfill educators’ continuing education requirements. The bill also would repeal a requirement that continuing education be based on individual assessment of the statutorily identified knowledge, skills and proficiencies necessary to perform successfully as a principal.

House Bill 1423, by Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, relating to granting charters to public junior colleges for open-enrollment charter schools.

House Bill 1801, by Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston, relating to exemptions from the sales tax for a limited period for certain backpack and school supplies specified by the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement.

House Bill 2488, by House Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, would authorize the State Board of Education to adopt open-source textbooks, submitted by eligible institutions of higher education, for secondary-level courses. “Open-source textbook” would mean an electronic textbook that is available for downloading from the Internet at no charge to a student. The bill would authorize the State Board of Education to execute a contract for the printing of open-source textbooks. The contract would have to allow a school district to requisition printed copies of an open-source textbook. A school district or open-enrollment charter school that selects an open-source textbook would have to requisition a sufficient number of printed copies or provide other alternatives for use by students unable to access the textbook electronically. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 3076, by Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, relating to a parenting and paternity awareness program used in the health curriculum for public schools. Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, persuaded the Senate to add an amendment to include information on the dangers, signs, symptoms and treatment of binge drinking and alcohol poisoning.

House Bill 3461, by Rep. Rob Orr, R-Burleson, would provide for certain requirements for the School Land Board relating to state land and land acquired by the state on behalf of the Permanent School Fund.

House Chubbing: Day Five
The Texas House of Representatives finally completed second reading of its Local and Consent Calendar of noncontroversial measures this morning. But that did not end the Democrats’ strategy of chubbing to kill the controversial and highly partisan voter ID bill. After the western chamber’s members concurred with Senate amendments to a handful of their bills, House Democrats made Senate Bill 175 the new vehicle for slowing down floor action.

SB 175 would modify the Top 10 Percent rule for admission to the University of Texas at Austin. House members confronted almost 60 amendments to the compromise version of the measure worked out by the House Higher Education Committee’s leadership. But many amendments were withdrawn after their sponsors ran out of time to prolong discussing them or were tabled.

Shortly before 8:30 p.m., the House finally passed the Top 10 Percent measure, before later moving to final reading of bills on the Local and Consent Calendar. House Democrats were allowing the chamber to vote on bills without delaying as much as they did on second reading. An adviser to House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, described these few-minute delays as “chub-ettes,” The Dallas Morning News reported.

May 24, 2009
Call Your Senator to Save Your Pay Raise
House Bill 3646, the school finance bill, was placed on the Senate Calendar on Saturday evening and could be debated by the Senate on Monday – Memorial Day. We must act immediately to urge senators to correct a major flaw in the bill that resulted from a change made by Senate Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano.

HB 3646 passed the House of Representatives with a guaranteed minimum across-the-board, pass-through pay raise of $800 for every teacher, full-time speech pathologist, full-time librarian, full-time nurse and full-time certified counselor. While the change that was made in Senate committee allocates the greater of $800 per employee on the minimum salary schedule or $65 per weighted average daily attendance, it leaves it up to the district to decide how to allocate that salary money. That means all the funding could be used for incentive pay or to reward only certain teachers, absent a provision to require an across-the-board pay raise.

The effect of the change made by Shapiro was unclear during committee proceedings, but we have since received that clarification from Shapiro’s staff and were told the Plano Republican does not support across-the-board teacher pay raises.

An amendment will be introduced on the Senate floor to require an across-the-board, pass-through pay raise. TSTA members need to call Senate offices as soon as possible Monday morning before the bill comes up for debate.

We have a simple message.

Support an amendment to use the salary money provided in House Bill 3646 for an across-the-board teacher pay raise.

You can use the TSTA toll free number: 1-800-260-5444. Just stay on the line and you will be connected to your senator’s office.

House Chubbing: Day Four
Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives continued their slowdown of routine business for the fourth day on the next-to-last Sunday of the regular session of the 81st Legislature. Democrats have managed to further delay action on the controversial and highly partisan voter ID bill that the House had been scheduled to debate Saturday.

Arguably, the most entertaining moment of the day came when legislators representing Grapevine and Arlington engaged in a prolonged cat fight on the House floor over a resolution that would have proclaimed Grapevine to be the state’s Christmas capital city. Arlington did not agree. Sufficient other members also disagreed, knocking the measure off of the calendar. Some might argue that such measures are a waste of time even when lawmakers pass them routinely, with little if any discussion.

Negotiations continue behind the scenes to prevent a total meltdown of late-session legislative action, but time is running out. Meanwhile, the Texas Senate took the day off.

May 23, 2009
House Slowdown Continues with No End in Sight
The next-to-last Saturday of the regular session of the 81st Legislature was a very long day three – it only seems like more – of chubbing in the House. The stalemate over the controversial and highly partisan voter ID bill remained unresolved. House Democrats continued the slowdown strategy as negotiations also continued, so far unsuccessfully, and bills continued to pile up on the House calendar. Meanwhile, the Senate began to load up bills on its local and uncontested calendar and look for bills to attach amendments to, to improve the chances for enactment of senators’ bills endangered by the western chamber’s chubbing.

House Concurs with Senate Amendments on Ed Bills
With its calendar greatly slowed down by the Democrats’ strategy of talking noncontroversial bills nearly to death to block consideration of the voter ID bill, the Texas House of Representatives nonetheless did manage final action today on three education bills, concurring with Senate amendments to them:

House Bill 1365, by House Public Education Committee Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, relating to service records of professional staff employed by school districts and payments of compensation based on those records. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 2480, by House Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to school district agreements with junior colleges for courses for joint high school and junior college credit. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 2893, by Hochberg, relating to the technology demonstration sites project.

Senate Passes Three Education Bills on Final Reading
The Texas Senate today passed three education bills on final reading:

House Bill 829, by House Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to the jurisdiction of the commissioner of education to hear appeals arising under the school laws of this state, would impose a 180-day deadline for the commissioner to issue a decision on certain cases appealed to that office. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 2169, by Rep. Norma Chavez, D-El Paso, relating to the establishment of additional job incentive programs by the Texas Workforce Commission using the skills development fund. Senate Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, amended the bill with a portion of her Senate Bill 1313, which would require the Legislative Budget Board to establish a clearinghouse that would collect and provide information relating to best practices in career and technology education and would provide student subsidies for certain students who become certified to obtain high-demand, high-wage and high-skill jobs. TSTA supports Shapiro’s amendment.

House Bill 4294, by Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, relating to instructional materials and technological equipment in public schools. TSTA supports this bill. The Senate adopted an amendment by Shapiro that includes the language in her Senate Bill 1363. That would require the Texas Education Agency, in cooperation with the State Board of Education and with the participation of educators, to develop written materials that provide additional specific guidance regarding the essential knowledge and skills of the public school curriculum. Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, further amended the bill to add the language from his Senate Bill 2178. That would require the commissioner of education to establish a computer lending pilot program to provide computers to participating public schools that make computers available for use by students and their parents. Shapiro then amended the bill to remove the language from SB 1363 that she earlier added.

May 22, 2009
Slow Dancing in the House
Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives are in the second day of using a tactic known as “chubbing,” all but shutting down the western chamber. In legislative parlance, chubbing is the process for slowing down the process by talking at length about a bill. Unlike the Senate’s, the House’s rules prohibit filibusters, so over the years chubbing has developed into a process that House members use to kill bills. Normally, it happens when a deadline is occurring on a particular day.

However the controversial and highly partisan voter ID bill the House is scheduled to debate Saturday has led House Democrats to begin the slowdown a full seven days before the deadline for passing Senate bills. Today, the House has a calendar with 219 noncontroversial local and uncontested bills on it. Those bills deal with such things as metropolitan utility districts and groundwater districts and are important to members’ constituents. Usually, the House goes through such measures very quickly, but not today. Every bill was debated for the maximum length of time the rules allow – almost 10 minutes per bill. The Democrats’ strategy is to force the Republicans to either pull or negotiate a compromise on the voter ID bill. Yesterday, the Democrats used more controversial bills on the 10 percent rule for public university admissions and federal stimulus funds for unemployment insurance to slow down the calendar.

All of this has been happening in a mostly cordial manner so far, but it will cause a number of bills to die.

Unhappy Senate Retrenches to Save Its Bills
Word is the Senate is working to find House bills with broad enough captions to amend Senate bills into them as a way to resurrect bills that the House chubbing endangers and could kill. How effective that strategy will be remains to seen since House rules prohibit bills that deal with more than a single subject. Senate committees are still meeting to vote out bills. Tomorrow is the deadline for House committees to vote out any senate bills. We are expecting both chambers to work through the weekend and on Memorial Day.

Bill Watch
House Bill 3646, the school finance bill, by House Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, is out of the Senate Education Committee but not yet on the Senate calendar.

The school accountability measures, House Bill 3, by House Public Education Committee Chair Rob Eissler, and Senate Bill 3, by Senate Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, are in conference committee. Both chambers have named their members, but no meeting has been announced yet.

Senate Bill 1, the state budget bill, by Senate Finance Committee Chair Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, is scheduled to be voted out conference committee on Tuesday.

Chambers Pass Very Few Ed Bills in Two Days
The Texas House of Representatives yesterday passed on final reading Senate Bill 283, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, relating to the membership and activities of local school health advisory councils (SHACs).

The Texas Senate today passed on final reading House Bill 1425, by Rep. Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, relating to the determination of the population of a county required to develop a juvenile justice alternative education program (JJAEP).

May 21, 2009
Teacher Pay Raise Stays in School Finance Bill
The Texas Senate Education Committee met today and took up House Bill 3646, the school finance bill, by House Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston. Senate Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, substituted her version of the bill for the version that came over from the House of Representatives.

The Senate version contains an across-the-board pass-through teacher pay raise. It maintains the same minimum of $800 as the House version of the bill. The House version had either $800 for every teacher, full-time speech pathologist, full-time librarian, full-time nurse and full-time certified counselor or 50% of the new money allocated for public education, whichever is greater. The Senate version replaces what follows or with “an amount equal to $65 per student in weighted average daily attendance.”

We are still trying to determine the impact of the change on the ceiling but are glad to see that we have an across-the-board pay raise provision in both versions of the bill.

The incentive pay language in the Senate version mirrors the House version in that it eliminates the Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) program and rolls that money into the District Award for Teaching Excellence (DATE) program. Unfortunately, though, many of the reforms we worked for in the House version are not in the Senate version. Most significant is the provision that reduced the requirement that 60% of the grant be used to provide bonuses based on standardized test scores to 30%.

The committee voted the school finance bill out to the full Senate. TSTA will continue to work to improve the bill as it goes through the process.

In other action, the committee also sent the following bills to the full Senate for action:

House Bill 130, by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, relating to an enhanced quality full-day pre-kindergarten program provided by public school districts in conjunction with community providers. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 136, by Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, relating to providing notification to parents of eligible children of the availability of pre-kindergarten classes. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 200, by Rep. Joe Helfin, D-Crosbyton, relating continuing education requirements for public school principals.

House Bill 281, by Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, relating to grants for school-based health centers, would expand current law to allow for federal or state funds to be used for a grant program, not only awarded to school districts, but also to nonprofit organizations that contract with school districts. Rural districts would be given preference, and the grant could be used to open, expand or operate a school-based health center. TSTA supports this bill.

House Will 1322, by House Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to the establishment of an online resource for teachers of students with special health needs. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 1375, by Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, would mandate that each teacher and principal or other administrator who oversees student discipline matters attend staff development training designed to assist that person in determining methods for incorporating appropriate discipline management techniques consistent with the student code of conduct. The professional development would include information relating to the distinction between discipline management techniques used at the discretion of the principal and the discretionary authority of a teacher to remove the disruptive student. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 1470, by Rep. Kristi Thibaut, D-Houston, relating to a requirement that school districts notify employees regarding entitlement to leave in circumstances involving assault. TSTA supports this bill.

TSTA’s John Grey testified of the need to inform teachers of their right to ask for and receive assault leave. Grey informed the committee that TSTA handles approximately seven assault leave cases a year on behalf of its members. He said that approximately half of those cases do no start out as assault leave cases; rather, they start out as inquiries from members regarding being hurt at work. Grey testified that teachers are just unaware that they have assault leave rights and that school districts are in no hurry to inform teachers of these rights even when the districts are aware that a teacher has been assaulted at school because it may cost the school money if a teacher requests assault leave. He encouraged the committee to empower teachers by requiring school districts to inform teachers of their assault leave rights, something teachers have had since 1995.

House Bill 2703, by Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Missouri city, relating to classification of a pre-kindergarten or kindergarten student who is retained at the request of the student's parent.

House Bill 3220, by Rep. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, relating to the applicability of certain laws to open-enrollment charter schools.

House Bill 4407, by Rep. Larry Taylor, R-League City, relating to maintaining a supply of anaphylaxis medicine on public school campuses served by school nurses.

House Bill 4435, by Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, relating to the requirement for mandatory participation by certain principals in the School Leadership Pilot Program for Principals.

TRS Retirees Probably Will Get $500 Bonus
“Lawmakers negotiating the state budget agreed late Wednesday to give retired teachers and retired state workers one-time $500 bonuses, as a gesture of appreciation in tight fiscal times,” The Dallas Morning News reported this morning.

“However, the bonuses could only be paid if the Legislature passes a separate bill saying it's permissible for lawmakers to bypass the Teacher Retirement System and send checks directly to pensioners by Dec. 31.

“Also, Attorney General Greg Abbott would have to issue a legal opinion saying the bonuses could be made outside of the TRS and the Employee Retirement System. If Abbott didn’t, the $155 million for bonuses instead would go toward improving the two pension funds’ solvency.”

The rest of the story is online at http://www.dallasnews.com/
sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/legislature/
stories/DN-budget_21tex.ART.State.Edition2.1f8b.html.

Senate Names Conferees for Accountability Bills
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst today named five senators to the Senate-House conference committee that will resolve the differences between the two chambers’ accountability bills, Senate Bill 3 and House Bill 3:
Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano.
Education Committee Vice Chair Dan Patrick, R-Houston.
Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan.
Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands.
Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio.

Senate Passes Several TSTA-Backed Ed Bills
The Texas Senate today passed the following House education bills on final reading:

House Bill 709, by Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, would provide for a stipend to a classroom teacher who obtains national board certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards pursuant to the educator excellence award programs. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 1070, by Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Southlake, relating to audits of certain public retirement system actuarial valuations, studies, and reports.

House Bill 1191, by Rep. Kino Flores, D-Mission, would provide for a 90-day window after the date of retirement for a retiree eligible for coverage to select any coverage provided by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas or during any other open enrollment periods established by rule. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 1297, by House Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, would allow for flexible school day program for students who as a result of attendance requirements will be denied credit for one or more classes in which the student has been enrolled. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 1332, by Rep. Diana Maldonado, D-Round Rock, would require that each student and student’s parent is responsible for not only unreturned textbooks, but also electronic textbooks and all technological equipment. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 1365, by House Public Education Committee Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, would mandate that a school district provide the service record of a former classroom teacher, librarian, counselor or nurse to a school district employing the individual not later than 30 days after the date of the request. If a district fails, the Texas Education Agency would provide the information it has to the employing district to enable it to determine proper placement of the individual on the district’s salary schedule. Back pay would be paid for any difference upon a determination that a higher salary should have been paid for up to one year. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 2263, by Eissler, would expand the Innovation Grant Initiative to middle and junior high schools in addition to high schools. The grants awarded would be for implementing programs based on the best available research regarding reform, dropout prevention and preparing students for postsecondary coursework or employment. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 2542, by Eissler, would authorize a district to excuse two days of absence for a high school junior or senior who is visiting an institution of higher education. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 3643, by Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, relating to public school pre-kindergarten classes, would define “child” to include a stepchild and “parent” to include a stepparent. TSTA supports this bill.

May 20, 2009
House Public Health Committee Spares TRS from Pilot
The Texas House Public Health Committee today stripped the Teacher Retirement System of Texas from a questionable pilot program Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, had persuaded the eastern chamber to approve earlier this month in Senate Bill 10.

SB 10 proposes an alternative payment method pilot program for provision of health care services for individuals who receive health benefits through either the Employee Retirement System or TRS. Previously, TSTA’s John Grey testified to the Senate State Affairs Committee regarding TSTA’s concerns with the bill. The bill, as written, appears to allow TRS to choose the individuals who would participate in the pilot program and does not allow a selected individual to opt out. In addition, it is not clear whether participants in the pilot program would be allowed to obtain anything but basic care or catastrophic coverage.

Senate Education Committee May Tamper with Pay Raise
House Bill 3646, by House Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, the school finance bill, is up for a hearing in the Senate Education Committee tomorrow. We understand that Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, will have a committee substitute to the bill. The bill that came over from the House had two provisions TSTA supports. One of them contained a pass through teacher pay raise that has two parts to it. It provides that 50% of the new money appropriated for public education must be used for a teacher pay raise, and it established a floor of $800 if the new money doesn’t provide for that level of increase.

This provision has been under attack from various groups since it passed. This issue is complicated by the fact that the House Appropriations Committee decided to use federal stimulus money to fund the entire $1.9 billion that will flow through the school finance bill. An amendment was added to bill in the House that states if the U.S. Department of Education rules that the funds can’t be used for a pay raise, then the money will just flow to the districts per the formula in the bill. We most likely won’t know the answer to this question until after the bill is adopted and the Legislature’s regular session has adjourned sine die on June 1. We will deal with that fight if and when we get to it.

In any case, TSTA members face a very good chance that the fight for all pay raises will be at the local level, and we want to encourage all of you to plan for that eventuality now. At the end of the day, almost $2 billion will go to Texas school districts on top of the $2 billion in federal stimulus funds that have already been distributed. Another $1.5 billion is allocated for enrollment growth. We will keep you posted on this at it develops.

Senate Approves More Bills on Final Reading
The Texas Senate today passed four education bills on final reading:

House Bill 1020, by Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, would provide an exception to the rule that students be expelled for having weapons if the firearm is at an approved target range facility that is not located on a school campus and while participating in or preparing for a school sponsored-shooting sports competition or educational activity.

House Bill 2480, by House Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, would under certain circumstances allow a public junior college to enter into an agreement with a school district to offer a course regardless of whether the high school is located within the service area of the junior college district. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 2893, by Hochberg, would establish a technology demonstration project for improving teaching and learning. Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, amended the bill to add on his computer lending pilot program.

Senate Bill 2060, by Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, would allow a school bus to be equipped with a monitoring system that is capable of taking photographic or digital images, including video images, of vehicles that pass the bus when the bus is stopped to load and unload students and is capable of producing a live visual image of a child inside the bus that can be viewed remotely. The bill also would provide that the image of a vehicle passing illegally may be used as evidence.

House Passes Senate Bills on Final Reading
The Texas House of Representatives today passed the following education bills on final reading:

Senate Bill 451, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, relating to staff development requirements in public schools. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 891, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, relating to the public school physical education curriculum.

Senate Bill 1027, by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, relating to the establishment of an interagency farm-to-school coordination task force.

Senate Bill 1219, by Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, relating to a parenting and paternity awareness component of the health curriculum used in public high schools.

May 19, 2009
Legislature Passes Few Ed Bills So Far This Week
The Texas Senate yesterday passed on final reading the committee substitute to Senate Bill 688, by Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, relating to the mitigation of the impact of residential development in public school districts.

The Texas House of Representatives yesterday passed on final reading House Bill 2512, by Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, with Senate amendments. The bill relates to authorization to make an audio recording of a meeting or proceeding arising from a grievance reported by a public school employee.

The House today passed on final reading two education bills from the Senate:

Senate Bill 78, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, relating to promoting awareness and education about the purchase and availability of health coverage.

Senate Bill 161, by Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, relating to specialty license plates supporting the Safe Routes to School Program.

House Public Education Forwards Senate Bills to House
The Texas House Public Education Committee again voted to send Senate Bill 587, by Senate Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, to the full House for action. This bill, which TSTA supports, relates to the eligibility of school districts for state assistance with payment of existing debt.

The committee also voted to forward the following bills to the House for action:

Senate Bill 100, by Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, relating to professional development institutes for public school teachers and paraprofessionals regarding education of students with disabilities. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1489, by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, relating to optional dispute resolution methods for school districts and parents seeking or receiving special education services. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1727, by Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, relating to rules adopted and reporting required under the school district college credit program.

Senate Bill 1818, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, relating to providing an exemption from the administration of certain assessment instruments for certain public school students who are asylees or refugees. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1933, by Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, relating to the confidentiality of information and documents collected during a school district security audit.

Senate Bill 2033, by Rep. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, relating to the adoption of a school district grading policy. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 2044, by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, relating to membership on the district-level and campus-level planning and decision-making committees in public schools.

Senate Bill 2082, by Shapiro, relating to determining a student's eligibility for a school district's special education program on the basis of the student's visual impairment.

Senate Bill 2178, by Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, relating to the establishment by the commissioner of education of a computer lending pilot program for public schools.

Senate Bill 2248, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, relating to public school students placed in foster care.

Senate Bill 2258, by Zaffirini, relating to intensive summer programs for public school students and to college readiness programs at public institutions of higher education.

Senate Bill 2357, by Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, relating to the curriculum that must be provided by a disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP).

Senate Education Sends House Bills to Full Senate
The Texas Senate Education Committee today sent the following bills to the full Senate for action:

House Bill 192, by Rep. Roberto Alonzo, D- Dallas, relating to the absence of a student from school for activities in connection with obtaining United States citizenship. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 350, by Rep. David Leibowitz, D-San Antonio, relating to use of school district resources for athletic facilities.

House Bill 1041, by Rep. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, relating to school district policies addressing sexual abuse of children.

House Bill 3076, by Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, relating to a parenting and paternity awareness program used in the health curriculum for public schools.

House Bill 4294, by Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, relating to instructional materials and technological equipment in public schools. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 2488, by House Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to open-source textbooks for public schools. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 3041, by Rep. Joe Farias, D-San Antonio, relating to a comprehensive schedule of public school reporting requirements. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 3918, by Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, relating to testing liquefied petroleum gas systems in certain school facilities.

May 18, 2009
House Names Members to Accountability Conference
The Texas House of Representatives today refused to concur in changes the Senate had adopted to House Bill 3, the western chamber's version of the legislation to change the Texas public school accountability system. The House then named its members of the conference committee that will resolve the disagreements between HB 3 and the counterpart Senate Bill 3: Public Education Committee Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands; Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston; Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland; Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio; and Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston.

May 15, 2009
Senate OKs Two TSTA-Backed Education Bills
The Texas Senate today passed on final reading two TSTA-supported bills:

House Bill 772, by Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, would require the State Board of Education to webcast meetings live via both video and audio. SBOE currently webcasts its meetings only via audio.

House Bill 2512, by Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, would provide that a school district grievance policy must permit an audio recording to be made at any meeting or proceeding at which the substance of the grievance is investigated or discussed.

Houses Passes Education Bills on Final Reading
The Texas House of Representatives today passed three education bills on final reading:

House Bill 466, by Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, relating to procedures relating to placement of a public school student in a disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP).

House Bill 2280, by Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, relating to the right of a public school educator to remove a student from the educator’s classroom. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 3419, by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, relating to the disclosure of criminal history record information regarding public school employees. TSTA supports this bill.

House Public Ed Forwards Bills to Full House
The Texas House Public Education Committee today sent the following bills to the full House of Representatives for action:

Senate Bill 197, by Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, relating to the expansion of the financial literacy pilot program in public schools. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 199, by Shapleigh, relating to providing training in personal financial literacy instruction for public school teachers. TSTA supports this bill.

Committee substitute for Senate Bill 300, by Senate Education Committee Vice Chair Dan Patrick, R-Houston, relating to eliminating certain mandates on school districts. TSTA has opposed this bill, but we have not been able to obtain a copy of the committee substitute.

Senate Bill 587, by Senate Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, relating to the eligibility of school districts for state assistance with payment of existing debt. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 644, by Shapiro, relating to modifications, adjustments, and reimbursements under the public school finance system for a school district located in a disaster area. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 669, by Shapleigh, relating to the availability of online testing for high school equivalency examinations.

Senate Bill 892, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, relating to inclusion in a public school campus improvement plans of an evaluation of the campus coordinated health program.

Senate Bill 987, by Shapiro, relating to the age at which transition planning begins for a public school student receiving special education services. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1077, by Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, relating to driver education and driver's licensing requirements for minors.
Senate Bill 1107, by Shapiro, relating to the requirement that driver education curriculum include information regarding distractions while driving.

Senate Bill 1313, by Shapiro, relating to the quality and accessibility of public school career and technical education programs. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1363, by Shapiro, relating to clarification of the essential knowledge and skills of the public school curriculum and the evaluation of conforming curriculum management systems.

Senate Bill 1576, by Shapiro, relating to an algebra instruction grant program. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1830, by Patrick, relating to the establishment, operation, and funding of open- enrollment charter schools. TSTA opposes this bill.

May 14, 2009
House Nears Deadlines for Passing Its Bills
Today is the first major deadline of the legislative session in the Texas House of Representative. All House bills must pass on second reading or they are officially dead at midnight today. The Senate has several more days to continue passing Senate bills. Tomorrow is the last day for the House to pass its bills on third reading. We are still waiting for a conference committee to be appointed on Senate Bill 3 and House Bill 3, the conflicting accountability bills.

Senate Passes Two Education Bills on Final Reading
The Texas Senate today passed two TSTA-supported education bills on final reading:

House Bill 1364, by House Public Education Committee Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, would require coverage of pre-existing conditions for active school employees to meet the requirements of the insurance code.

House Bill 1574, by Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, would establish an autism spectrum disorders resource center to coordinate resources for individuals with autism and other pervasive developmental disorders and their families.

Houses Passes Investments Bill on Final Reading
The Texas House of Representatives today passed on final reading:

House Bill 3480, by Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Southlake, relating to annuities and investments for certain public employees.

Senate Education Committee Sends Bills to Full Senate
The Texas Senate Education Committee today sent seven bills to the full Senate with favorable recommendations for floor action:

House Bill 635, by Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, relating to the authority of the Texas Education Agency to seek, accept and distribute grants available for the benefit of public elementary and secondary education.

House Bill 829, by House Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to the jurisdiction of the commissioner of education to hear appeals arising under the school laws of this state. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 1020, by Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, relating to the use, exhibition or possession of a firearm by public school students participating in certain school-sponsored programs and activities sponsored or supported by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

House Bill 1423, by Guillen, relating to granting charters to public junior colleges for open-enrollment charter schools.

House Bill 2480, by Hochberg, relating to school district agreements with junior colleges for courses for joint high school and junior college credit. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 2893, by Hochberg, relating to the technology demonstration sites project.

House Bill 4152, by Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, relating to the certification of an educator in Texas who is certified in another state or country.

May 13, 2009
Senate Sets Up Accountability Showdown with House
The Texas Senate today passed on final reading the committee substitute to House Bill 3, the accountability bill. The Senate Education Committee simply substituted that chamber’s measure, Senate Bill 3, for HB 3, and the full Senate unanimously concurred after adopting one amendment by Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano. The amendment would reduce the number of high school elective credits in SB 3 from eight to six and would require one credit in fine arts and one credit in physical education. Although HB 3 and SB 3 were identical when they began, the respective committees and full chambers made changes in both. A House-Senate conference committee now will have to reconcile the differences between the two bills.

House Passes Two Education Bills on Final Reading
The Texas House of Representatives today passed two education-related bills on final reading. TSTA has not taken a position on either of these bills.

House Bill 1319, by Rep. Paula Pierson, D-Arlington, relating to an exemption for school districts from security for court costs and appeal bond.

House Bill 1801, by Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston, relating to exemptions from the sales tax for a limited period for certain backpack and school supplies specified by the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement.

House Public Ed Sends Three Senate Bills to House
The Texas House Public Education Committee late last night sent three Senate education bills to the full House of Representatives for action:

Senate Bill 635, by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, would require school districts to conduct school bus emergency evacuation training at least once each school year instead of twice each school year and also would require students and teachers to view a video as part of the training. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1364, by Senate Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, would provide that a student in any grade level from kindergarten through grade 12 may not be given credit or a grade for a class unless the student is in attendance for at least 90 percent of the days the class is offered. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 2270, by Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, would require that consideration be given to, rather than making it discretionary, the following factors when determining whether a student should be suspended, removed to a disciplinary alternative education program or expelled: self-defense, intent or lack of intent at the time the student engaged in the conduct, a student's disciplinary history or a disability that substantially impairs the student's capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the student’s conduct. TSTA has not taken a position on this bill.

May 12, 2009
House OKs School Finance Bill on Final Reading
The Texas House of Representative today overwhelmingly passed on final reading the biennial school finance bill, House Bill 3646, by Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston. TSTA supports this bill.

In other action, the House also passed on final reading a number of other education bills:

House Bill 1470, by Rep. Kristi Thibaut, D-Houston, relating to a requirement that school districts notify employees regarding entitlement to leave in circumstances involving assault. Thibaut carried this bill at TSTA’s request.

House Bill 4193, by Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Robstown, relating to a joint election for trustees of an independent school board.

House Bill 3220, by Rep. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, relating the applicability of certain laws to open-enrollment charter schools.

House Bill 3215, by Rep. Joe Farias, D-San Antonio, relating to the establishment of a down payment assistance program for certain professional educators by the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation.

House Bill 2703, by Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Missouri City, relating to classification of a pre-kindergarten or kindergarten student who is retained at the request of the student’s parent.

House Bill 1375, by Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, relating to staff development training for certain public school personnel regarding student disciplinary procedures. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 315, by Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, relating to the instruction of American Sign Language in public high schools.

House Bill 150, by Rep. Todd Smith, R-Bedford, relating to the application of the sales and use tax to the sale of certain food products sold at school events.

House Bill 1259, by Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, relating to hiring outside legal counsel to provide legal services to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.

House Bill 1654, by Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, relating to the appointment of high school deputy voting registrars.

House Bill 3173, by Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, relating to the statewide plan for delivery of services to public school students with disabilities and resources for teachers of public school students with special health needs. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 858, by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, relating to offering the classroom portion of a driver education course through an alternative method of instruction.

Senate OKs Pilot Program for Rural Job Access
The Texas Senate today passed two education-related bills on final reading, including one that would benefit students in rural parts of the state.

Senate Bill 2405, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, would direct the commissioner of agriculture to develop a rural work force investment pilot program to develop partnerships in rural areas among school districts, public junior colleges, general academic teaching institutions, and business and industry to provide greater access to career and technical education and industry certification to high school students in those areas.

House Bill 1622, by Rep. Helen Giddings, D-De Soto, would establish a grant program to provide children at risk of hunger or obesity with increased access to nutritious foods.

May 11, 2009
House Preliminarily Passes School Finance Bill
The Texas House of Representatives today passed the school finance bill, House Bill 3646, by Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, on second reading. The House did not on second reading amend the sections of the bill that provide for a pass-through pay raise and that eliminate the Texas Educator Excellence Grant Program (TEEG), moving the funds for it to the District Awards for Teacher Excellence (DATE) program.

But 19 amendments, mostly technical in nature, did pass. The one we are most concerned about was by Hochberg and directs the commissioner of education to determine if the federal stimulus money from President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act can be used to fund the salary increase or not. If he determines it can’t be use that way, then a statewide pay raise cannot implemented. We will be working to clarify that issue and sort out the other amendments. The bill should be up on third reading in the House tomorrow and over to the Senate later this week.

Our analysis of the bill as the House Public Education Committee passed it to the full House is online at http://www.tsta.org/legislative/update#Floor.

House Votes to Change Selection of TRS Board
The Texas House of Representatives today passed on final reading two bills affecting the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.

House Bill 2656, by Rep. Doug Miller, New Braunfels, gives both active teachers and retirees more say in selecting representatives on the TRS board.

“The TRS board is comprised of nine trustees appointed by the governor to six-year staggered terms with the following composition: three trustees directly appointed; two trustees appointed from a list recommended by the State Board of Education; two trustees appointed from three public school district active member candidates nominated by employees of public school districts; one trustee appointed from three higher education active member candidates nominated by employees of higher education institutions; and one trustee appointed from three retired member candidates who are nominated by retired TRS members. These appointments are subject to confirmation by the Senate. The direct appointments by the governor and those recommended by the State Board of Education must have demonstrated financial expertise, have worked in private business or industry, and have broad investment experience,” the House Research Organization’s bill analysis explains.

HB 2656 would provide “that two retired members of the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) would be on the board of trustees, both to be elected by former members of the retirement system. These elected members would replace two governor’s appointments, one that was nominated by retired TRS members and one that was nominated by the State Board of Education and required to have financial expertise. The board would remain at nine members. The two elected retired members would hold office for staggered terms. This change would apply only to the appointment or election of a trustee of the TRS board that occurs on or after the bill’s effective date. Sitting board members would complete their term of office,” according to the HRO bill analysis.

House Bill 1259, by Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, would limit the TRS board’s authority to employ outside legal counsel to provide services to the board except as provided by current law, regardless of the source of funding to pay for those services.

Senate OKs Grant Program to Encourage Reading
The Texas Senate today unanimously passed on final reading Senate Bill 382, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, relating to a competitive grant program to fund promotion of early literacy programs in certain communities in this state. SB 382 would provide a competitive grant program to promote early literacy to be established by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Part of the program would require health care practitioners who volunteer to encourage parents to read to their children and teach their children to read in conjunction with a well child exam and to provide books to children. TSTA supports this bill.

May 8, 2009
House Gives Final OK to Pre-Kindergarten Grant Bill
The Texas House of Representatives today voted 106-31 for the much-amended House Bill 130, by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, that would create a grant program for enhanced quality full-day pre-kindergarten. This affirmed yesterday’s second-reading vote of 109-32 for the measure that the House amended nine times then. The House tentatively budgeted $25 million to fund these grants. If the Legislature approves that appropriation, it would serve only approximately 3,000 pre-kindergarten students statewide.

“School districts with a high percentage of students who are educationally disadvantaged, as determined by the commissioner” of education would have priority to obtain available grants. The measure importantly would maintain class-size limits: “A school district may not enroll more than 22 students in a program class and must maintain an average ratio in the program of not less than one certified teacher or teacher's aide for each 11 students. Each program class must have at least one certified teacher.” TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Ed Advances Eight More Bills for Floor Votes
The Texas Senate Education Committee met briefly today to send the following bills to the full Senate for action. TSTA supports all of these bills except the objectionable “test and punish” accountability bill the committee voted for.

The committee today yesterday took up House Bill 3, the version of the accountability bill that the House of Representatives by amendment had made somewhat better for students, educators, school districts and campuses before unanimously passing it. But the committee rejected that, instead adopting as the committee substitute for HB 3 the Senate accountability measure, Senate Bill 3, as the full Senate had passed it. That version continues to overemphasize “test and punish.” The committee today reaffirmed that decision, so the two accountability bills will have to go to a House-Senate conference committee. TSTA will continue working to reduce the emphasis on “test and punish” in whatever accountability measure the Legislature ultimately passes this year.

Senate Bill 688, by Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, would require a developer of a proposed residential development containing 1,000 or more single-family housing units or to submit the plat to the school district in which the development is located. A committee substitute was adopted that would allow for competitive pricing for the land offered to a school district for an elementary school and would make the bill apply to the development of apartment complexes.

House Bill 772, by Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, would require the State Board of Education to web cast meetings live via both video and audio over the Internet.

House Bill 1332, by Rep. Diana Maldonado, D-Round Rock, would require that each student and student’s parent be responsible for not only unreturned textbooks, but also unreturned electronic textbooks and technological equipment.

House Bill 1365, by House Public Education Committee Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, would require a school district to provide a former classroom teacher, librarian, counselor or nurse's service record to a school district employing the individual not later than 30 days after the date of the request. If a district fails, the Texas Education Agency would have to provide information it has to the employing district to enable it to determine proper placement of the individual on the district's salary schedule. Back pay would be paid for any difference upon a determination that a higher salary should have been paid for up to one year.

House Bill 2263, by Eissler, would expand the Innovation Grant Initiative to middle and junior high schools in addition to high schools. The grants awarded would be for implementing programs are based on the best available research regarding reform, dropout prevention and preparing students for postsecondary coursework or employment.

House Bill 2512, by Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, provides that a school district grievance policy would have to permit an audio recording to be made at any meeting or proceeding at which the substance of the grievance is investigated or discussed and that the recording could be made by a district employee or the person conducting the meeting or proceeding. Also would require that notice of the recording would have to be given to all involved.

House Bill 2542, by Eissler, would authorize a school district to excuse two days of absence for a high school junior or senior who is visiting an institution of higher education.

May 7, 2009
Senate Approves TSTA-Supported Education Bills
The Texas Senate today passed three education bills, including these two that TSTA supports:

TSTA has not taken a position on House Bill 2763, by Rep. Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin, relating to the regulation of industrialized housing and buildings as this applies to “relocatable educational facilities.”

House Preliminarily Passes Pre-Kindergarten Grant Bill
Following a lengthy debate that saw 14 amendments introduced and nine adopted, the Texas House of Representatives today passed by 109-32 on second reading the committee substitute to House Bill 130, by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, that would create a grant program for enhanced quality full-day pre-kindergarten.

“School districts with a high percentage of students who are educationally disadvantaged, as determined by the commissioner” of education would have priority to obtain available grants. The measure importantly would maintain class-size limits: “A school district may not enroll more than 22 students in a program class and must maintain an average ratio in the program of not less than one certified teacher or teacher's aide for each 11 students. Each program class must have at least one certified teacher.”

An amendment by Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, would require the Texas Education Agency to “develop joint strategies with other state agencies to increase community awareness of pre-kindergarten programs through programs that provide information relating to public assistance programs.”

The strong bipartisan vote in favor of this bill was significant because of organized opposition from far-right groups, such as the Texas Eagle Forum, which calls pre-kindergarten “government-subsidized babysitting,” notwithstanding repeated studies that show the importance of quality early educational programs for later success in school.

The House still has to act on the amended HR 130 on final reading. The companion Senate bill has not made it to the floor of that chamber for debate yet.

The House also passed eight education bills on final reading, including these three TSTA supports.

House Bill 136, by Villarreal, relating to providing notification to parents of eligible children of the availability of pre-kindergarten classes.

House Bill 192, by Rep. Roberto Alonzo, D-Dallas, relating to the absence of a student from school for activities in connection with obtaining United States citizenship.

House Bill 999, by Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, relating to the closure of a school campus by the board of trustees of a school district.

TSTA has not taken a position on these five bills the House passed today:

House Bill 200, by Rep. Joe Heflin, D-Crosbyton, relating to continuing education requirements for public school principals.

House Bill 626, by Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, relating to an educational involvement agreement setting forth the respective responsibilities of students, parents, teachers and principals in public schools.

House Bill 1041, by Rep. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, relating to school district policies addressing sexual abuse of children.

House Bill 1425, by Rep. Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, relating to the determination of the population of a county required to develop a juvenile justice alternative education program (JJAEP).

House Bill 3276, by Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, relating to the determination of student priority in awarding TEXAS grants.

House Public Ed Committee OKs Bills for Floor Action
The Texas House Public Education today approved several bills, sending them to the full House for action.

TSTA supports these bills:

Senate Bill 451, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, would require staff training on instruction of students with disabilities for certain educators.

House Bill 1375, by Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, would mandate that teachers, principals or other administrators who oversee student discipline matters must attend staff development training designed to assist in determining methods for incorporating appropriate discipline management techniques consistent with the student code of conduct. The professional development would have to include information relating to the distinction between discipline management techniques used at the discretion of the principal and the discretionary authority of a teacher to remove the disruptive student.

House Bill 2280, by Thompson, would create a violation of the educator’s code of ethics for an educator to retaliate against another educator for removing a student. Retaliation would include suspension, or termination, or adverse personnel action such as reassigning the educator or giving the educator a negative appraisal.

TSTA has taken no position on these bills:

House Bill 4407, by Rep. Larry Taylor, R-League City, would mandate that district maintain at each campus at which a school nurse serves a supply of anaphylaxis medicine to be used when necessary.

Senate Bill 33, by Sen. Judith Zaffarini, D-Laredo, would outline requirements for school districts regarding parental notification and documentation in connection with disciplinary alternative education programs (DAEP).

Senate Bill 283, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, would require a district to appoint members to its local school health advisory council, including a chair or co-chairs, and would require the council to meet four times a year and to submit an annual report to the school board.

Senate Bill 891, by Nelson, would mandate that the required state physical education curriculum to be sequential, developmentally appropriate and designed, implemented and evaluated to enable students to develop the motor, self-management and other skills, knowledge, attitudes and confidence necessary to participate in physical activity throughout life.

Senate Bill 1219, by Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, would establish a parenting and paternity awareness component of the health curriculum used in public high schools.

Committee substitute for Senate Bill 1255, by Senate Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, would offer additional guarantees for certain bonds issued by school districts.

May 6, 2009
House Keeps State Board of Ed Free of Sunset Review
The Texas House of Representatives today reversed a vote it had taken yesterday on second reading to subject the State Board of Education to periodic review by the Sunset Advisory Commission. This would not have led to the abolition of the SBOE, which the Texas Constitution provides to be an elected body. The House had adopted House Bill 710, by Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, by a 74-68 vote. Today, however, the House voted 71-73 on final reading, so the SBOE will not be periodically reviewed by the Sunset Advisory Commission, after all.

The House passed three other education bills on third reading:

House Bill 339, by Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, relating to driver education and driver's licensing requirements for minors.

House Bill 636, by Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, relating to allocation of state and federal funding for adult basic education.

House Bill 4091, by Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, relating to an intensive reading improvement program for public school students of limited English proficiency.

Senators Unanimously Pass Educator Privacy Bill
The Texas Senate today unanimously passed Senate Bill 1858, by Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, relating to the disclosure of criminal history record information regarding public school employees. TSTA supports SB 1858, which would provide that criminal history record information obtained by the state may be used only for a purpose related to the issuance, denial, suspension or cancellation of a certificate issued by the State Board of Educator Certification; may not be released to any person except the person who is the subject of the information, the Texas Education Agency, a local or regional educational entity or by court order; is not subject to disclosure as provided by the Texas Public Information Act; and shall be destroyed by the SBEC after the information is used for the authorized purposes.

May 5, 2009
House Public Ed Hears Long List of Senate Bills
The Texas House Public Education Committee today considered a long list of bills, most of them previously passed by the Senate:

House Bill 1273, by Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, relating to reporting of and an adjustment under the school finance system for benefits received by school districts or associated foundations or other entities in connection with agreements under the Economic Development Act.

Senate Bill 33, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, relating to school district requirements regarding parental notification and documentation in connection with disciplinary alternative education programs.

Senate Bill 283, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, relating to the membership and activities of local school health advisory councils.

Senate Bill 300, by Senate Education Committee Vice Chair Dan Patrick, R-Houston, would eliminate several mandates charged to school boards and districts; change class size limits for kindergarten through fourth grade to a campuswide average of 22 students per teacher; also allow the commissioner of education to exempt not only exemplary, but also recognized campuses from class size limit if shown that it will not be harmful to the academic achievement of the students on the campus; remove mandatory language requiring school boards to establish goals to reduce annual electric consumption and makes it permissive; remove mandate and encourages districts to purchase light bulbs that use less watts; and make bus evacuation drills permissive. TSTA opposes this bill.

Senate Bill 451, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-Dan Antonio, would require staff training on instruction of students with disabilities for certain educators. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 587, by Senate Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, would permit school districts to pay bonds with state and local funds under certain circumstances and would set limits on aid to pay bonds. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 635, by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, would require a school district to conduct school bus emergency evacuation training at least once each school year instead of twice each school year and would require students and teachers to view a video as part of the training. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 759, by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, would increase the number of years a company or organization can distribute, sell or grade for the same school district from three to eight years. State and national norms of averages would have to be computed using data that are not more than eight years old versus the six now required.

Senate Bill 817, by Sen.Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, would require the commissioner of education to provide funding of not less than $30 million per fiscal year to Communities In Schools. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 891, by Nelson, would mandate that the required state physical education curriculum be sequential, developmentally appropriate, and designed, implemented and evaluated to enable students to develop the motor, self-management and other skills, knowledge, attitudes and confidence necessary to participate in physical activity throughout life.

Senate Bill 987, by Shapiro, would require the commissioner of education to adopt procedures for compliance with federal requirements relating to transition services for students who are enrolled in special education programs. The procedures would have to provide that transition planning begins for a student not later than when the student reaches 14 years of age. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1125, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, would require the commissioner of education to adopt procedures for compliance with federal requirements relating to transition services for students who are enrolled in special education programs. The procedures would have to provide that transition planning begins for a student not later than when the student reaches 14 years of age. The commissioner also would have to require each school district or shared services arrangement to designate an employee as the school transition and employment services specialist to serve as the district’s or shared services arrangement's expert on transition and employment services for students enrolled in special education programs. The bill would require the Texas Education Agency to develop a Performance-Based Monitoring Analysis System indicator regarding the success of students enrolled in special education programs in transitioning to life outside the public school system. The bill also would require the agency to develop a comprehensive transition and employment manual for students enrolled in special education programs and their parents to assist in the transition to life outside the public school system. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1219, by Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, relating to a parenting and paternity awareness component of the health curriculum used in public high schools.

Senate Bill 1255, by Shapiro, relating to additional guarantees for certain bonds issued by school districts.

Senate Bill 1364, by Shapiro, would provide that a student in any grade level from kindergarten through grade 12 could not be given credit or a grade for a class unless the student is in attendance for at least 90 percent of the days the class is offered. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1576, by Shapiro, would require the commissioner of education to establish a program under which grants are awarded to school districts to implement an algebra instruction program and would require the commissioner to develop a comprehensive intervention plan to assist school districts with a disproportionate number of students who fail to perform satisfactorily on the assessment instrument administered in grades 5-7. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Approves Computer Lending Program
The Texas Senate today passed Senate Bill 2178, by Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, which would require the commissioner of education to establish a computer lending pilot program to provide computers to participating public schools that make computers available for use by students and their parents.

House Passes Bill for Voter Education Program
The Texas House of Representatives today passed House Bill 2209, by Rep. Aaron Pena, D-Edinburg, which would direct the secretary of state and commissioner of education to develop a voter education program for high school seniors. The program would include the importance of voting, how to register, how to vote, election dates, polling hours and early voting. Once a year and upon request, the county clerk or elections administrator would present the program.

May 4, 2009
House Promotes Electronic Textbooks
The Texas House of Representatives today passed education bills on final reading, including one TSTA supports that would move Texas public schools toward using more electronic instructional materials.

House Bill 4294, by Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, relating to textbooks, electronic textbooks, instructional material and technological equipment in public schools. The committee adopted a substitute that would authorize the use of the state textbook fund for technological equipment. The bill also would require the commissioner of education to adopt a list of electronic textbooks and other instructional materials and would authorize the use of the state textbook fund to purchase them. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 1020, by Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, relating to the use, exhibition or possession of a firearm by public school students participating in certain school-sponsored programs and activities sponsored or supported by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Senate Approves Questionable Pilot Program
The Texas Senate today passed two bills on final reading, including one TSTA questions.

Senate Bill 10, by President Pro Tempore Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, proposes an alternative payment method pilot program for provision of health care services for individuals who receive health benefits through either the Employee Retirement System or Teacher Retirement System of Texas. Previously, TSTA’s John Grey testified to the Senate State Affairs Committee regarding TSTA’s concerns with the bill. The bill, as written, appears to allow TRS to choose the individuals who would participate in the pilot program and does not allow a selected individual to opt out. In addition, it is not clear whether participants in the pilot program would be allowed to obtain anything but basic care or catastrophic coverage. Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, echoed TSTA’s concerns on the bill; however, the Senate passed it unanimously. TSTA will continue to work to fix SB 10’s serious flaws as it goes to the House of Representatives.

Senate Bill 2258, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, would require the commissioner of education to award grants to participating campuses to provide intensive academic instruction during the period in which school is recessed for the summer to promote college and workforce readiness to students identified as being at risk of dropping out of school. A committee substitute was adopted, clarifying that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board will not administer the public education part of the bill.

A Comparison of House and Senate Versions of SB 1
A summary of differences between the Senate and House versions of Senate Bill 1, the General Appropriations Bill,  which was prepared for the SB 1 Conference Committee. more

May 1, 2009
House Public Ed Sends School Finance Bill to Floor
The Texas House Public Education Committee today unanimously voted out the long-awaited school finance bill, the committee substitute to House Bill 3646, by Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, sending it to the full House of Representatives for action. The bill is long and complex, so analyzing it will take time. But two important parts address salaries and incentive pay.

The salary provision has two parts. First, it calls for at least 50% of the money that district receives under the bill to be used for an across-the-board, pass-through pay raise for every teacher, full-time speech pathologist, full-time librarian, full-time nurse and full-time certified counselor. It establishes a minimum $800 pay raise if the amount the district receives under the first section does not provide at least that much of a pay raise. Funds in this section are also used to pay for increased Social Security and Teacher Retirement System of Texas costs.

The bill eliminates the Texas Educator Excellence Grant Program and moves the funds for that program to the District Awards for Teacher Excellence. Some key changes are:
• Teachers eligible to receive the awards must be notified of the specific criteria and any formulas that will be used to determined the awards before the program is initiated.
• The amount of the award that must be used to directly reward classroom teachers who effectively improve student achievement as determined by meaningful, objective measures is reduced from 60% to 30%.

The remaining funds must be used to:
• Recruit and retain highly qualified teaches and principals for campuses serving high numbers of economically disadvantaged students;
• Recruit and retain certified math, science, special education, bilingual education, or English as second language (ESL) teachers;
• Provide teacher induction and mentoring support;
• Provide funding for previously developed incentive program.

The bill prohibits rules being written that establish additional criteria for local awards plans, except to provide financial accountability.

Both provisions are a big step in the right direction, TSTA will continue to push for more money for salaries and school districts and further reduction in pay schemes tied to student test scores.

The House Public Education Committee also sent the following bills to the full House for action.

TSTA supports House Bill 172, by Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Missouri City, which would require prompt parental notification of a disciplinary action taken against a public school student.

TSTA opposes House Bill 2541, by Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, which is a complex bill that would expand the number of charter schools and provide facilities funding to such schools. It is a flawed bill, and even the author expect multiple floor amendments.

TSTA is taking no position on the following bills:

House Bill 2703, by Olivo, would no longer require pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children who are held back a year at the request of their parents to be labeled at-risk students.

House Bill 3051, by Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, would allow for a charter to be renewed for a 25-year period if it has been operating for five years or more, if each school operating under the charter has been rated exemplary or recognized, and if the charter is not at risk of insolvency.

House Bill 315, by Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, would allow schools to offer American Sign Language as an elective in public high schools.

House Bill 3220, by Rep. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, would define open-enrollment charter schools as local governments under the Texas Tort Claims Act.

House Sets Deadline for TEA on Grievance Appeals
The Texas House of Representatives today passed three education-related bills on final reading, including a TSTA-supported on that requires the commissioner of education to deal with grievances within a reasonable amount of time.

House Bill 829, by Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, R-Houston, relating to the jurisdiction of the commissioner of education to hear appeals arising under the school laws of this state. TSTA supports this bill. Rep. Joe Farias, D-San Antonio, amended HB 829 on the House floor to mandate that the commissioner of education rule on grievance cases within 180 days.

The Texas Education code allows certain grievances to be appealed to the commissioner. Once a grievance is thus appealed, the law does not give the commissioner a set deadline to rule on the appeal. As a result, these cases can languish at the Texas Education Agency for years – literally. The commissioner has no compulsion to issue a ruling, and the parties involved in the grievance have no avenue to require the commissioner to resolve the ongoing dispute.

The new language HB 829 would put in the Education Code would require the commissioner to issue a decision within 180 days of receiving an appeal. That would require that the commissioner resolve a case appealed to that office in a reasonable amount of time.

House Bill 171, by Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Missouri City, relating to consideration of mitigating factors in determining appropriated disciplinary action to be taken against a public school student.

House Bill 2149, by Rep. Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, relating to the liability of public servants of certain governmental units for property damage.

Senate Bill Would Allow Limited Charter Expansion
The Texas Senate today passed on final reading two education bills, including a more sensible measure that would allow the expansion of the number of charter schools in the state.

Senate Bill 1830, by Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, would repeal the limit of 215 charter schools current law allows and would allow a charter holder to establish new school campuses without applying for authorization. Previously, TSTA’s John Grey opposed the original version of this bill in oral testimony before the Senate Education Committee. Grey told the committee that removing the cap was irresponsible and that moving the cap in a reasonable, responsible manner made more sense. The Senate agreed with Grey, and Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, amended the bill on the floor to allow only 10 new charters per year. Grey also cautioned the committee about the very loose standards that would allow charter schools to expand at will and asked if this is the standard we want to use for charter school expansion. Grey pointed out that if 25% of the campuses at a charter school are academically unacceptable, that charter school may be eligible to open more campuses at will, with no limit. Apparently, the committee did not like those loose standards either and raised them by requiring a charter holder to achieve an academic rating of acceptable for 90% of the charter holder’s campuses before a charter holder would be eligible for expansion. TSTA will continue working to fix the amended bill’s flaws as it goes to the House of Representatives.

Senate Bill 548, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, would add numerous factors the Texas Education Agency must analyze in its accountability evaluation for bilingual education, special education and other special language programs, disaggregated by campus, school district and open-enrollment charter school. The bill lays out a laundry list of required corrective action if an entity is found to be in noncompliance and also would requires additional Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) data to be submitted relating to a student being transferred out of a bilingual or special education program.

Senate Panel OKs Bill for Autism Resources Center
The Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services last night sent House Bill 1574, by Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, to the Senate’s Local and Uncontested Calendar with a favorable recommendation. The bill would create a statewide autism spectrum disorders resource center. TSTA supports HB 1574.

April 30, 2009
Senate Passes Watered-down Bill on Counselors
The Texas Senate today passed the following education bills on final reading:

Senate Bill 568, by Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, would require a school district with 350 or more students to employ a certified counselor for each school in the district. Further, a school district must employ at least one counselor for every 350 students in the district. A committee substitute was adopted that zeroed out the fiscal note. The bill now requires only that a school district inform a parent if a campus has no counselor. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1344, by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, would require the State Board of Education to adopt Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards that address dangers, causes, consequences, signs, symptoms and treatment of binge drinking and alcohol poisoning. A committee substitute was adopted that made minor changes and titled the bill the Carson Starkey Alcohol Education and Awareness Act.

Senate Bill 1501, by Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, would allow a nonprofit organization to be awarded a grant for agricultural projects or other projects designed to foster understanding and awareness of agriculture.

Senate Bill 1727, by West, would allow the commissioner of education to adopt rules concerning a school district’s duties under the school district college credit program and would address reporting requirements.

Senate Bill 1895, by Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, would change the length of the terms for board members of certain school districts.

Senate Bill 2082, by Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, states that to determine a child's eligibility for a school district’s special education program on the basis of a visual impairment, the full individual and initial evaluation of the student would, in accordance with commissioner rule, have to include an orientation and mobility evaluation conducted by a person who is appropriately certified as an orientation and mobility specialist, as determined under commissioner rule, and in a variety of settings, including in the student's home, school and community and in settings unfamiliar to the student; and would have to provide for a person who is appropriately certified as an orientation and mobility specialist to participate, as part of the multidisciplinary team, in evaluating data on which the determination of the child’s eligibility is based.

Senate Bill 2248, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, would require the Texas Education Agency to assist the transition of foster care students from one school to another. A committee substitute was adopted that expanded the class of eligible children to those that are under temporary or permanent care of the state.

Senate Bill 2357, by Gallegos, would require each school district to provide a disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP) that provides structured courses in English language arts, mathematics, science, history and self-discipline that are equivalent in content and rigor to courses in those subjects as provided in the regular classroom setting and to provide an established curriculum for each grade level that provides students an opportunity to achieve promotion to the next grade level or to graduate from high school on the same schedule as students in the regular classroom setting.

House Passes Bill on Open Source Textbooks
The Texas House of Representatives today passed several education bills, including one TSTA supports.

House Bill 2488, by Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to open-source textbooks for public schools. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 1423, by Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, relating to granting charters to public junior colleges for open-enrollment charter schools.

House Bill 2893, by Hochberg, relating to the technology demonstration sites project.

House Bill 3454, by Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, relating to the determination of the value of property for ad valorem tax purposes.

House Bill 3461, by Rep. Rob Orr, R-Burleson, relating to the powers and duties of the School Land Board and the commissioner of the General Land Office.

House Bill 3918, by Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, relating to testing liquefied petroleum gas systems in certain school facilities.

House Bill 4152, by Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, relating to certification of an educator in Texas who is certified in another state or country.

House Bill 4590, by Appropriations Committee Chair Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, relating to transfers from the Permanent School Fund to the Available School Fund.

Bill Would Boost Member Role in Picking TRS Board
The Texas House Pensions, Investments and Financial Services Committee on Wednesday voted to send House Bill 648, by Rep. Yvonne Davis, D-Dallas, to the full House with a favorable recommendation. The bill relating to the selection of certain members of the board of trustees of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas would reduce the number of gubernatorial appointees on the board from seven to three, with four others to be elected by TRS members. TSTA supports this bill.

Nomination of SBOE Chair ‘Dead in the Water’
“The confirmation of State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy is dead in the water, Sen. Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, said Thursday,” the Austin American-Statesman’s Kate Alexander reported here.

April 29, 2009
House Sings ‘O Tannenbaum’ While Senate Scrooges
The Texas House of Representatives today took full advantage of consideration of the committee substitute to House Bill 3, the accountability revision measure, turning it into a legislative Christmas tree that members trimmed with dozens of amendment decorations. On the other side of the Capitol, the Texas Senate took up its committee substitute to Senate Bill 3, its accountability revision measure, but decorated it with far fewer amendments. Both chambers today passed their respective measures on second reading. The House then suspended its rules and unanimously adopted the amended bill on final reading.

Although the original versions of HB 3 and SB 3 were identical, by the end of today’s action, the much-amended House accountability bill looked more inviting for Texas public school students, teachers, campuses and districts than the Senate version. Unfortunately, though, the House measure still taints the holiday eggnog with test and punish, although to a lesser degree than the Senate version.

“The school accountability measures before the Legislature are a step sideways instead of a step forward. The bills still place too much emphasis on standardized tests and punitive sanctions instead of providing the support necessary to prepare our children for success in the 21st-century economy,” said Rita C. Haecker, the president of the 65,000-member Texas State Teachers Association.

“Although House Bill 3 includes some improvements over the terrible accountability system in place today, the bill falls short of the changes we need to move toward excellence in public education,” the top officer of the state’s oldest education organization added.

The House considered 92 amendments today, adopting 66 of them, including these major changes:

By Rep. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, to require a scientifically valid research study based on empirical evidence to determine what constitutes college readiness.

By Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, to strip out for-profit companies as an alternative to school closures under the sanctions section.

By Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, to create six pilot campuses to test the use of measures other than standardized tests to determine student achievement.

By Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, to limit local testing to no more than eight days a year.

By Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, to prohibit the Texas Education Agency from sending grant money to private schools.

By Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, to remove the provision that requires 75% of the staff be removed from a repurposed campus.

Several amendments also clarified what constitutes a “dropout” in the bill.

The Senate adopted eight amendments today, including these major ones:

By Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, to require students in grades 6-8 to enroll in a fine arts class for at least four semesters during those grade levels.

By Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, to allow the commissioner of education to immediately apply any provisions of the bill related to sanctions and interventions.

By Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, to delay by one school year the implementation of holding schools accountable for the college readiness standards yet to be adopted. Shapiro accepted the amendment, but Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, objected to it. The purpose of the delay is to allow time for the state to develop, test and, if necessary, revise appropriate college readiness standards. Ogden, however, refused to acknowledge that college readiness standards do not exist in any state in this country and suggested he could come up with the Algebra II standard in one week. The Senate rejected that suggestion.

By Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, to require school districts to adopt a grading policy that requires students to earn the grade they receive in a course and prohibit teachers from assigning a minimum grade to a student without regard to the student’s quality of work. This duplicates Nelson’s Senate Bill 2033, which the Senate had already passed.

When the final version of SB 3 also passes its chamber on final reading, the substantial differences between the two accountability bills will require reconciliation by a House-Senate conference committee. TSTA will continue to closely monitor work on the accountability bills, including that in the conference committee.

House Passes Another TSTA-Backed Educator Privacy Bill
The Texas House of Representatives today also passed on final reading House Bill 4302, by Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston. It would preserve the confidentiality of criminal history record information. It also would prevent disclosure to the public at large of documents or information in documents that contain criminal history record information or that would confirm the existence or nonexistence of criminal history record information. The bill would not hinder in any way the use of the background-check information by school districts and the State Board for Educator Certification to enforce local policies and state laws imposing sanctions on employees for criminal conduct. Instead, it would facilitate that use. TSTA supports this bill.

In addition, the House passed two other education bills on final reading:

House Bill 3841, by Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, relating to requiring joint elections for trustees of common school districts.

House Bill 4435, by Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, relating to the requirement for mandatory participation by certain principals in the School Leadership Pilot Program for Principals.

April 28, 2009
Compare Revised House, Senate Accountability Bills
TSTA Public Affairs has prepared a detailed side-by-side comparison of the major provisions of the committee substitutes for the two public school accountability bills, House Bill 3 and Senate Bill 3. The bills were identical when House Public Education Committee Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, and Senate Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, introduced them. Following lengthy public hearings and extensive written testimony, the respective committees revised the original bills with some key differences. TSTA’s comparison of the two is online here.

House Passes Bill Defining, Helping Head Start
The Texas House of Representatives today passed on final reading seven education bills, including one intended to ensure that Head Start programs in the state would be eligible for grants from the federal E-Rate program, which helps schools obtain affordable telecommunications services.

House Bill 635, by Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, would provide that the Texas Education Agency may seek, accept and distribute grants awarded by the federal government subject to the limitations imposed by law. It also would allow the commissioner of education to determine that a Head Start program operated in this state by a district or a community-based organization serves the function of a public elementary school under the laws of this state by providing elementary education at one or more program facilities.

House Bill 2037, by Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, relating to the creation of the Permanent School Fund Management Council to manage the Permanent School Fund. This is the enabling legislation for House Joint Resolution 77, which the House voted yesterday to send to the people of Texas to consider adding as an amendment to the state Constitution.

House Bill 2480, by Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to school district agreements with junior colleges for courses for joint high school and junior college credit. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 2803, by Hochberg, relating to the administration of assessment instruments by computer.

House Bill 3041, by Rep. Joe Farias, D-San Antonio, would require the Texas Education Agency to develop and maintain a comprehensive schedule that addresses each reporting requirement generally applicable to a school district and that specifies the date by which a school district must comply with each requirement. The agency also would determine the appropriate format of the schedule and the manner in which the schedule is made readily accessible to school districts. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 3076, by Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, relating to a parenting and paternity awareness program used in the health curriculum for public schools.

Senate Bill 522, by Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, relating to the use of personal leave by a public school employee. TSTA supports this bill.

House Public Ed Votes on, Discusses Several Bills
The Texas House Public Education Committee met this evening and voted to send the following bills to the full House of Representatives for action:

House Bill 1041, by Rep. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, would require school districts to adopt and implement a policy addressing sexual abuse of children that would have to include methods for increasing teacher, student and parent awareness and the warning signs, methods of preventing abuse, actions to be taken by a child and available counseling.

House Bill 1425, by Rep. Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, would provide that the population of a county is to be determined according to the 2000 federal census for purposes of determining whether a juvenile justice alternative education program (JJAEP) should be developed.

House Bill 2264, by Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, would create a middle and junior high school grant program for after-school learning opportunities focused on students at risk of dropping out of school. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 4193, by Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Robstown, would mandate that a school board election occur during the election for the members of the governing body or other citywide elected board of a municipality located within the district.

Senate Bill 1290, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, would allow a school district to assign a mentor teacher to each classroom teacher who has less than two years of teaching experience in the subject or grade level to which the teacher is assigned. TSTA supports this bill, which is the companion bill to House Bill 3771, by Rep. Joe Farias, D-San Antonio.

The committee also discussed several other bills:

House Bill 315, by Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, would require a public high school to offer an elective course in American Sign Language that would have to be offered through in-person instruction by a teacher in the classroom and not by teleconferencing or other electronic means.

House Bill 1281, by Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, would add to the foundation curriculum a course on adult responsibility education. It would include provision that the curriculum will be designed by an advisory panel established by Texas Education Agency. The curriculum would have to be focused on social, emotional and behavioral interaction to prepare students for adult responsibility.

House Bill 1375, by Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, would mandates that each teacher and principal or other administrator who oversees student discipline matters attend staff development training designed to assist that person in determining methods for incorporating appropriate discipline management techniques consistent with the student code of conduct. The professional development would have to include information relating to the distinction between discipline management techniques used at the discretion of the principal and the discretionary authority of a teacher to remove the disruptive student. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 1621, by Rep. Helen Giddings, D-De Soto, relating to notification of certain members of the Legislature if a school district fails to file its annual audit report in a timely manner.

House Bill 1944, by Giddings, would provide that if a school district fails to file its annual audit report within 180 days, that the Texas Education Agency would provide written notification of the failure and the due date. The district then would have to post on its website a notification of the failure to file, to be maintained until the report is filed, and the district would have to conduct a public meeting to read the notification into the minutes and to discuss a date for filing the report along with reasons for why it was not filed timely.

House Bill 2280, by Thompson, would create a violation of the educator’s code of ethics for an educator to retaliate against another educator for removing a student. Retaliation would include suspension or termination, or adverse personnel action such as reassigning the educator or giving the educator a negative appraisal. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 2476, by Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Missouri City, would provide for staff development in discipline strategies to address classroom management, district discipline policies and student code of conduct. The bill also would require the commissioner of education to develop a discipline management training program for teachers, including those at schools with a high assignment to disciplinary alternative education programs (DAEP).

House Bill 2703, by Olivo, would exclude from dropout risk a student who did not advance from pre-kindergarten or kindergarten to the next grade level as a result of parental request.

House Bill 3050, by Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, would create a pilot project where students are assessed based on solving a problem or demonstrating a skill rather than answering a question from a possible list of answers. The bill also would allow an essay, performance, oral presentation, demonstration, experiment or exhibition. The Texas Education Agency would select six school districts to conduct the pilot. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 3646, by Hochberg, would provide for a teacher pay raise. The bill also would create a special education grant for the purpose of making grants available to districts to assist in covering the cost of educating students with disabilities, provide $275 per average daily attendance (ADA) in grades 9 through 12 as a high school allotment, establish the state compression rate at 66.67 percent and increase the yield on last adopted six cents in a local tax rate for maintenance and operation.

Senate Passes Bill to Aid Disaster-Hit Districts
The Texas Senate today passed on final reading four education bills, including one that would allow for relief for school districts in disaster areas.

Senate Bill 644, by Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, would allow for modifications, adjustments and reimbursements under the public school finance system and contract delegation authority for school districts in disaster areas. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1548, by Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, would change the Pension Review Board to the Pension and Investment Review Board. The bill also would change the makeup of the board and the qualifications to serve on the board, would provide for review of investment practices of certain public funds and would regulate the contracts of investment managers.

Senate Bill 2270, by Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, would mandate that consideration should be given to, rather than making it discretionary, the following factors when determining whether a student should be suspended, removed to a disciplinary alternative education program or expelled: self-defense, intent or lack of intent at the time the student engaged in the conduct a student's disciplinary history or a disability that substantially impairs the student's capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the conduct.

Senate Bill 2323, by Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, states that in accordance with guidelines established by the Texas School Safety Center, each campus in a school district would establish a school safety planning committee. The bill further states that the committee would participate on behalf of the campus in developing and periodically updating the district multihazard emergency operations plan to ensure that the plan reflects specific campus needs that are consistent with the plan; would provide the district with any campus-level information required in connection with a security audit, a security audit report or another report required to be submitted by the district to the Texas School Safety Center and would review each report required to be submitted by the district to the Texas School Safety Center to ensure that the report would contain accurate and complete information regarding the campus, in accordance with criteria established by the center.

Senate Ed Committee Passes Two Bills on to Senate
Upon adjournment of the Texas Senate, the Senate Education Committee met on the floor of the Senate at Chair Florence Shapiro’s desk to consider the following pending bills:

Senate Bill 2249, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, states that for a teacher to become certified as a teacher of students with visual impairments, an educator would have to successfully complete all course work required by a State Board for Educator Certification-approved preparation program in that field and pass the SBEC-approved examinations in braille and in visual impairments. TSTA supports this bill. The committee adopted a substitute that was not made available to the public and passed it favorably to the Senate’s Local and Uncontested Calendar. The committee substitute reportedly would make changes to the bill regarding the certification of out-of-state teachers.

Senate Bill 2083, by Shapiro, would require the Texas Education Agency to develop an Internet-based data collection platform that each school district and open-enrollment charter school must use to conduct surveys concerning each student participating in the district’s or school’s special education program, each student who has participated in the district’s or school’s special education program and has graduated from a district or school high school, and each student who has withdrawn from the district’s or school’s special education program. The bill also would require the agency to award grants to school districts, campuses and open-enrollment charter schools with high rankings under the information system. The committee adopted a substitute with minor changes to lower the bill’s fiscal note and passed favorably to the Senate for action.

April 27, 2009
House Votes to Strip School Fund Power from SBOE
The Texas House of Representatives today voted 104-40 to approve House Joint Resolution 77, by Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin. Reflecting the chamber’s growing displeasure with the State Board of Education, this resolution would send to the voters of Texas a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would create the Permanent School Fund Management Council to assume the duty of the SBOE to manage the Permanent School Fund. If the Senate concurs, the proposed amendment would be on the Nov. 3, 2009, General Election ballot.

Speaker Names House Members to Budget Conference
Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio today named his chamber’s members of the House-Senate conference committee that will reconcile the differences between House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 1, the respective general appropriations bills for the upcoming biennium. The first-term speaker selected the following House members for this important assignment:
Appropriations Committee Chair Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie.
Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Richard Raymond, D-Laredo.
Rules and Resolutions Committee Chair Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio.
Ways and Means Committee Vice Chair John Otto, R-Dayton.
Rep. John Zerwas, R-Katy.

The House also instructed its members of the conference committee to meet only in public meetings of the committee, following a House rule that had been ignored in recent sessions.

Senate Passes Bill to Safeguard Security Information
The Texas Senate today passed on final reading a committee substitute for Senate Bill 1933, by Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas. SB 1933 states that any document or information collected during a security audit of a school district is not subject to the Texas Public Information Act. The committee substitute narrows the information that would be exempt from disclosure under the Public Information Act.

TSTA Testifies on Bill Affecting TRS Health Benefits
The Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs today discussed Senate Bill 10, by President Pro Tempore Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock. SB 10 proposes an alternative payment method pilot program for provision of health care services for individuals who receive health benefits through either the Employees Retirement System of Texas or the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. TSTA’s John Grey told the committee that TSTA has concerns with the bill. The bill, as written, would allow TRS to choose the individuals who would participate in the pilot program and would not allow a selected individual to opt out. In addition, it is not clear whether participants in the pilot program would be allowed to obtain anything but basic care or catastrophic coverage. Grey told the committee that retired and active teachers need to be able to choose health care coverage that fits their needs and requested that TSTA be included in consultations as the bill moves forward. Duncan agreed that TSTA’s opinion would be helpful in fine-tuning the bill, which the committee left pending.

TSTA Supports Bill on School Wage Claim Cases
TSTA today announced its support of House Bill 2119, by Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Missouri City, as the House Technology, Economic Development and Workforce Committee considered the measure. HB 2119, which relates to the payment of wages by school districts, would waive sovereign immunity for school districts for wage claim cases under the Labor Code and before the Texas Workforce Commission.

April 24, 2009
Revised House Accountability Bill Makes Progress
The long awaited committee substitute for House Bill 3, the accountability bill by House Public Education Committee Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, is out, and the bill makes several positive changes on the previous version of the bill. Our major area of concern remains the section on sanctions for low-performing schools. TSTA will continue to work on this section of the bill.

TSTA’s analysis of the committee substitute for HB 3 is online at http://www.tsta.org/legislative/update/042509_CSHB_3.pdf.

Dewhurst Names Senators to Budget Conference Panel
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst today named his chamber’s members of the Senate-House conference committee that will reconcile the differences between Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 1, the respective general appropriations bills for the upcoming biennium. Dewhurst, who serves as the president of the Texas Senate, selected the following senators for this important assignment:
Finance Committee Chair Steve Ogden, R-Bryan.
Finance Committee Vice Chair Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-Mission.
Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano.
Intergovernmental Relations Committee Chair Royce West, D-Dallas.
Administration Committee Chair Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands.

House Public Ed Passes Assault Leave Notification Bill
The Texas House Public Education Committee today sent four TSTA-supported bills to the full House of Representatives with favorable recommendations for action. One of them would benefit educators who are victims of assault while performing their assigned responsibilities.

House Bill 1470, by Rep. Kristi Thibaut, D-Houston, would require school districts at the beginning of each school year to inform employees of their rights regarding assault leave either electronically or at the front of any printed literature provided. TSTA thanks Thibaut for filing this legislation. Governmental Relations Specialist Portia Bosse previously testified in support of this bill, which Thibaut filed at TSTA’s request.

House Bill 999, by Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, would require that before a school board may close a campus, it would have to hold a public hearing and allow residents of the district to comment. Seven days before the date for the hearing, the board would have to provide written notice of the hearing to the parent of each student affected by the closure and publish notice of the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation. The notice would have to include the subject matter, including the reason for the proposed closure, and the location, date and time of hearing. Upon approval by the board the closure would have to be sent to the commissioner of education for approval.

House Bill 2759, by Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, would allow the transfer of a student of limited English proficiency out of a public school bilingual education or special language program into general student population classes if the student achieves newly revised standards.

House Bill 4111, by Martinez Fischer, would require a school board contemplating the closure of a campus to notify stakeholders in writing and to solicit public comment on a proposed closure. The bill also would require the school board to hold public meetings on the proposed closure and to identify the impact on the education and safety of the students the closure would affect.

The committee also sent to the full House another bill on which TSTA has not taken a position:

House Bill 466, by Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, relating to procedures relating to placement of a public school student in a disciplinary alternative education program.

House Passes Two TSTA-Backed Bills as Amended
The Texas House of Representatives today passed on final reading two TSTA-supported education bills:

House Bill 281, by Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, would expand current law to allow for federal or state funds to be used for a grant program, not only awarded to school districts, but also to nonprofit organizations that contract with school districts. Rural districts would be given preference, and the grant could be used to open, expand, or operate a school-based health center. Amendments adopted yesterday would require an audit by the Department of State Health Services every two years of the services these centers would offer and would prohibit nonprofit family planning entities from receiving this type of grant Another amendment, passed today, would require such audits only from the centers that actually receive state funding.

House Bill 2491, by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, would exclude from public release under the Texas Public Information Act an applicant’s or employee’s home address, phone number, cell number, date of birth, criminal history record information, Texas driver’s license number, email address or Social Security number in custody of a school district, open-enrollment charter school or shared services arrangement. The House yesterday amended the bill to require the release of previous criminal convictions for certain felonies and employee birth years upon request under the Public Information Act.

The House also passed on final reading three other education bills today:

House Bill 1322, by House Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, would provide for resources for teachers of students with special health needs via Internet website to be operated by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The Texas Education Agency would include information about treatment and management of chronic illnesses and how they impact a student’s well-being or ability to succeed in school. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 1365, by House Public Education Committee Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, would mandate a school district to provide a former classroom teacher, librarian, counselor or nurse’s service record to a school district employing the individual not later than 30 days after the date of the request. If a district fails to do that, the Texas Education Agency would have to provide the information it has to the employing district to enable it to determine proper placement of the individual on the district’s salary schedule. Back pay would be paid for any difference upon a determination that a higher salary should have been paid for up to one year. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 1693, by Hochberg, would require the commissioner of education in consultation with the Texas Department of Information Resources to adopt standards for the performance and interoperability of school financial and attendance accounting software, which would allow districts to share and report data timely and be transparent. TSTA has not taken a position on this bill.

House Panel Overseeing TRS Sends Bills to Full House
The Texas House Pensions, Investments and Financial Services Committee sent two bills to the full House of Representatives with favorable recommendations for action:

House Bill 1259, by Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, would limit the authority of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas board to employ outside legal counsel to provide services to the board except as provided by current law regardless of the source of funding to pay for those services. TSTA has not taken a position on this bill.

House Bill 2656, by Rep. Doug Miller, R-New Braunfels, would reconstitute the Teacher Retirement System of Texas board to include only six appointed members by the governor and two elected positions of retired members receiving benefits; one gubernatorial appointment would have to have demonstrated financial expertise. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Passes Bills on Four Public Education Issues
The Texas Senate today passed on final reading four education bills on which TSTA has not taken a position:

Senate Bill 858, by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, would allow for a driver education school to teach all or part of the classroom portion of an approved course by an alternative method of instruction that does not require the student to be present, if the commissioner of education approves.

Senate Bill 867, by Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, states that unless a school district is granted a waiver, a district in which 50 percent or more of the students are eligible to participate in the national free or reduced-priced lunch program would have to provide or arrange for the provision of a summer nutrition program for at least 30 total days during the period in which district schools are recessed for the summer.

Senate Bill 2274, by Seliger, states that if for the preceding tax year a school district adopted a maintenance and operations tax rate that was less than the district’s effective maintenance and operations tax rate for that preceding tax year, the rollback tax rate of the district for the current tax year would be calculated as if the district adopted a maintenance and operations tax rate for the preceding tax year that was equal to the district’s effective maintenance and operations tax rate for that preceding tax year.

Senate Bill 2308, by Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, would define “campus discretionary funds” to be money raised at a public school campus through vending machines or other sources specifically associated with the campus. The bill would declare that campus discretionary funds could be used only to directly benefit the general welfare and educational development and morale of students enrolled at the campus, which does not include professional development activities.

Senate Committee Considers Educator Privacy Bill
The Texas Senate State Affairs Committee on Thursday evening considered Senate Bill 1858, by Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas. The measure would provide that criminal history record information obtained by the State Board for Educator Certification could be used only for a purpose related to the issuance, denial, suspension or cancellation of a certificate issued by the board but could not be released to any person except the person who is the subject of the information, the Texas Education Agency, a local or regional educational entity or by court order. The bill also says this information would not be subject to disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act and would be destroyed by the SBEC after the information is used for the authorized purposes. TSTA supports this bill, which is similar to House Bill 2491, by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, which the House passed on final reading today.

April 23, 2009
Senate Education Committee Chair Blocks Key Bill
Senate Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, today blocked committee action on a crucial bill TSTA supports, preventing it from moving to the full Senate for consideration there.

Shapiro called up Senate Bill 21, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, which would allow any school district offering an existing pre-kindergarten program to expand it to a full-day pre-K program using funding from Foundation School Program, local funds, tuition and grants. Shapiro then stated that Zaffirini does not have the votes to pass the bill out of committee. Zaffirini vigorously disputed that claim, saying that her bill certainly has the support it needs and that the chair should just call for a vote on it. Shapiro said that she would not call a vote on a bill that lacks the support to pass.

Zaffirini informed the chair that the House Committee on Public Education had sent the bill to the full House of Representatives, where it has more than 90 supporters so far. Zaffirini further noted that the bill has at least 12 Senate supporters, including both Republicans and Democrats, most notably all four Democratic members of the Education Committee. Even so, Shapiro continued to block the committee from voting on this important legislation.

In other business, the Senate Education Committee today heard the following bills:

Senate Bill 2082, by Shapiro, states that to determine a child's eligibility for a school district’s special education program on the basis of a visual impairment, the full individual and initial evaluation of the student must, in accordance with commissioner of education rule, (1) include an orientation and mobility evaluation conducted by a person who is appropriately certified as an orientation and mobility specialist, as determined under commissioner rule, and during the day in a variety of settings, including in the student’s home, school and community and in settings unfamiliar to the student and (2) provide for a person who is appropriately certified as an orientation and mobility specialist to participate, as part of the multidisciplinary team, in evaluating data on which the determination of the child's eligibility is based. The committee passed the bill to the Senate’s Local and Uncontested Calendar with a favorable recommendation.

Senate Bill 2249, by Zaffirini, states that for a teacher to become certified as a teacher of students with visual impairments, an educator must successfully complete all coursework required by a State Board for Educator Certification-approved preparation program in that field and pass the SBEC-approved examinations in Braille and in visual impairments. TSTA supports this bill, which the committee left pending.

Senate Bill 2258, by Zaffirini, would require the commissioner of education to award grants to participating campuses to provide intensive academic instruction during the period in which school is recessed for the summer to promote college and work force readiness to students identified as being at risk of dropping out of school. The committee adopted a substitute to clarify that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board will not administer the public education part of the bill. The committee sent the bill to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation.

Senate Bill 2357, by Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, states that each school district would provide a disciplinary alternative education program that provides structured courses in English language arts, mathematics, science, history and self-discipline that are equivalent in content and rigor to courses in those subjects as provided in the regular classroom setting and would provide an established curriculum for each grade level that offer students an opportunity to achieve promotion to the next grade level or to graduate from high school on the same schedule as students in the regular classroom setting. The committee sent the bill to the Senate’s Local and Uncontested Calendar with a favorable recommendation.

Senate Bill 1489, by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, would require a school district to make available and provide information to parents regarding optional dispute resolution methods that may be used when a dispute arises between the district and a parent of a student with a disability. The committee adopted a substitute that made minor changes. TSTA supports this bill, which the committee sent to the Senate’s Local and Uncontested Calendar with a favorable recommendation.

Later in the day, following the adjournment of the full Senate, the Senate Education Committee resumed meeting to vote out a substitute to Senate Bill 548, by Zaffirini, relating to public school accountability for bilingual education and English as a second language and other special language programs. The committee this morning had adopted the substitute, which makes minor changes to the original bill. SB 548 would add numerous factors the Texas Education Agency would have to analyze in its accountability evaluation for bilingual education, special education and other special language programs, disaggregated by campus, school district and open-enrollment charter school. The bill would require a list of corrective action if an entity is found to be in noncompliance and also would require additional Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) data to be submitted relating to a student being transferred out of a bilingual or special education program.

Nominations Committee Hears from SBOE Chair
The Texas Senate Nominations Committee on Wednesday considered Gov. Rick Perry’s 2007 nomination of Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, to chair the State Board of Education. Under McLeroy’s leadership, not yet confirmed by the Senate, the SBOE has significantly interfered with recommendations by professional educators and other experts on Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards. TSTA has testified before the committee, urging it to respect the process and the professionals involved in writing the state’s curriculum standards.

Sens. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, and Kirk Watson, D-Austin, strongly challenged McLeroy’s leadership of the SBOE. And Nominations Committee Chair Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, questioned whether McLeroy could win the 21 votes he needs to ensure confirmation. The Senate has 19 Republican members and 12 Democratic members. Even if the Senate rejects Perry’s selection of McLeroy to chair the SBOE, the Bryan dentist would remain an elected member of the board. The committee did not act on the McLeroy nomination.

For news coverage of Wednesday’s hearing, go to http://www.
texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/?p=3596, http://www.
statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/04/
23/0423confirm.html, http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/
headline/metro/6387644.html and http://www.dallasnews.
com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-mcleroy_23tex.ART.State.Edition1.4ab3460.html.

Senate Passes Three Ed Bills on Final Reading
The Texas Senate today passed on final reading three bills on the Local and Uncontested Calendar:

Senate Bill 892, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, would require a campus improvement plan for an elementary, middle or junior high school, to evaluate the coordinated health program at the campus based on various criteria.

Senate Bill 1798, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, would allow certain educational aides to receive an exemption from tuition and fees charged by public institutions of higher education.

Senate Bill 2044, by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, would require district-level and campus-level planning and decision-making committees in public school districts to include at least one representative with the primary responsibility for educating students with disabilities. The Senate adopted a committee substitute that made minor changes

House Debates School Employee Privacy Bill
The Texas House of Representatives today debated House Bill 2491, by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington. It would exclude from public release under the Texas Public Information Act an applicant’s or employee’s home address, phone number, cell number, date of birth, criminal history record information, Texas driver’s license number, email address or Social Security number in custody of a school district, open-enrollment charter school or shared services arrangement. The House amended the bill to require the release of previous criminal convictions and employee birth years upon request under the Public Information Act. The TSTA-supported bill moves to final reading in the House.

The House also sent to final reading House Bill 281, by Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, which expand grant programs for school-based health care centers. The bill gives preferences to rural districts. The grant money can be used to open, expand or operate a school-based health center. An amendment would require an audit by the Department of State Health Services every two years of the services these centers would offer. The second amendment would prohibit nonprofit family planning entities from receiving this type of grant. TSTA supports HB 281.

The House passed on final reading House Bill 2018, by Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin. It would require a student representative to be included on a district-level planning and decision-making committee. TSTA did not take a position on this bill.

House Public Education Sends Bills to Full House
The Texas House Public Education Committee met today to vote out eight bills to send to the full House of Representatives for action, including these four that TSTA supports:

House Bill 192, by Rep. Roberto Alonzo, D-Dallas, relating to the absence of a student from school for activities in connection with obtaining United States citizenship.

House Bill 3173, by Allen, relating to the statewide plan for delivery of services to public school students with disabilities and resources for teachers of public school students with special health needs.

House Bill 3771, by Rep. Joe Farias, D-San Antonio, relating to authorization for school districts to provide mentors for teachers assigned to a new subject or grade level.

House Bill 4208, by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, relating to idling the diesel engine of a school bus while the bus is parked at a public school or school event.

TSTA has not taken a position on these bills:

House Bill 474, by Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, relating to the authority of a school district to implement a monitoring system that records images of vehicles that pass a stopped school bus.

House Bill 3740, by Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to a statewide education data management system.

House Bill 3918, by Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, relating to testing liquefied petroleum gas systems in certain school facilities.

House Bill 4091, by Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, relating to an intensive reading improvement program for public school students of limited English proficiency.

April 22, 2009
Texas House Passes Five TSTA-Backed Bills
The Texas House of Representatives today passed on final reading five TSTA-supported education bills:

Senate Bill 90, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, relating to the adoption of the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children.

House Bill 1191, by Rep. Kino Flores, D-Mission, would provide for a 90-day window after the date of retirement for a retiree eligible for coverage to select any coverage provided by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas or during any other open enrollment periods established by rule.

House Bill 1364, by Public Education Committee Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, would require coverage of preexisting conditions by certain group health benefit coverage programs for active school employees.

House Bill 1574, by Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, relating to the creation of a statewide autism spectrum disorders resource center.

House bill 3643, by Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, relating to public school pre-kindergarten classes, would define “child” to include a stepchild, and “parent” to include a stepparent.

The House also passed three other education bills on final reading on which TSTA did not take a position:

House Bill 1070, by Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Southlake, relating to audits of certain public retirement system actuarial valuations, studies, and reports.

House Bill 2018, by Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, relating to the inclusion of a student representative on a district-level planning and decision-making committee.

House Bill 3347, by Truitt, relating to plan provisions required for maintaining retirement plan qualification for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, would allow for differential wage payments to be treated as earned compensation while the employee is performing qualified military service.

Senate Passes Two Bills by Education Chair Shapiro
The Texas Senate today passed on final reading two bills by Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano:

Senate Bill 1459 would require the commissioner of education to establish a grant program to facilitate identification of successful language acquisition programs in this state for students of limited English proficiency and a determination of the best practices used by those programs. The bill also would require the commissioner to establish a pilot program under which a participating school district with students at risk of dropping out of school would intervene by using methods focused on improving education attainment by those students.

Senate Bill 1460 would require the commissioner of education to design, establish and make available professional development academies for teachers who provide instruction to students of limited English proficiency at the seventh grade level or above. Some teachers would be required to attend a professional development academy established under this section.

TSTA Supports Measures in Two Other Committees
TSTA today announced its support of three education-related bills that committees other than House Public Education are considering:

• House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee:

House Bills 3488, by Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, and 3745, by Rep. Marissa Marquez, D-El Paso, both relating to authorization for a caregiver who is a relative to enroll a child in school.

• House Public Health Committee:

House Bill 4596, by Chair Lois Kolhorst, R-Brenham, relating to certain contracts between pharmacy benefit managers and the Employees Retirement System of Texas, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, The Texas A&M University System or The University of Texas System.

April 21, 2009
Senate Education Passes Accountability, Charter Bills
The Senate Education Committee met today to consider several bills, including further discussion of Senate Bill 3, by Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, to revise the state’s badly flawed system of public school accountability.

The committee approved several amendments, mostly to clarify or make technical corrections to the bill. The significant changes would:
• Define 10th grade for purposes of opting onto minimum plan.
• Reinstate third year of foreign language requirement for advanced program.
• Apply performance indicators to districts, as well as to campuses.
• Add a second year between reconstitution and closure; this would be granted automatically, rather than by commissioner waiver.
• Clarify that the State Board of Education would create a list of math and science courses for the career and technical program that may be taken after algebra 2 and physics and require that courses must be appropriately rigorous
• Require incremental improvement in the passing standard, as the original bill does for the college readiness standard.

The committee passed a substitute for SB 3 and sent it on to the full Senate for action. Like the House version of the accountability bill, the committee substitute for SB 3 still has too much emphasis on test and punish for teachers, campuses and districts. TSTA will continue to work to reduce the bill’s punitive emphasis as the respective chambers take up their accountability bills for floor debate, and then in conference committee, as needed.

The committee made significant changes in another controversial measure, Senate Bill 1830, by Vice Chair Dan Patrick, R-Houston, that would repeal the limit of 215 charter schools allowed under current law, would allow a charter holder to establish new school campuses without applying for authorization and would provide that a student may be included in computing the school's dropout or completion rate only after the student has attended the school for 85 or more school days.

Previously, TSTA’s John Grey testified against the original version of SB 1830. Grey referred to very loose standards that would allow charter schools to expand at will and asked if these are the standards we want to use to allow charter schools to expand. Grey pointed out that if 25% of the campuses at a charter school are academically unacceptable, that charter school would be eligible to open more campuses at will, with no limit. Grey further noted that the Texas Education Agency is constrained by a budget that will not be able to keep up with expanding charter schools if those charter schools are allowed to expand at will and that the bill is a potential disaster in many areas.

The committee passed and sent to the full Senate a substitute that would set a new cap of 20 new charter schools a year, and up to 20% could be special education charter schools. It also would allow existing charter holders to expand if 90% of their campuses are academically acceptable. The commissioner of education would have 90 days to deny the charter. The substitute would expand the commissioner’s authority to close charters if financial problems exist.

The committee also discussed the following bills:

Senate Bill 548, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, would add numerous factors the Texas Education Agency would have to analyze in its accountability evaluation for bilingual education, special education and other special language programs, disaggregated by campus, school district and open-enrollment charter school. The bill lays out a laundry list of required corrective action if an entity is found to be in noncompliance and also would require additional Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) data to be submitted relating to a student being transferred out of a bilingual or special education program. The committee left the bill pending.

Senate Bill 568, by Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, would require a school district with 350 or more students to employ a certified counselor for each school in the district. Further, a school district would have to employ at least one counselor for every 350 students in the district. The bill would provide for state aid to school districts in order to comply with these requirements. TSTA supports this bill. The committee adopted a substitute that would zero out the fiscal note and would only require a district to inform a parent if no counselor is available on a given campus. The committee sent the committee substitute to the Senate’s Local and Uncontested Calendar with a favorable recommendation.

Senate Bill 982, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, would create a funding formula based on student attendance with more money provided for those enrolled in special programs, such as special education or bilingual education. The bill would require school districts to cut their property tax rates if after two consecutive years state funding levels increase above $200 per student. The bill would use the Austin Independent School District rate as the benchmark. One penny of the Austin ISD tax rate raises about $54 per student. State aid would be phased in, with districts receiving 90 percent of that next year and 95 percent the following year from a combination of state and local funds. Those districts that now receive more than $5,100 per student in state and local money would be guaranteed $75 in additional funding per weighted student in 2009-10 and an additional $100 in 2010-11. TSTA’s John Grey submitted written testimony in support of this bill. The committee began consideration of a substitute that would address the mid-size adjustment, provide for no property tax increases under certain circumstances and provide for a teacher salary increase. The committee left the bill pending.

Senate Bill 2152, by Patrick, would establish that Chapter 41 districts in any county with a population of 1.5 million or more do not have to satisfy any wealth per student limitation if it has 20% or more pre-kindergarten through grade five students classified as students of limited English proficiency, 50% to 65% or more of students are economically disadvantaged, the district has 25% or higher of student mobility and 75% or more of total students in district are minority. The exception would apply for four consecutive school years. The committee considered a substitute that would more narrowly define the student population the bill addresses, then left SB 2152 pending.

Senate Bill 2178, by Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, would require the commissioner of education to establish a computer lending pilot program to provide computers to participating public schools that make computers available for use by members of the local community. The committee sent the bill to the Senate’s Local and Uncontested Calendar with a favorable recommendation.

Senate Bill 2206, by Van de Putte, would require the State Board for Educator Certification to issue a certificate to an applying teacher who holds a certificate in another state or country and holds a certificate or other credential issued by another state or country to teach mathematics, science, special education, bilingual education or another subject area that the commissioner of education determines has a shortage of teachers in Texas. A committee substitute was laid out that would allow the teacher to teach in the classroom for only one year without passing the Texas examination and would require SBEC to accept or reject applications within a certain time period. The committee sent the bill to the full Senate for action.

Senate Bill 2270, by Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, would mandate that consideration would be given to, rather than making it discretionary, the following factors when determining whether a student should be suspended, removed to a disciplinary alternative education program or expelled: self-defense, intent or lack of intent at the time the student engaged in the conduct, a student's disciplinary history or a disability that substantially impairs the student's capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the conduct. The committee sent the bill to the full Senate for action.

Senate Bill 2323, by Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, states that in accordance with guidelines established by the Texas School Safety Center, each campus in a school district would have to establish a school safety planning committee. The bill further states that the committee would have to (1) participate on behalf of the campus in developing and periodically updating the district multihazard emergency operations plan to ensure that the plan reflects specific campus needs that are consistent with the plan; (2) provide the district with any campus-level information required in connection with a security audit, a security audit report or another report required to be submitted by the district to the Texas School Safety Center; and (3) review each report required to be submitted by the district to the Texas School Safety Center to ensure that the report contains accurate and complete information regarding the campus, in accordance with criteria established by the center. The committee adopted a substitute that makes minor changes to the bill and sent that to the full Senate.

Senate Bill 2392, by Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, would initiate revisions of the school finance system by creating a single-tier funding mechanism for the first 100 pennies, sunsetting student and district adjustments to ensure that the Legislature revisits the formulas next session, increasing by two the number of golden pennies to which districts have access and providing an indeterminate minimum increase for every district in terms of average daily attendance (ADA) funding. The committee began consideration of a substitute that would provide $100 more for weighted average daily attendance (WADA) across the board, allow a district to access golden pennies five and six without having to hold a tax rate election and would reduce the hold-harmless amounts. The committee left the bill pending.

Senate Bill 2430, by Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, would no longer require a school district to make certain adjustments in calculating a rollback tax rate. The bill would redefines “GL,” the dollar amount guaranteed level of state and local funds per weighted student per cent of tax effort for a school district. The bill states that a district may not adopt a maintenance tax rate for the current tax year that exceeds the sum of the district's maintenance tax rate for the preceding tax year and the rate of four cents per $100 of taxable value in the district. The bill also would repeal certain sections of the education and tax codes. The committee took up a substitute that makes minor changes to correct drafting errors, then left the bill pending.

The committee also took up the following bills it had previously discussed and left pending:

Senate Bill 21, by Zaffirini, would allow a district already offering a half-day pre-kindergarten program to opt to include a full day of pre-kindergarten using funding from the Foundation School Program, local funds, tuition and grants. Previously TSTA’s John Grey testified in support of the bill, telling the committee that TSTA believes that one of the most important factors in a child receiving a quality education is the student-to-teacher ratio. This bill calls for one teacher or teacher’s aide for every 11 students, which ensures each child would receive a high-quality pre-k experience. Grey referred to a study conducted by Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government, which shows that children who had a high quality pre-k experience were 30% more likely to complete high school, 66% less likely to be retained and 41% less likely to be placed in special education.

Senate Bill 382, by Van de Putte, would provide a competitive grant program to promote early literacy to be established by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. The program would require health care practitioners who volunteer to encourage parents to read to their children and teach their children to read in conjunction with a well child exam and to provide books to children. Van de Putte presented a committee substitute that made minor changes to the bill. The committee sent the substitute to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation.

Texas Senate Passes TSTA-Backed Education Bills
The Texas Senate today passed on final reading four education bills, all of which TSTA supports:

Senate Bill 1726, by Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, states that in conjunction with the online clearinghouse of best practices information, the Texas Education Agency shall establish a dropout prevention assistance center to identify successful or promising school district, campus or open-enrollment charter school dropout prevention and recovery programs.

Senate Bill 282, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, would mandate the Texas Department of Agriculture to develop a program for grants to public school campuses using best practices in the area of nutrition education. The focus is on the Child and Adult Care Food Program, Head Start program or other early childhood education programs to operate nutrition education programs for children three years of age but younger than five years of age.

Senate Bill 1313, by Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, would require the Legislative Budget Board to establish a clearinghouse that collects and provides information relating to best practices in career and technology education. The Senate adopted a committee substitute that removed language copied from Senate Bill 3 regarding math and science curriculum.

Senate Bill 1125, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, would require the commissioner of education to adopt procedures for compliance with federal requirements relating to transition services for students who are enrolled in special education programs. The procedures would have to provide that transition planning begins for a student not later than when the student reaches 14 years of age. The commissioner also would have to require each school district or shared services arrangement to designate an employee as the school transition and employment services specialist to serve as the district's or shared services arrangement's expert on transition and employment services for students enrolled in special education programs. The bill also would require the Texas Education Agency to develop a Performance-Based Monitoring Analysis System indicator regarding the success of students enrolled in special education programs in transitioning to life outside the public school system. Further, the bill would require the agency to develop a comprehensive transition and employment manual for students enrolled in special education programs and their parents to assist in the transition to life outside the public school system. The Senate adopted a committee substitute that would eliminate or substantially reduce the fiscal note for the bill.

House Public Ed Passes Revised HB 3 Accountability Bill
The Texas House Public Education Committee met today to discuss the committee substitute for House Bill 3, the accountability bill, and heard a number of other bills, including one that would remove voting standards for creating a home rule school district.

The committee approved and sent to the full House of Representatives the substitute for HB 3, by Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands. This bill revises the accountability system for Texas public schools. The significant changes in the bill include the graduation requirements by removing any references to the name changes of the programs and reverted back to current law. Also, the bill now includes a provision to provide literature to students in English and Spanish as to why the recommended graduation plan is the better option. This plan would include the 4x4 (four years each of math, science, English and social studies) plus two credits in language and eight electives. The substitute got rid of the requirement that students pass two out of three end-of-course exams in each subject to graduate and requires passing only the algebra 2 and English 3 exams. The bill also includes a provision for the State Board of Education to approve courses for in math and science for the career and technical program. The substitute requires meeting passing and college readiness standards for accountability, while also allowing for growth trajectories toward meeting those standards to be considered.

With regard to sanctions, a school name change will no longer be required, and other immediate relief is included in the substitute. It includes open enrollment charter schools in the accountability system and clarifies that the SBOE has control over all plans to graduation. The bill also now would allow the commissioner of education to waive reconstitution or repurposing for up to one year, if progress can be shown.

Eissler told the committee that he will continue to review changes even after the committee sent the bill to the full House. Overall, while the committee substitute has improved from the first version of HB 3, TSTA believes it still needs work before it merits the association’s support. As soon as we have reviewed this latest version in detail, along with the revised Senate accountability bill, we will send you that analysis.

Governmental Relations Specialist Portia Bosse testified against House Bill 4008, by Rep. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, relating to minimum voter turnout requirements for adoption or amendment of a home-rule school district charter. A home rule district charter allows districts to be free from most state requirements, including curriculum, employment and student discipline standards, three very large areas where the state has had major impact.

Bosse testified that the threshold for a district to become a home rule district charter is high for a reason. Voters must affirm the proposal by a majority vote with 25% of registered voters participating in the election. This is because going to home rule is a major decision, and the community should be in support of the action. If support for going to the home rule governing scheme is sufficiently widespread, then supporters shouldn’t have difficulty getting 25% of a district’s registered voters to go to the polls.

TSTA went on record in support of the following bills:

House Bill 192, by Rep. Roberto Alonzo, D-Dallas, relating to the absence of a student from school for activities in connection with obtaining United States citizenship.

House Bill 2618, by Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Missouri City, relating to school district reporting of students placed in disciplinary alternative education programs or expelled from school.

House Bill 3647, by Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to eligibility of certain children for public school pre-kindergarten classes.

House Bill 3741, by Eissler, relating to physical education curriculum and instruction in public schools.

House Bill 3771, by Rep. Joe Farias, D-San Antonio, relating to authorization for school districts to provide mentors for teachers assigned to a new subject or grade level.

House Bill 2452, by Speaker Pro Tempore Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, relating to size limitations for certain physical education classes in public schools.

House Bill 999, by Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, relating to the closure of a school campus by the board of trustees of a school district.

House Bill 905, by Dutton, relating to procedures for management of certain public school campuses and school districts identified as academically unacceptable.

The committee also heard the following bills on which TSTA took no position:

House Bill 1800, by Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston, relating to an agreement regarding the respective responsibilities of a parent, student and classroom teacher in certain school districts.

House Bill 3307, by Eissler, relating to the discipline of public school students.

House Bill 3918, by Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, relating to testing liquefied petroleum gas systems in certain school facilities.

House Bill 3532, by Rep. Yvonne Davis, D-Dallas, relating to the abolition of existing school districts in certain counties and the creation of new school districts.

House Bill 1041, by Rep. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, relating to school district policies addressing sexual abuse of children.

House Bill 159, by Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, relating to unstructured activity requirements for public elementary school students.

The committee also sent House Bills 1313, 1410, 1839, 3700 and 3421 and Senate Bill 522.to the full House of Representatives for action.

April 20, 2009
Education Committees Will Meet Tuesday
The Texas Senate Education Committee and the Texas House Public Education Committee will meet Tuesday with full agendas. The most important bill on the Senate panel’s agenda will be the committee substitute for Senate Bill 3, which would change the state’s accountability system. TSTA continues to work to remove or lessen the punitive use of standardized testing SB 3 and its House counterpart propose.

For complete lists of bills the two committees will consider Tuesday, go to, respectively, http://www.tsta.org/legislative/
update/042109_SenateEducationAgenda.pdf and http://
www.tsta.org/legislative/update/042109_HousePublic
EducationAgenda.pdf.

House Passes Budget with Little Controversy
The Texas House of Representatives took up the budget bill for the 2010-11 biennium on Friday and continued discussing it until the early hours of Saturday morning. The House, usually in turmoil over this process, was very much in agreement over most matters in the budget. Article III of the budget covers public education and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, with most amendments to that article being acceptable to the author.

TSTA and other educator groups showed a united front this session by offering an amendment carried by Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, to sweep all the funds for the incentive pay programs (the Texas – the Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) and District Awards for Teacher Excellence (DATE) – into formula funding provided for by Rider 83. This rider would hold $1.9 billion to be used for the school finance bill that members have been discussing all session.

Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, and Public Education Committee Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, have filed school finance bills that would take Texas back to formula funding methods. The amendment Villarreal carried would move all the incentive pay money into Rider 83 formula funding to be used by districts as incentives for mentoring programs, hard to staff campuses and filling subject shortage areas, or to continue current incentive pay programs without Texas Education Agency oversight. The amendment was acceptable to the author; however, a vote was called, and this amendment passed 140-0.

The other significant amendment the House considered during the budget debate was an anti-voucher measure by Rep. Joe Heflin, D-Crosbyton. Heflin filed an anti-voucher amendment last session, and it passed with 129 votes in favor, but the amendment was stripped in the House-Senate conference committee. The reason given was that it was not necessary because the Legislature had not passed any voucher bills last session.

However, during the interim, the Education Commissioner Robert Scott, mostly likely at the direction of Gov. Rick Perry, deliberately misinterpreted language in House Bill 2237 to allow for a stealth voucher program under the dropout recovery grant program. The commissioner awarded a grant under this program to a nonprofit acting as a private school with religious affiliations in San Antonio. Along with two other grants awarded to nonprofits. The House overwhelmingly passed Heflin’s amendment with 122 votes in favor. This measure would prevent the commissioner from awarding future state or federal funds to private schools. This would give Perry and Scott no wiggle room at all to try to evade the clear and overwhelming will of the House. Maybe this time, the conference committee will listen to the will of the House and keep the anti-voucher amendment in the budget.

TSTA Supports House Bills in Two Committees
Government Relations Specialist Portia Bosse today informed the respective committees of TSTA’s support of the following bills:

• House Ways and Means Committee:

House Bill 424, by Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, would exempt school supplies from sales tax if purchased for use by a student in a public or private elementary or secondary school prior to the school year for a sales price less than $100 dollars. The bill would further define what is meant by school supplies.

House Bill 2762, by Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, would define school supplies, for purposes of a sales tax exemption, as crayons; scissors; glue, paste, and glue sticks; pencils; pens; erasers; rulers; markers; highlighters; paper, including loose-leaf ruled notebook paper, copy paper, graph paper, tracing paper, manila paper, colored paper, poster board, and construction paper; writing tablets; spiral notebooks; bound composition notebooks; pocket folders; plastic folders; expandable portfolios; manila folders; three-ring binders that are three inches or less in capacity; backpacks and zipper pencil bags; school supply boxes; clipboards; index cards; index card boxes; calculators; protractors; compasses; music notebooks; sketch or drawing pads; paintbrushes; watercolors; acrylic, tempera, or oil paints; tape, including masking tape and Scotch tape; clay and glazes; pencil sharpeners; thesauruses; and dictionaries.

• House Public Safety Committee

House Bill 3419, by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, would protect criminal history records and other information about educators under the fingerprinting laws from public disclosure under the Open Records Act.

Texas Senate Passes More Education Bills
The Texas Senate today passed four education bills on final reading:

Senate Bill 2033, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, states that a school district would have to adopt a grading policy, including provisions for the assignment of grades on class assignments and examinations, before each school year. A district grading policy would have to require a classroom teacher to assign a grade that reflects the student’s relative mastery of an assignment and could not require a classroom teacher to assign a minimum grade for an assignment without regard to the student's quality of work. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram noted TSTA’s support for this bill in a story published today, online at http://www.star-telegram.com/
metro_news/story/1326108.html.

Senate Bill 1576, by Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, would require the commissioner of education to establish a program under which grants are awarded to school districts to implement an algebra instruction program. The bill also would require the commissioner to develop a comprehensive intervention plan to assist school districts with a disproportionate number of students who fail to perform satisfactorily on the assessment instrument administered under Section 39.023(a)(1) in grades five through seven. The Senate adopted a committee substitute to SB 1255 that made minor changes. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1577, by Shapiro, would provide for excused absences for any student diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder on the day of the student’s appointment with a health care practitioner to receive a generally recognized service for persons with autism spectrum disorder, including applied behavioral analysis, speech therapy and occupational therapy. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1363, by Shapiro, would require the Texas Education Agency, in cooperation with the State Board of Education and with the participation of educators, to develop written materials that provide additional specific guidance regarding the essential knowledge and skills of the public school curriculum.

The Texas Senate on Friday passed three education bills on final reading:

Senate Bill 1490, by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, requires the State Office of Administrative Hearings to conduct the Texas Education Agency’s special education due process hearings.

Senate Bill 1255, by Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, states that if a school district’s application for guarantee of district bonds by the corpus and income of the Permanent School Fund as provided by Subchapter C is rejected, the district may apply for guarantee of bonds issued under Subchapter A, including refunding bonds, by money appropriated for the Foundation School Program.

Senate Bill 598, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, would establish a pilot program in which qualifying school districts may apply for a loan to pay the cost of installing photovoltaic solar panels on at least one building of the district’s choice.

April 16, 2009
House Will Debate Budget Bill on Friday
The Texas House of Representatives on Friday will debate the House committee substitute for Senate Bill 3, the general appropriations bill for 2009-11. TSTA is working with friendly lawmakers to ensure that it includes a teacher pay raise and a 13th check for retirees. The debate is likely to continue Saturday and perhaps even Sunday. Links to webcasts of House floor and committee sessions are at http://www.house.
state.tx.us/media/welcome.php.

Senate Passes TSTA-Supported Education Bills
The Texas Senate today passed five bills on final reading, including three TSTA supports.

Senate Bill 100, by Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, would require the commissioner of education to develop and make available professional development institutes for teachers and paraprofessionals relating to research-based instructional services to students with disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders. The bill would allow the commissioner to determine criteria for selection of who can attend, but priority would have to be given to teachers with significant levels of professional contact with students with autism. The bill also would provide a stipend to those who complete a professional development institute program. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 587, by Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, would permit school districts to pay bonds with state and local funds under certain circumstances, while also setting limits on aid to pay bonds. TSTA supports this bill, which would help districts pay down debt.

Senate Bill 1027, by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, would create an interagency farm-to-school task force that, among other things, would have to design education resources on nutrition and food education to be used by schools and school districts.

Senate Bill 1549, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, states that if the commissioner of education develops a standard method to compute grade point averages, a school district would have to use the standard method to compute high school students’ grade point averages.

Senate Bill 1818, by Van de Putte, would allow a student to be exempt from assessment for a period of up to four years if the student’s initial enrollment in a school in the United States was as an unschooled asylee or refugee. TSTA supports this bill.

Committee Will Discuss Accountability Next Week
The Texas Senate Education Committee today began consideration of a substitute to Chair Florence Shapiro’s Senate Bill 3. The Plano Republican’s measure would create a new public school accountability system for Texas. The committee substitute had not yet been made available to the public. Nor was it available to the committee members until late last night. The committee left the substitute pending to give members and the public time to review and comment on it. The committee will again discuss the substitute for SB 3 on Tuesday, April 21.

In other business, the committee acted on the following bills:

Senate Bill 1344, by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, would require the State Board of Education to adopt Texas essential knowledge and skills (TEKS) standards that address dangers, causes, consequences, signs, symptoms and treatment of binge drinking and alcohol poisoning. The committee adopted a substitute that made minor changes and titled the bill, “The Carson Starkey Alcohol Education and Awareness Act.” The committee passed the substitute and sent it to the Senate’s Local and Uncontested Calendar with a favorable recommendation.

Senate Bill 1933, by Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, states that any document or information collected during a security audit of a school district is not subject to the Texas Public Information Act (formerly known as the Open Records Act). The committee adopted a substitute that narrowed the information that will be exempted from disclosure. The committee sent the substitute to the Senate with a favorable recommendation.

Senate Bill 2248, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Dallas, would require the Texas Education Agency to assist the transition of foster care students from one school to another. The committee adopted a substitute that expanded the class of eligible children to those who are under temporary or permanent care of the state. The committee passed the substitute and sent it to the Senate’s Local and Uncontested Calendar with a favorable recommendation.

House Public Education Discusses Assault Leave
The House Public Education Committee today heard a very important bill today regarding providing adequate notice to all employees of their right to apply for assault leave if assaulted by a student in the course of their duties. House Bill 1470, by Rep. Kristi Thibaut, D-Houston, would require school districts at the beginning of each school year to inform employees of their rights regarding assault leave either electronically or at the front of any printed literature provided.

Governmental Relations Specialist Portia Bosse testified in support of this bill, which Thibaut filed at TSTA’s request, and shared a member’s story with the committee regarding an incident which occurred on school property when some students intentionally tripped this teacher. Evidence showed that the district was aware of students intentionally trying to trip people when coming through a door on campus, but the district’s response was to provide information on workers compensation instead of informing the teacher of the right to apply for assault leave. After months of receiving worker’s comp at a reduced value of pay, the teacher learned of another teacher applying for and receiving assault leave. This member then called TSTA’s Help Center to inquire about applicable rights. Immediately, TSTA applied for the assault leave on the member’s behalf, and it was granted.

TSTA thanks Thibaut for filing this legislation, which the committee left pending. Education.

Bosse also testified on House Bill 3421, by Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, relating to educator preparation programs and educator certification, performance and recruitment. This bill would provide that evaluations would be provided to the agency or school board. It would overhaul the educator preparation program, provide for sanctions for certain educator preparation programs, call for review and assessment of educator preparation programs, make certain information on educator preparation programs available to consumers and provide for a media campaign to recruit qualified persons to enter the teaching profession. Bosse testified about the concerns of the profession related to allowing teacher evaluations to be made available to the State Board for Educator Certification upon request and the use of student test scores to rate educator preparation programs.

The committee also heard the following bills that TSTA supports:

House Bill 131, by Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, relating to the treatment of students receiving a high school equivalency certificate in calculating dropout rates in public schools.

House Bill 2759, by Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, relating to transfer of a student of limited English proficiency out of a public school bilingual education or special language program.

House Bill 4111, by Martinez Fischer, relating to public notice requirements and other provisions applicable to the board of trustees of a school district proposing to close a district campus.

TSTA took no position on other bills the committee discussed:

House Bill 1410, by Rep. Solomon Ortiz Jr., D-Corpus Christi, relating to student information required to be provided at the time of enrollment in public schools.

House Bill 2812, by Rep. David Swinford, R-Amarillo, relating to the curriculum, funding, promotion and economic impact of career and technology education in public educational institutions.

House Bill 504, by Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, relating to the creation of an offense for a parent’s contribution to a child's failure to comply with a sentence or court order relating to a disruptive activity or disruption of class on school property.

House Bill 474, by Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, relating to the authority of a school district to implement a monitoring system that records images of vehicles that pass a stopped school bus.

House Bill 1563, by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, relating to the number of charters the State Board of Education may grant for open-enrollment charter schools.

House Bill 1839, by Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, relating to a requirement that a school district develop and adopt a site selection policy before selecting a site for construction of a new school.

House Bill 2193, by Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center, relating to Texas History Month curriculum requirements for students in public schools.

House Bill 3051, by Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, relating to the term for which certain charters granted for open- enrollment charter schools are renewed.

House Bill 3700, by Rep. Jim Jackson, R-Carrollton, relating to the creation of the Texas Classroom Coaching Program.

House Bill 4091, by Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, relating to an intensive reading improvement program for public school students of limited English proficiency.

House Bill 4208, by Patrick, relating to idling the diesel engine of a school bus while the bus is parked at a public school or school event.

House Bill 4407, by Rep. Larry Taylor, R-League City, relating to maintaining a supply of anaphylaxis medicine on public school campuses served by school nurses.

House Bill 4439, by Kolkhorst, relating to the transmission of information regarding public school students through the use of radio frequency identification technology.

House Bill 4628, by Rep. Eddie Lucio III, D-San Benito, relating to school bus safety, including the authority of a school district to implement a monitoring system that captures images of vehicles passing illegally.

In other business during a very long and busy meeting, the House Public Education Committee sent the following bills to the full House of Representatives for action:

House Bill 552, by Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano, would provide for competitive grants to fund programs for public school students assigned to disciplinary alternative education programs (DAEP) or in-school suspension (ISS). This program is designed to assist students who might get lost in the system because of behavioral problems. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 1410, by Ortiz, relating to student information required to be provided at the time of enrollment in public schools.

House Bill 2657, by Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to disciplinary action taken against certain public school students on the basis of serious and persistent misbehavior.

House Bill 2803, by Hochberg, relating to the administration of assessment instruments by computer.

House Bill 2893, by Hochberg, relating to the technology demonstration sites project.

House Bill 3697, by Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, relating to the issuance of certain tax-supported bonds.

April 15, 2009
Texas Senate Approves Three Education Bills
The Texas Senate today passed three education bills on final reading, including one TSTA supports:

Senate Bill 817, by Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, would require the commissioner of education to give Communities In Schools not less than $30 million per fiscal year. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 955, by Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, would revise the law on the state Virtual School Network with regard to participants, teachers authorized to teach courses, approval of courses, fees for courses and allotment.

Senate Bill 1362, by Shapiro, would require the Texas Youth Commission to implement a comprehensive plan to improve the reading skills and behavior of TYC students. Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, proposed an amendment that would require a student in TYC to participate in the program created by the bill before the student could be released on parole. The Senate adopted the amendment.

Bill Could Restrict TSTA's Political Involvement
TSTA testified today before the Texas House Committee on Elections on House Bill 2525, by Rep. Todd Smith, R-Bedford. While TSTA is not against this bill overall, the association does have a problem with three key components of it and what that could mean for the association’s involvement in state political races and advocacy at the Texas Capitol.

The bill outlines what a corporation or labor organization can do financially for their political committees using “soft” money that comes from their corporate or organizational treasuries. As drafted, however, the bill would restrict labor organizations’ ability to communicate with members using treasury soft money. “Hard” money is given directly to a candidate or to a political party. Most states regulate it in source or amount, or both.

TSTA opposes HB 2525’s prohibition of certain expenditures of treasury soft money. The bill would not allow for corporate/labor money to be used for “voter identification, lists or databases.” But the bill does not define these terms. First, voter identification lists are available for free on the Texas secretary of state’s website. Second, this would disallow the use of treasury soft money to buy any information pertaining to anything related to voter performance. This provision applies to all registered voters, including TSTA members. As written, the bill would no longer allow TSTA to match information used for members in regard to any election activities. How then is TSTA to communicate with its members if it does not have information relevant to members’ backgrounds for election purposes? Supporters of HB 2525 contend that TSTA could use political action committee money not coming from the organizational treasury for this purpose. Even so, this bill would complicate and possibly hinder relationships and communications within the TSTA membership. TSTA would have to use separate computers and staff hours to maintain a divided system.

TSTA’s next objection is that the bill would limit recruiting candidates. The bill does not define “recruiting.” What happens if a person comes by the TSTA offices, visits with staff and says, “I would like to run for office. Can I have your support?” Does that fall into the purview of “recruiting candidates”? Does the office used then have to be paid for with PAC money? Does a phone call asking an individual if they are running put both the phone and the office into this category? This is a very gray area that needs careful definition.

The last and perhaps most important issue is that HB 2525 fails to define “candidate.” A candidate can be anyone who has filed a campaign treasurer report. That includes almost every elected officeholder. By leaving this ambiguous, the bill muddles what kinds of money can be used in a public advocacy. Would the bill thus prohibit an association from calling on the public to support or oppose legislation by an elected officeholder from publicizing a public official’s voting record.

Because components of this bill could significantly impair the ability of TSTA and its members to be involved in political campaigns and advocacy at the Texas Capitol, staff will monitor this legislation very carefully.

House Bill Would Benefit ISD Peace Officers
TSTA went on record today in support of House Bill 997, by Rep. Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, relating to retirement and health insurance benefits of school district peace officers under the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. This bill would provide for retirement for a peace officer who is at least 55 years of age with at least 10 years of service credit for a public school district to be eligible to retire and receive a service retirement annuity. Also, HB 997 would provide for retirement with 20 years of service at any age under the rule of 80. The bill includes a provision for disability retirement benefits and an annuity for a survivor of a peace officer all under a peace officer supplemental retirement fund. The chair of the Pensions, Investments and Financial Services Committee, Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Southlake, noted the cost involved based on the fiscal note for this bill, which is approximately $350 million.

TSTA also supported House Bill 2266, by Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, in the House Environmental Regulation Committee. This relates to the investigation of indoor air quality in certain school buildings, which creates guidelines for assessing indoor air quality at public elementary and middle schools.

Education Committees Meet Thursday
Both the Texas Senate Education Committee and the Texas House Public Education Committee meet Thursday. While the House panel’s agenda is longer, the Senate committee will take up one of the most important bills of the session, Senate Bill 3, which would reform the state’s public school accountability system. The full list of bills the House committee will consider is at http://www.tsta.org/legislative/
update/041609_HousePublicEdagenda.pdf. The full list of bills the Senate panel will discuss is at http://www.tsta.org/
legislative/update/041609_SenateEdagenda.pdf.

April 14, 2009
Texas House Passes Two Education Bills
The Texas House of Representatives today amended and passed two education bills on second reading. TSTA supports both of the bills.

Senate Education Sends Bills to Full Senate
The Senate Education Committee today voted to send the following bills to the full Senate for action:

Senate Bill 282, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, would require the Department of Agriculture to develop a program for grants to public school campuses using best practices in the area of nutrition education. The focus is on the Child and Adult Care Food program, Head Start program or other early childhood education programs to operate nutrition education programs for children three years of age but younger than five years of age. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 867 by Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, states that unless a school district is granted a waiver, a district in which 50 percent or more of the students are eligible to participate in the national free or reduced-priced lunch program would have to provide or arrange for the provision of a summer nutrition program for at least 30 total days during the period in which district schools are recessed for the summer.

Senate Bill 892, by Nelson, would require a campus improvement plan for an elementary, middle or junior high school to evaluate the coordinated health program at the campus based on various criteria. The committee sent the bill to the Senate’s Local and Uncontested Calendar.

Senate Bill 1125, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, would require the commissioner of education to adopt procedures for compliance with federal requirements relating to transition services for students who are enrolled in special education programs. The procedures would have to provide that transition planning begins for a student not later than when the student reaches 14 years of age. The commissioner would have to require each school district or shared services arrangement to designate an employee as the school transition and employment services specialist to serve as the district's or shared services arrangement's expert on transition and employment services for students enrolled in special education programs. The bill also would require the agency to develop a Performance-Based Monitoring Analysis System indicator regarding the success of students enrolled in special education programs in transitioning to life outside the public school system. Further, the bill would require the agency to develop a comprehensive transition and employment manual for students enrolled in special education programs and their parents to assist in the transition to life outside the public school system. The committee adopted a substitute will eliminate or substantially reduce the fiscal note. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1313, by Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, would require the Legislative Budget Board to establish a clearinghouse that collects and provides information relating to best practices in career and technology education. The committee adopted a substitute that removed language that was copied from Senate Bill 3 regarding math and science curriculum. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1460, by Shapiro, would require the commissioner of education to design, establish and make available professional development academies for teachers who provide instruction to students of limited English proficiency at the seventh grade level or above. Some teachers would be required to attend a professional development academy established under this bill. An adopted amendment narrows the category of teachers who would be required to receive the training.

Senate Bill 1726, by Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, states that in conjunction with the online clearinghouse of best practices information, the Texas Education Agency would establish a dropout prevention assistance center to identify successful or promising school district, campus or open-enrollment charter school dropout prevention and recovery programs. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1727, by West, would allow the commissioner of education to adopt rules concerning a school district’s duties under the school district college credit program and would address reporting requirements. The committee sent this bill to the Senate’s Local and Uncontested Calendar.

Senate Bill 2033, by Nelson, states that a school district would have to adopt a grading policy, including provisions for the assignment of grades on class assignments and examinations, before each school year. A district grading policy would have to require a classroom teacher to assign a grade that reflects the student's relative mastery of an assignment and could not require a classroom teacher to assign a minimum grade for an assignment without regard to the student's quality of work. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 2308, by Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, would define “campus discretionary funds” as money raised at a public school campus through vending machines or other sources specifically associated with the campus. The bill would declare that campus discretionary funds could be used only to directly benefit the general welfare and educational development and morale of students enrolled at the campus. This would not include professional development activities.

The committee also began discussing the following bills and left them all pending.

Senate Bill 1344, by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, would require the State Board of Education to adopt Texas essential knowledge and skills (TEKS) standards that address dangers, causes, consequences, signs, symptoms and treatment of binge drinking and alcohol poisoning.

Senate Bill 1933, by Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, states that any document or information collected during a security audit of a school district would not be subject to the Texas Public Information Act (open records act).

Senate Bill 2248, by Zaffirini, would require the Texas Education Agency to assist the transition of foster care students from one school to another.

Senate Bill 2275, by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, would transfer certain powers and obligations from the State Board of Education to the commissioner of education. The bill also states that for each subject area undergoing a Texas essential knowledge and skills (TEKS) review for the adoption of a curriculum and textbooks, the commissioner would appoint a team of educators, with each education region of the state represented by one member on the team. The bill also would require the commissioner to make the appointments from among persons nominated by each regional education service center.

April 9, 2009
Texas Senate Passes Education-Related Bills
The Texas Senate today voted on a lengthy list of uncontroversial bills on its Local and Uncontested Calendar. Senators passed eight education-related bills on final reading:

Senate Bill 161, by Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, relating to specialty license plates supporting the Safe Routes to School Program.

Senate Bill 205, by Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, relating to the Texas Partnership for Children in Nature.

Senate Bill 283, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, relating to the membership and activities of local school health advisory councils. The Senate acted on committee substitute.

Senate Bill 522, by Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, relating to the use of personal leave by a public school employee.

Senate Bill 891, by Nelson, relating to the public school physical education curriculum, which must be sequential, developmentally appropriate and designed, implemented and evaluated to enable students to develop the motor, self-management and other skills, knowledge, attitudes and confidence necessary to participate in physical activity throughout life. The Senate acted on a committee substitute.

Senate Bill 939, by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, relating to the capability of the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) to provide information regarding public school students placed in foster care. The Senate acted on a committee substitute.

Senate Bill 1107, by Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, relating to the requirement that driver education curriculum include information regarding distractions while driving.

Senate Bill 1522, by Shapleigh, relating to the exemption of certain school districts from the drainage charge imposed by a municipal drainage utility system. The Senate acted on a committee substitute.

In addition, the Senate yesterday passed on final reading an amended version of Senate Bill 669, by Shapleigh. The measure the El Paso Democrat introduced would have required the State Board of Education to provide for the administration of high school equivalency examinations through online testing. Shapiro successfully carried an amendment that gutted the bill and replaced the bill’s original requirement with the following language: “If the national entity that develops and delivers high school equivalency examinations authorizes online testing, the board by rule shall provide for the administration of the examinations online.”

Texas House Gives Preliminary Approval to Bills
The Texas House of Representatives today passed three bills on second reading, moving them forward for subsequent final approval by that chamber.

House Bill 374, by Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, relating to school bus emergency evacuation training. The House acted on a committee substitute.

House Bill 2512, by Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, relating to authorization to make an audio recording of a meeting or proceeding arising from a grievance reported by a public school employee.

House Bill 2263, by Public Education Committee Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, relating to extending the high school innovation grant initiative to middle and junior high schools. On questioning from Rep. Joe Heflin, D-Crosbyton, Eissler assured the House that this bill has no intent to provide for vouchers for private schools. To establish clear legislative intent, Heflin asked that this be written down and included in the House record.

House Public Ed Sends Many Bills to Full House
The Texas House Public Education Committee met today to approve and forward bills to the full House for action.

House Bill 1693, by Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to the adoption of standards for school financial accounting software.

House Bill 2488, by Hochberg, relating to open-source textbooks for public schools.

House Bill 2480, by Hochberg, relating to school district agreements with junior colleges for courses for joint high school and junior college credit.

House Joint Resolution 77, by Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, creating the Permanent School Fund Management Council to assume the duty of the State Board of Education to manage the Permanent School Fund.

House Bill 203, by Howard, relating to the creation of the Permanent School Fund Management Council to manage the Permanent School Fund.

House Bill 1323, by Rep Mark Strama, D-Austin, relating to bullying and harassment in public schools.

House Bill 3076, by Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, relating to a parenting and paternity awareness program used in the health curriculum for public schools.

House Bill 3841, by Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, relating to requiring joint elections for trustees of common school districts.

House Bill 4302, by Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, relating to the confidentiality of criminal history record information and related information that is obtained by a school district and that relates to an employee of the district.

House Bill 1387, by Rep. Yvonne Davis, D-Dallas, relating to hearing requirements for the adoption of certain rules by a board of trustees of certain school districts.

House Bill 3041, by Rep. Joe Farias, D-San Antonio, elating to a comprehensive schedule of public school reporting requirements.

House Bill 4014, by Rep. Randy Weber, R-Pearland, relating to prohibiting school districts from requiring or coercing teachers to make charitable contributions.

House Bill 4435, by Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, relating to the requirement for mandatory participation by certain principals in the School Leadership Pilot Program for Principals.

House Bill 171, by Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Missouri City, relating to consideration of mitigating factors in determining appropriated disciplinary action to be taken against a public school student.

The committee will meet next Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesday’s hearing will focus on public school finance.

Education Committees Have Full Agendas Next Week
Both the Texas Senate Education Committee and the Texas House Public Education Committee will meet Tuesday to consider numerous bills. For complete lists of the bills the two panels will discuss, go to http://www.tsta.org/legislative/
update/041409_SenateEdAgenda.pdf and http://www.tsta.org/
legislative/update/041409_HousePublicEdAgenda.pdf.

April 8, 2009
Senate Committee Considers Commissioner Nomination
The Texas Senate Nominations Committee today began considering Gov. Rick Perry’s nomination of Robert P. Scott of Austin to be the Texas commissioner of education. Perry made the appointment Oct. 16, 2007, and Scott has been working as commissioner since then. The term will expire Jan. 18, 2011. The committee left the nomination pending. The archived video of the hearing is online at http://www.
senate.state.tx.us/avarchive/ramav.php?ram=00004110.

Scott Updates Committee on Stimulus Funds for Schools
Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott today said that 50% of the $2 billion in Title I and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) money Texas will receive from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be on its ways to local school districts very soon. Updating the House Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding, Scott said the remaining 50% of Title I and IDEA money will arrive in the summer.

Scott reminded the committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, that the amounts each Texas school district can expect to receive are on the Texas Education Agency’s website, at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/arrastimulus/. The TEA site also includes other important information about federal stimulus funding for Texas public education, including guidance on how ARRA allows districts to use this money.

April 7, 2009
Committee Considers Alternative Pathways to Graduation
The Texas House Public Education Committee today heard bills dealing with alternative pathways to graduation, including career and technical; charters; and closing the loophole from 2007’s House Bill 2237, which inadvertently enabled the commissioner of education to create a voucher grant program for private schools to receive state funds for dropout recovery programs.

TSTA Governmental Relations Specialist Portia Bosse testified in support of House Bill 2823, by Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington. The measure would close HB 2237’s loophole and prevent the commissioner from siphoning off public money to give as voucher grants to private schools under the guise of dropout recovery. Bosse told the committee about TSTA’s lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency as a result of the commissioner’s granting public money to a private school and said HB 2823 would clarify the Legislature’s intent in HB 2237.

TSTA opposed two charter bills: House Bill 2541, by Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, and House Bill 3703, by Rep. Jim Jackson, R-Carrolton. Eissler’s bill would allow for open enrollment charter schools to receive facilities funding; and Jackson’s bill would have broken the cap on charters allowed in the state and would allow any existing charter to expand campuses as long as 75% of existing campuses are rated academically acceptable. See TSTA’s written testimony at http://www.tsta.org/teaching/current/testimony.shtml#2541 and http://www.tsta.org/teaching/current/testimony.shtml
#3703.

TSTA supported the following bills:

House Bill 1364, by Eissler, which would require coverage of pre-existing conditions for active school employees to meet the requirements of the insurance code.

House Bill 1387, by Rep. Yvonne Davis, D-Dallas, relating to hearing requirements for the adoption of certain rules by a board of trustees of certain school districts.

House Bill 3041, by Rep. Joe Farias, D-San Antonio, relating to a comprehensive schedule of public school reporting requirements.

House Bill 4014, by Rep. Randy Weber, R-Pearland, relating to prohibiting school districts from requiring or coercing teachers to make charitable contributions.

House Bill 4302, by Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, relating to the confidentiality of criminal history record information and related information that is obtained by a school district and that relates to an employee of the district.

House Bill 2471, by Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, relating to career and technical education in the public schools and high school graduation requirements.

House Bill 3173, by Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, relating to the statewide plan for delivery of services to public school students with disabilities and resources for teachers of public school students with special health needs.

House Bill 3714, by Rep. Susan King, R-Abilene, relating to public school career and technology education program curriculum and funding and to development of a list of high-demand occupations for career and technology education students.

House Bill 4294, by Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, relating to instructional materials and technological equipment in public schools.

The committee also heard several other bills:

House Bill 1425, by Rep. Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, relating to the determination of the population of a county required to develop a juvenile justice alternative education program.

House Bill 3841, by Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, relating to requiring joint elections for trustees of common school districts.

House Bill 3916, by Eissler, relating to an alcohol awareness component of the health curriculum used in public schools.

House Bill 4152, by Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, relating to certification of an educator in Texas who is certified in another state or country.

House Bill 4193, by Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Robstown, relating to a joint election for trustees of an independent school board.

House Bill 4435, by Allen, relating to the requirement for mandatory participation by certain principals in the School Leadership Pilot Program for Principals.

House Bill 466, by Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, relating to procedures for placement of a public school student in a disciplinary alternative education program.

House Bill 3220, by Rep. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, relating to the applicability of certain laws to open-enrollment charter schools.

House Bill 3467, by Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, relating to the administration of certain locally required assessment instruments in public schools.

House Bill 2657, by Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to disciplinary action taken against certain public school students on the basis of serious and persistent misbehavior.

House Appropriations Wastes No Time on Budget
The House Appropriations Committee met today for barely 10 minutes to vote out the committee substitute for Senate Bill 1, the general appropriations budget bill for the 2010-11 biennium. All committee members present voted in favor of the bill. Chair Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, stated that the bill includes relief for both our teachers and retired teachers and that it is a good bill for Texas. TSTA will carefully review the bill to determine whether Pitts’ claim proves to be accurate.

The House leadership is planning for the full House to take up the budget bill Friday, April 17. TSTA will monitor the floor debate then.

The Legislative Budget Board summarized the total for this version of the budget at $178.4 billion, which is an $8.7 billion, or 5.1%, increase from last biennium. It is, however, nearly $3.8 billion less than the $182.2 billion bill the Senate passed last week.

The House bill includes $11 billion in federal stimulus funds, and a supplemental bill also includes $3.3 billion in stimulus money for the 2008-09 biennium. The state also will have another $858 million available that does not show up in the bill; instead, it goes directly to state agencies. Altogether, Texas should receive $15.2 billion in federal stimulus money. Should the state decide to capture the unemployment insurance money available, despite Gov. Rick Perry’s issues with that, the state would receive another $556 million, driving the total up to about $15.8 billion.

The House leadership plans for the full House to take up the budget bill Friday, April 17. TSTA will monitor the floor debate then.

TSTA Strongly Opposes Three Senate Voucher Bills
The Texas Senate Committee on Education today took up three controversial voucher bills that TSTA strongly opposes. The committee left the three voucher bills pending.

The first, Senate Bill 183, by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, is a special education voucher bill. It would create a school choice program for students with disabilities to include “qualifying schools,” meaning nongovernmental community-based educational establishments that exist for the public good and provide for the educational needs of elementary and secondary students with disabilities. If a parent fails to choose to send their child to a public school, the parent would be entitled to a scholarship for the student to pay the costs of attending a qualifying, private school. The amount of the scholarship would be equal to the amount the public school district would have received had the student attended the public school where the student resides. TSTA’s John Grey opposed this bill with written testimony. This testimony, which also applies to the two other voucher bills, is online at http://www.tsta.org/teaching/current/testimony.
shtml#183.

The second, Senate Bill 1301, by Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, is a voucher bill that would establish an autism services accessibility program for students. The bill would allow eligible special education students to attend their school of choice, including a private school. The bill would direct the state to make payments to qualifying (private) schools to the detriment of public schools. The bill would take money that is supposed to go to special education services in public schools and send that money to private schools. TSTA’s John Grey opposed this bill with written testimony.

The third, Senate Bill 2204, by Shapiro, is another special education voucher bill. The bill states that certain students with autism or autism spectrum disorder could, at the option of the student's parent, access services through a qualifying community provider or private school, as part of the Autism Interdisciplinary Enhancement Program. The bill would take money that is supposed to go to special education services in public schools and send that money to private schools. TSTA’s John Grey opposed this bill with written testimony.

In a very full day, the committee considered and sent three bills to the full Senate:

Senate Bill 1490, by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, would require the State Office of Administrative Hearings to conduct special education due process hearings, which the Texas Education Agency currently conducts. The committee sent the bill to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation.

Senate Bill 1577, by Shapiro, would provide for excused absence for a student diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder on the day of the student’s appointment with a health care practitioner to receive a generally recognized service for persons with autism spectrum disorder, including applied behavioral analysis, speech therapy and occupational therapy. TSTA supports this bill. The committee sent the bill to the Senate’s Local and Uncontested Calendar.

Senate Bill 2044, by Williams, would require district-level and campus-level planning and decision-making committees in public school districts to include at least one representative with the primary responsibility for educating students with disabilities. The committee adopted a substitute that made minor changes and sent it to the Senate’s Local and Uncontested Calendar.

The committee considered several others bills and left them pending:

Senate Bill 282, by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, would mandate the Texas Department of Agriculture to develop a program for grants to public school campuses using best practices in the area of nutrition education. The bill’s focus is on the Child and Adult Care Food program, Head Start program or other early childhood education programs to operate nutrition education programs for children three years of age but younger than five years of age. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 867, by Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, states that unless a school district is granted a waiver, a district in which 50 percent or more of the students are eligible to participate in the national free or reduced-priced lunch program would have to provide or arrange for the provision of a summer nutrition program for at least 30 consecutive weekdays during the period in which district schools are recessed for the summer.

Senate Bill 892, by Nelson, would require a campus improvement plan for an elementary, middle or junior high school, to evaluate the coordinated health program at the campus based on various criteria.

Senate Bill 1125, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, would require the commissioner of education to adopt procedures for compliance with federal requirements relating to transition services for students who are enrolled in special education programs. The procedures would have to provide that transition planning begins for a student not later than when the student reaches 14 years of age. The commissioner also would have to require each school district or shared services arrangement to designate an employee as the school transition and employment services specialist to serve as the district’s or shared services arrangement’s expert on transition and employment services for students enrolled in special education programs. The bill also would require the agency to develop a Performance-Based Monitoring Analysis System indicator regarding the success of students enrolled in special education programs in transitioning to life outside the public school system. Further, the bill would require the agency to develop a comprehensive transition and employment manual for students enrolled in special education programs and their parents to assist in the transition to life outside the public school system. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1489, by Watson, would require a school district to make available and provide information to parents regarding optional dispute resolution methods that may be used when a dispute arises between the district and a parent of a student with a disability. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1601, by Watson, states that if the commissioner of education appoints a monitor, conservator, management team or board of managers to the district, a technical assistance team or campus intervention team appointed under this section would have to work with and under the direction of the monitor, conservator, management team or board of managers. The monitor, conservator, management team or board of managers would be allowed to recommend to the commissioner that all or part of the services of a technical assistance team or campus intervention team are no longer needed at a campus. The bill also states that a campus could be repurposed, and that a district ordered to repurpose a campus would have to submit a plan to the commissioner for approval. The plan would have to include a description of a rigorous and relevant academic program for the campus. The plan could include various instructional models. The committee laid out a substitute that was not available to the public.

Senate Bill 1726, by Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, states that in conjunction with the online clearinghouse of best practices information, the Texas Education Agency would establish a dropout prevention assistance center to, among other things, identify successful or promising school district, campus or open-enrollment charter school dropout prevention and recovery programs. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1727, by West, would allow the commissioner of education to adopt rules concerning a district’s duties under the school district college credit program and would address reporting requirements.

Senate Bill 2083, by Shapiro, would require the Texas Education Agency to develop an Internet-based data collection platform that each school district and open-enrollment charter school must use to conduct surveys concerning (1) each student participating in the district’s or school’s special education program; (2) each student who has participated in the district’s or school’s special education program and has graduated from a district or school high school; and (3) each student who has withdrawn from the district’s or school’s special education program. The bill also would require the agency to award grants to school districts, campuses and open-enrollment charter schools with high rankings under the information system.

Senate Bill 2087, by Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, states that the commissioner may not impose on a campus for which a campus intervention team has been appointed any additional sanctions until (1) the campus intervention team has completed the comprehensive on-site evaluation and the comprehensive on-site needs assessment; (2) the campus intervention team has made recommendations for a school improvement plan; (3) the campus has received any financial or other assistance determined necessary under the evaluation process to implement the school improvement plan; and (4) the campus has two complete school years during which to implement the school improvement plan. The committee adopted a substitute that was not available to the public. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 2033, by Nelson, states that a school district would have to adopt a grading policy, including provisions for the assignment of grades on class assignments and examinations, before each school year. A district grading policy (1) would have to require a classroom teacher to assign a grade that reflects the student's relative mastery of an assignment and (2) could not require a classroom teacher to assign a minimum grade for an assignment without regard to the student’s quality of work. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 2308, by Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, would define “campus discretionary funds” to be money raised at a public school campus through vending machines or other sources specifically associated with the campus. The bill would declare that campus discretionary funds may be used only to directly benefit the general welfare and educational development and morale of students enrolled at the campus, which does not include professional development activities.

April 6, 2009
Senate Education Committee Will Discuss Voucher Bills
The Texas Senate Education Committee tomorrow will take up controversial voucher legislation Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, is carrying. Senate Bill 183 would create a private school voucher program for students with disabilities. Senate Bills 1301 and 2204, by Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, would create private school vouchers for students with autism or autism spectrum disorder. TSTA strongly opposes these attempts to siphon public money away from public schools and send it to private schools. For a complete list of bills the committee will consider tomorrow, go to http://www.tsta.org/
legislative/update/040709_SenateEdAgenda.pdf.

House Committee Will Discuss Expanding Charter Schools
The House Public Education Committee tomorrow will consider controversial legislation by Rep. Jim Jackson, R-Carrollton, that would remove the cap on open-enrollment charter schools and allow the open-ended expansion of these facilities. TSTA strongly opposes this bill.

The committee also will consider an important measure Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, is carrying. House Bill 2823 would close the loophole that the 80th Legislature created two years ago when it passed dropout recovery legislation. The law inadvertently allowed the commissioner of education to give state-funded grants to nonprofits acting as private schools for dropout recovery purposes. One of those, in Bexar County, has close ties to James Leininger, who has used his personal fortune through much of the past decade to try to buy legislative seats for his pro-voucher candidates. TSTA strongly supports Patrick’s bill.

The committee will face a full agenda of other measures. For a complete list of the bills that committee will consider, go to http://www.tsta.org/legislative/update/040709_House
PublicEdAgenda.pdf.

Senate Passes Mentoring Bill TSTA Supports
The Texas Senate today passed on final reading Senate Bill 1290, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, that would allow a school district to assign a mentor teacher to each classroom teacher who has less than two years of teaching experience in the subject or grade level to which the teacher is assigned. TSTA supports this bill.

April 2, 2009
Senate Passes Attendance and Other Bills
The Texas Senate today passed legislation to require students to be in class at least 90 percent of the time or forfeit credit. TSTA supports Senate Bill 1364, by Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano. The measure provides that a student in any grade level from kindergarten though grade 12 may not receive credit or a grade for a class unless the student is in attendance for at least 90 percent of the days the class is offered. During floor debate, the Senate amended the bill to specify that local school boards would have to adopt policies to restrict the amount of time a student may be taken out of class for remediation or tutoring. The Senate further amended the bill to clarify that in computing the attendance requirement, a student’s attendance or non-attendance in a flexible year program does not count. The Senate passed the amended bill on final reading.

The Senate today also passed four other education bills on final reading:

Senate Bill 1134, by President Pro Tempore Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, would allow a high school student to be excused from school for serving as an election clerk. The Senate today acted on a committee substitute to SB 1134 that cleaned up the bill substantially.

Senate Bill 197, by Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, would expand the current financial literacy pilot program in public schools from up to 25 participating districts to up to 100 participating districts. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 199, by Shapleigh, would require each regional education service center to maintain services providing instruction in personal financial literacy for public school teachers. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1075, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, would allow for an excused absence for a student who misses school to spend time with a parent who is called to duty for, is on leave from or is returning from deployment to a combat zone as a member of the armed forces of the United States, a reserve component or state military forces. The Senate acted on the committee substitute, which made minor changes to the original bill.

Houses Passes Bill on Textbooks, Equipment
The Texas House of Representatives today passed one education measure, House Bill 1332, by Rep. Diana Maldonado, D-Round Rock. The legislation would require that each student and student’s parent be responsible for not only unreturned textbooks, but also electronic textbooks and all technological equipment that are unreturned.

Senate Education Sends Bills to Full Senate
The Texas Senate Education Committee today moved forward a bill to provide additional training for teachers and paraprofessionals who work with students with disabilities. The committee unanimously approved Senate Bill 100, by Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, and sent it to the Senate’s local and uncontested calendar with a favorable recommendation. TSTA supports the bill, which would create professional development institutes for these educators. The commissioner of education would determine criteria for selecting who can attend, but priority would be given to teachers who significantly work with students with autism. The bill also would provide a stipend to educators attending the institutes.

The committee also discussed other bills, noted below, that it had left pending until the Senate acted on Senate Bill 1, the general appropriations bill for the next biennium. The Senate passed that measure on final reading last night. The committee unanimously passed the following bills and sent them to the Senate’s local and uncontested calendar with favorable recommendations:

Senate Bill 587, by Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, would permit school districts to pay bonds with state and local funds under certain circumstances, while also setting limits on aid to pay bonds. The bill would help schools pay down existing debt. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 817, by Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso would require the commissioner of education to give Communities In Schools not less than $30 million per fiscal year. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 955, by Shapiro, would revise the law on the state Virtual School Network with regards to participants, teachers authorized to teach courses, approval of courses, fees for courses and allotment.

Senate Bill 956, by Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, is actually a higher education bill. The measure would establish a law school in downtown Dallas that would be part of the University of North Texas System. West presented a committee substitute, which would authorize the law school to accept gifts and grants from any public or private source. The committee adopted the substitute and sent it to the Senate’s local and uncontested calendar.

Senate Bill 1255, by Shapiro, would provide that if a school district's application for guarantee of district bonds by the corpus and income of the Permanent School Fund as provided by Subchapter C is rejected, the district may apply for guarantee of bonds issued under Subchapter A, including refunding bonds, by money appropriated for the Foundation School Program. A committee substitute to SB 1255 made minor changes and was previously adopted by the committee. The committee sent the substitute to the Senate’s local and uncontested calendar.

Senate Bill 1362, by Shapiro, would require the Texas Youth Commission to implement a comprehensive plan to improve the reading skills and behavior of TYC students.

Senate Bill 1363, by Shapiro, would require the Texas Education Agency, in cooperation with the State Board of Education and with the participation of educators, to develop written materials to provide additional specific guidance regarding the essential knowledge and skills of the public school curriculum.

Senate Bill 1576, by Shapiro, would require the commissioner of education to establish a program under which grants are awarded to school districts to implement an algebra instruction program. The bill also would require the commissioner to develop a comprehensive intervention plan to assist school districts with a disproportionate number of students who fail to perform satisfactorily on the assessment instrument administered under Section 39.023(a)(1) in grades 5 through 7. TSTA supports this bill. The committee adopted a committee substitute to SB 1255, which made minor changes to the bill. The committee then sent it to the Senate’s local and uncontested calendar.

Senate Bill 1606, by Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, would require that portable buildings used by school districts comply with all provisions applicable to industrialized buildings. The committee adopted a committee substitute that would change the implementation date of the bill from Sept. 1 to Dec. 1. The committee then sent the substitute to the Senate’s local and uncontested calendar.

The committee recessed as the full Senate convened, then returned later to continue its work. During its afternoon meeting, the panel voted to send the following bills to the Senate for action:

Senate Bill 644, by Shapiro, would provide disaster relief for all school districts located in a disaster area. The bill would not limit this assistance to Chapter 41 “Robin Hood” recapture amounts. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1459, by Shapiro, would require the commissioner of education to establish a grant program to facilitate identification of successful language acquisition programs in this state for students of limited English proficiency and a determination of the best practices used by those programs. The bill also would require the commissioner to establish a pilot program under which a participating school district with students at risk of dropping out of school would intervene by using methods focused on improving educational attainment by those students.

Senate Bill 1460, by Shapiro, would require the commissioner of education to design, establish and make available professional development academies for teachers who provide instruction to students of limited English proficiency at the 7th-grade level or above. Some teachers would be required to attend a professional development academy established under this section. The committee sent this bill to the Senate’s local and uncontested calendar.

Senate Bill 1831, by Vice Chair Dan Patrick, R-Houston, would prohibit the University Interscholastic League from denying a school or its students the opportunity to become a member of the league or otherwise discriminate against a school or its students because the school is a private school.

House Public Education Sends Bills to Full House
The Texas House Public Education Committee met today and sent the following bills to the full House for action:

House Bill 339, by Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, relating to driver education and driver's licensing requirements for minors.

House Bill 462, by Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, relating to the use of personal leave by a public school employee. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 635, by Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, relating to the authority of the Texas Education Agency to seek, accept and distribute grants available for the benefit of public elementary and secondary education.

House Bill 636, by Guillen, relating to the allocation of state and federal funds for adult basic education.

House Bill 1020, by Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, relating to the use, exhibition or possession of a firearm by public school students participating in certain school-sponsored programs and activities sponsored or supported by the Parks and Wildlife Department.

House Bill 1423, by Guillen, relating to granting charters to public junior colleges for open-enrollment charter schools.

House Bill 2018, by Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, relating to the inclusion of a student representative on a district-level planning and decision-making committee.

House Bill 3643, by Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, relating to public school pre-kindergarten classes. TSTA supports this bill.

April 1, 2009
Texas Senate Passes Appropriations Bill
The Texas Senate today passed on final reading the general appropriations bill, the Finance Committee substitute to Senate Bill 1, by a 26-5 vote. Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, presented the Article III public education portion of the bill. He noted that under the bill, public education would receive approximately 41% ($75 billion) of the entire general appropriations amount of $182 billion. Approximately 67% of all general revenue money would go to education. Even so, the Texas Education Agency’s appropriation would decrease by approximately 2%. The bill includes $491 million in teacher incentive pay, which would be $148 million less than TEA requested. Texas would use approximately $3.3 billion in federal stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help fund public education, with approximately $900 million of that going to textbooks for the 2009-10 school year.

House Pensions Considers TRS Board Election Bills
The Texas Legislature is considering legislation that would remove part of the board positions of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas from gubernatorial appointment power. The Texas House Pensions, Investments and Financial Services Committee met today to hear a number of bills related to TRS and benefits. The most important dealt with restructuring the selection process to allow for elected positions of retired and active teachers that would be final and not subject to gubernatorial appointment. The committee heard all the bills related to the composition of the TRS board at one time. TSTA Government Relations Specialist Portia Bosse testified in support of all the bills that would provide for elections for these board positions. She told the committee that this is all about empowerment of the membership, which is even more critical in these hard economic times.

These bills would affect the composition of the TRS board and how its members are chosen:
House Bills 648 and 3998, by Rep. Yvonne Davis, D-Dallas;
House Bill 688, by Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Robstown;
House Bill 1670, by Rep. Jim McReynolds, D-Lufkin;
House Bill 2144, by Rep. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio;
House Bill 2656, by Rep. Doug Miller, R-New Braunfels; and
House Bill 3972, by Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi.

TSTA also supports some other bills the committee considered today:

House Bill 2293, by Rep. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown, which would provide more competition in the prescription drug market by allowing members to purchase three months of medication at a time through their local pharmacy at the same price as contracted for by mail order.

House Bill 1191, by Rep. Kino Flores, D-Mission, which would affect the enrollment period for insurance benefits for certain retirees of TRS.

House Bill 3480, by Chair Vicki Truitt, R-Southlake, which would affect annuities and investments for certain public employees.

The committee left all bills pending.

Bill Would Help Appraisal, School Districts
House Bill 133, by Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, would give appraisal districts another tool to ensure that school districts receive the local revenue they should be getting. TSTA supported the measure today in the Texas House Committee on Ways and Means. HB 133 would require the disclosure of the sale price of retail property so an accurate appraisal value can be made on it. The bill, however, says the bill may not be the sole basis for determining the appraised value. But the law now does not provide a way to track the real value of retail property.

March 31, 2009
House Panel Addresses Bullying, Discipline, Sex Ed
The Texas House Public Education Committee waded into the brave new cyberworld today as it considered a bill by Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, that would give administrators more authority to deal with bullies, including those who use the Internet and its social media tools to harass other students. Strama’s House Bill 1323 would provide for the transfer of students who are either victims or have engaged in bullying. The bill would define bullying to mean expression through electronic means and conduct on or off school property. The student could be transferred to another classroom or another campus if necessary. Strama testified that this bill specifically addresses cyber bullying for which growing problems have emerged. TSTA supports this bill.

One of the more contentious bills of the day was House Bill 1313, by Rep. Helen Giddings, D-De Soto, relating to the assignment of a public school student to an inexperienced or uncertified teacher. This bill would apply only to districts with enrollments of 5,000 or more students and would restrict the assignment of students in kindergarten through 6th grade to a class with a teacher who has less than one year of teaching experience or is not properly certified for two consecutive school years. Further, the measure would prevent assignment to a teacher for these same reasons in grades 7 to 12 for classes where a student has to take the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. The bill would allow for exceptions when parents agree to the assignment in violation of this statute.

Two superintendents from the Houston area testified against this bill, stating that first-year teachers are often quality teachers and that districts just don’t have enough teachers available to meet the demands of this bill. This kicked off a firestorm from the committee and the author due to the widening gap happening in the public school system between the “haves” and “have nots.” Giddings closed by saying that gaps do exist and will continue to exist as long as administrators do not expect enough from their students.

Sex education was also a hot topic for the committee. Bill sponsors and witnesses told the committee that teaching medically accurate information and training educators to be prepared to teach the information are critical in the efforts to reduce teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

The committee also considered the following bills, which TSTA supports:

House Bill 172, by Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Missouri City, relating to the right of a parent of a public school student to prompt notice of certain disciplinary action taken against the student.

House Bill 1567, by Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, relating to abstinence education in public schools. This bill would say that abstinence from sexual activity is the healthiest choice of behavior but also provide for education on ways to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including not discouraging forms of contraception approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

House Bill 2480, by Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to school district agreements with junior colleges for courses for joint high school and junior college credit.

House Bill 2488, by Hochberg, relating to open-source textbooks for public schools. This bill defines open-source textbook as an electronic textbook that is available for downloading from the Internet at no charge to all students. The bill would provide that the State Board of Education place an open source textbook for a secondary level course submitted for adoption by a public or private university located in Texas that spends at least $75 million per year on research on a conforming or nonconforming list as determined by the university's certification if written by faculty of the university, all authors are identified by the university, it is certified for accuracy by the department of the university, it qualifies for placement on conforming or nonconforming as determined by the university and the university certifies it will prepare student without remediation and certifies entry into the senior year course.

House Bill 2817, by Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano, relating to discipline of a public school student with a disability whose continued presence in the classroom threatens others. This bill would provide that if a student with special education services threatens the safety of other students, the teacher may initiate review by the admission, review and dismissal (ARD) committee concerning placement of the student or a behavioral intervention plan.

House Bill 3614, by Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, relating to transition and employment services for public school students enrolled in special education programs. This bill would require the commissioner of education to adopt procedures for compliance with federal requirements relating to transition services for students who are enrolled in special education programs. The procedures would have to provide that transition planning begins for a student not later than when the student reaches 14 years of age. Among its other provisions, the bill would require the Texas Education Agency to develop a comprehensive transition and employment manual for students enrolled in special education programs and their parents to assist in the transition to life outside the public school system.

House Bill 3643, by Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, relating to public school prekindergarten classes. This bill would define "child" to include a stepchild, and "parent" to include a stepparent.

The committee also heard the following bills:

House Bill 171, by Olivo, relating to consideration of mitigating factors in determining appropriated disciplinary action to be taken against a public school student.

House Bill 626, by Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, relating to an educational involvement agreement setting forth the respective responsibilities of students, parents, teachers and principals in public schools.

House Bill 741, by Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, relating to health education curriculum and instruction in public schools.

House Bill 901, by Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, relating to referral of public school students to law enforcement for violations of school district’s student code of conduct.

House Bill 1020, by Rep. Joseph Deshotel, D-Beaumont, relating to the use, exhibition or possession of a firearm by public school students participating in certain school-sponsored programs and activities sponsored or supported by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

House Bill 1423, by Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, relating to granting charters to public junior colleges for open-enrollment charter schools.

House Bill 1692, by Hochberg, relating to accountability for gifted and talented programs.

House Bill 1693, by Hochberg, relating to the adoption of standards for school financial accounting software.

House Bill 2018, by Strama, relating to the inclusion of a student representative on a district-level planning and decision-making committee.

House Bill 2803, by Hochberg, relating to the administration of assessment instruments by computer.

House Bill 3076, by Deshotel, relating to a parenting and paternity awareness program used in the health curriculum for public schools.

House Bill 3908, by Madden, relating to certain offenses involving public and private schools.

House Bill 4238, by Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, relating to establishing a state master plan for closing academic achievement gaps in public primary and secondary education.

Senate Education Considers Expanding Charter Schools
The Texas Senate Education Committee today considered two bills that would allow the dramatic expansion in the number of charter schools in Texas. Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, carried both of the measures, and TSTA opposes both.

Senate Bill 308 would remove the limit on the number of charters for charter schools that the State Board of Education may grant. TSTA’s John Grey opposed this bill with oral testimony, stating that TSTA has always supported charter schools and the charter school movement in Texas, but that TSTA has a problem with the bill because it wipes out all limits for charter schools, which are so deregulated by their nature. Keeping up with an unlimited number of charter schools would be problematic. The state needs to be able to maintain some level of control in this area, and TSTA is concerned that would be impossible as the bill is written. TSTA agrees that the limit needs to be expanded, but TSTA recommends an interim study that looks specifically at charter schools, how they are operating, what could be made better and what might be a new appropriate cap for charter schools. The committee left the bill pending.

Senate Bill 1830 would repeal the limit of 215 charter schools that current law allows, would allow a charter holder to establish new school campuses without applying for authorization and would provide that a student may be included in computing the school's dropout or completion rate only after the student has attended the school for 85 or more school days. TSTA’s John Grey also opposed this bill with oral testimony. Grey referred to very loose standards that allowed charter schools to expand at will and asked if these are the standard we want to use to allow charter schools to expand. He pointed out that if 25% of the campuses at a charter school are academically unacceptable, that charter school may be eligible to open more campuses at will, with no limit. Proper oversight is necessary for these schools to function properly and accomplish their task of preparing children for college or the work force. The Texas Education Agency is constrained by a budget that would not be able to keep up with an unlimited expansion of the number of charter schools. This bill is a potential disaster in many areas. The committee left the bill pending.

The committee also heard several other bills. Unless otherwise noted below, the committee left them pending.

Senate Bill 1549, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, states that if the commissioner develops a standard method to compute grade point average, a school district would have to use the standard method to compute a student's high school grade point average. The bill received no opposition, and the committee was passed it favorably to the full Senate’s the local and uncontested calendar.

Senate Bill 955 by Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, would revise the law on the state Virtual School Network with regards to participants, teachers authorized to teach courses, approval of courses, fees for courses and allotment. The bill received no opposition.

Senate Bill 1363, by Shapiro, would require TEA, in cooperation with the State Board of Education and with the participation of educators, to develop written materials that provide additional specific guidance regarding the essential knowledge and skills of the public school curriculum.

Senate Bill 1606, by Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, would require portable buildings, which can be used by independent school districts, to comply with all provisions applicable to industrialized buildings. The bill received no opposition.

Senate Bill 1664, by Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, would entitle a school district to state revenue to pay 50 percent of the district’s annual expenditure for the employer's share of Social Security taxes, for employees covered by the federal Social Security retirement program if the district made payments for coverage of a class of employees before Jan. 1, 2009. Wentworth presented a committee substitute that removed the fiscal note. TSTA supports this bill.

Senate Bill 1818, by Van de Putte, would allow a student to be exempt from assessment for a period of up to four years if the student's initial enrollment in a school in the United States was as an unschooled asylee or refugee. TSTA supports this bill, which received no opposition. The committee sent it with a favorable recommendation to the full Senate’s local and uncontested calendar.

Senate Bill 2002, by Van de Putte, would state that each district that is required to offer bilingual education and special language programs must offer, for students of limited English proficiency, a secondary-level English language learners' program in grades 9 through 12. The bill also would require educators associated with a secondary-level English language learners' program to satisfy specific professional development requirements.

Senate Bill 1459, by Shapiro, would require the commissioner of education to establish a grant program to facilitate identification of successful language acquisition programs in this state for students of limited English proficiency and a determination of the best practices used by those programs. The bill also would require the commissioner to establish a pilot program under which a participating school district with students at risk of dropping out of school would intervene by using methods focused on improving education attainment by those students.

Senate Bill 1460, by Shapiro, would require the commissioner of education to design, establish and make available professional development academies for teachers who provide instruction to students of limited English proficiency at the grade 7 or above. The bill also would require some teachers to attend a professional development academy that would be established under this section.

Senate Passes Bill to Require Training
The Texas Senate today took up the committee substitute for Senate Bill 451, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D. San Antonio, which would requires training on instruction of students with disabilities for certain educators. The bill drew no debate, and the Senate passed it unanimously on final reading.

House Passes Three Education Bills
The Texas House of Representatives today unanimously passed three education bills on final reading:

House Bill 350, by Rep. David Leibowitz, D-San Antonio, would allow a school district located in a county with more than 1 million people to contract with an institution of higher education within the county to pay a portion of the costs of the design or construction of a stadium or other athletic facility.

House Bill 772, by Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, would require the State Board of Education to webcasts its meetings live via both video and audio. The board webcasts with only audio now. TSTA supports this bill.

House Bill 1297, by Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, would allow for flexible school day programs for any student who, as a result of attendance requirements, would be denied credit for one or more classes in which the student was enrolled.

March 30, 2009
Education Committees Continue Work on Many Bills
The Texas House Public Education Committee meets Tuesday with a lengthy list of bills to consider. House Bill 741, by Rep. Joaquin Castro could draw the most attention. The San Antonio Democrat’s bill would require medically accurate and age appropriate information in any course materials relating to human sexuality. For the complete list of bills the panel will discuss, go to http://www.tsta.org/legislative/update/
033109_HousePublicEdAgenda.pdf.

The Texas Senate Public Education Committee also meets Tuesday with a lengthy list of bills to consider. Senate Bills 308 and 1830 by Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, would lift the cap on the number of charter schools the state can authorize. For a complete list of bills the panel will discuss, go to http://
www.tsta.org/legislative/update/033109_SenateEdAgenda.pdf.

House Version of Budget Remains Unclear
The Texas House Appropriations Committee met last Friday to finalize the budget for presentation to the full House. In the budget, Article XII, which is the federal stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, reflects a total of $10.9 billion in federal funds that Texas will receive in 2010-11 biennium. The budget also reflects $3.8 billion in stimulus money to be spent in the 2009 fiscal year.

The House budget does not include the $556 million for unemployment insurance trust fund benefits, but if Texas does accept those funds, the total amount of federal stimulus money coming to Texas could top $16 billion.

Slightly more than $700 million in stimulus money is discretionary spending. Half of it is going to the Texas Education Agency, and the other half is appropriated for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to free up general revenue to spend in other areas of the budget. Stimulus funds are also appropriated to the Texas Department of Agriculture for the free lunch program in public schools.

Approximately $3.3 billion of education funds in the stimulus article still remain uncertain as federal rules dictating the guidelines for spending will not be final until May. Many items were also shuffled to Article XI, which is historically the wish list article. However, the committee has given some indication that these items could be funded through stimulus money. The committee has also included a rider in the bill that would enable a 13th check, capped at $1,000, to retired teachers; however, due to the decline in the value of the system fund, the money would be appropriated in the budget with available funds and not through board action by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.

At this point what the budget will look like, with or without federal stimulus money being utilized, remains unclear. Money is constantly being shifted around, making keeping up with all the nut shells impossible. TSTA will continue to monitor budget discussions to learn how funds are being used and where. The Texas Senate expects to take up the budget this week, and the House should follow the week after.

March 26, 2009
In Senate Education: Online GED, Algebra, PE, Careers
The Senate Education Committee heard several bills today.  

SB 1255 by Shapiro (R-Plano) states that if a school district's application for guarantee of district bonds under the permanent school fund is rejected, it may apply for guarantee of bonds by money appropriated for the Foundation School Program. The bill received little debate and was left pending. 

SB 891 by Nelson (R-Lewisville) mandates that the required state physical education curriculum be sequential and developmentally appropriate; it must be designed, implemented and evaluated to enable students to develop the motor, self-management and other skills, knowledge, attitudes and confidence necessary to participate in physical activity throughout life. Nelson’s subsequent committee substitute made minor changes and was adopted. CSSB 891 received no opposition, passed out of committee unanimously and was sent to the local and uncontested calendar.  

SB 669 by Shapleigh (D-El Paso) requires the State Board of Education to provide for the administration of high school equivalency exams through online testing. The bill received no opposition, passed out of committee unanimously and was sent to the local and uncontested calendar. 

SB 283 by Nelson requires districts to appoint members to serve on the district’s local school health advisory council, including a chair or co-chairs. The bill also requires the council to meet four times a year and to submit an annual report to the school board. With minor changes, CSSB 283 passed unanimously and was sent to the local and uncontested calendar.  

SB 939 by Watson (D-Austin) requires the commissioner's rules to ensure that the Public Education Information Management System contains all information necessary to permit the agency to track the performance of students placed in foster care. The bill also requires the Department of Family and Protective Services to provide school districts or Texas Education Agency, as appropriate, information regarding the identity of students placed in foster care. CSSB 939, which made a few minor changes, passed out of committee unanimously and was sent to the local and uncontested calendar. 

SB 587 by Shapiro permits school districts to pay bonds with state and local funds under certain circumstances, while also setting limits on aid to pay bonds. TSTA supported this bill, which will help schools pay down debt. Due to the bill’s large fiscal note, it was left pending. 

SB 1290 by Van de Putte (D-San Antonio) allows a school district to assign a mentor teacher to each classroom teacher with less than two years of teaching experience in the subject or grade level to which he or she is assigned. TSTA supported this bill, which received no opposition. SB 1290 passed out of committee unanimously and was sent to the local and uncontested calendar. 

SB 1576 by Shapiro requires the commissioner to establish a grant program for school districts to implement an algebra instruction program, and to develop a comprehensive intervention plan to assist school districts that have a disproportionate number of students who fail to perform satisfactorily on the assessment instrument administered under Section 39.023(a)(1) in grades 5-7. TSTA supported this bill, which was left pending. 

SB 1831 by Patrick (R-Houston) says the University Interscholastic League may not deny a school or its students the opportunity to become a member of the league or otherwise discriminate against them because the school is private. SB 1831 was left pending. 

SB 1313 by Shapiro requires the Legislative Budget Board to establish a clearinghouse that collects and provides information relating to best practices in career and technology education, including:

• model programs that connect kindergarten through grade 12 to postsecondary employment or higher education in a seamless system that includes the use of quality internship programs;

• courses that teach the required curriculum under Section 28.002 in a manner that may be applied to employment skills;

• models of course scheduling that allow students to participate in a coherent sequence of career and technology courses while meeting the requirement adopted under Section 28.025 that students complete four courses in each subject of the foundation curriculum under Section 28.002(a)(1);

• counseling that assists students in identifying high-demand, high-wage occupations appropriate for the student; diagnoses the current skills of students and determines the skills needed for those high-demand, high-wage occupations; assists students in planning courses and schedules to acquire needed skills; and connects students to employment opportunities and institutions of higher education; and

• the integration and use of internet courses into the career and technology education course sequences.

TSTA supported this bill, which was left pending.--Report from John Grey, TSTA Government Relations Specialist

Bills Passed Out of House Public Education Today
The House Public Education Committee passed the following bills today:

March 23, 2009
Education Committees Have Full Agendas Tuesday
Tuesday’s meetings of the Texas House Public Education Committee and Texas Senate Education Committee will have full agendas. Click on the following links for the full lists of the bills the committees will consider: http://www.tsta.org/
legislative/update/032409_HousePublicEd_Agenda.pdf and
http://www.tsta.org/legislative/update/032409_SenateEd_
Agenda.pdf.

Report Questions Value of Texas Charter Schools
The RAND Corp. released a report titled “Charter Schools in Eight States: Effects on Achievement, Attainment, Integration, and Competition.” The study includes a review of Texas charter schools, showing few real benefits or serious problems. The full study is online at http://www.rand.org/
pubs/monographs/2009/RAND_MG869.pdf. The report comes as the Texas Legislature will consider several bills relating to charter schools, most notably including Senate Bill 308, by Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, and House Bill 465, by Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney.

March 19, 2009
Texas Senate Unanimously Passes Two Education Bills
The Texas Senate today unanimously passed two education bills on final reading without debating either.

The first bill was Senate Bill 503, by Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler. The measure calls for school districts to publish the names of superintendent candidates interviewed in the final round of interviews. The wording of the statute is broad, allowing a school district to potentially have one candidate in the final round. Most school districts now publish the name of only one finalist, not the names of the individuals who make up a final group. The bill allows school districts to decide how they would like to comply with the statute.

Next, the Senate passed Senate Bill 759, by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, to increase the number of years from three to eight that a company or organization can distribute, sell or grade the same form of an assessment instrument for the same school district. 

March 18, 2009
Texas Senate Passes Two More Education Bills
The Texas Senate met today to consider several bills, including further consideration of the committee substitute to Senate Bill 90, by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio. The measure is an interstate compact to remove barriers to educational success imposed on children of military families because of frequent moves and deployment of their parents. The Senate did not debate the committee substitute to SB 90 before passing it on final reading.

The Senate also considered Senate Bill 987, by Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano. The bill would require the commissioner of education to adopt procedures for compliance with federal requirements relating to transition services for students who are enrolled in special education programs. The procedures would have to provide that transition planning begins for a student not later than when the student reaches 14 years of age. The Senate passed SB 987 on final reading.

House Pensions Urges Repeal of Social Security Offsets
The Texas House Pensions, Investments and Financial Services Committee met today to consider House Concurrent Resolution 61, by Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Robstown, urging Congress to repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) of the Social Security Act. Governmental Relations Specialist Portia Bosse testified in support of HCR 61, telling the committee that now is the time to send the message to Congress that Texas supports repealing these unfair laws.

Bosse testified that the GPO and WEP significantly reduce the Social Security benefits of retirees from public employment, including teachers, and that retirees are the people who need this money the most during these hard economic times. Bosse also testified that TSTA’s national affiliate, the National Educators Association, has been working on this issue for some time and estimates, for example, that nine out of 10 public employees affected by the GPO lose their entire spousal benefit. Committee members, including Chair Vicki Truitt, R-Southlake, showed their concern by voting HCR 61 out of committee immediately for full consideration of the House. TSTA submitted written testimony on this issue, based on NEA’s analysis of the Social Security offsets, online at http://www.nea.org/home/
18121.htm. Information about NEA’s work to repeal these unfair offsets and what members can do to help is online at http://www.nea.org/home/16491.htm.

The committee also heard from Teacher Retirement System of Texas Executive Director Ronnie Jung regarding the Feb. 28 valuation report that reflects another market drop by 25% since January, resulting in a trust fund value of only $70.6 billion. Jung advised the committee that this leaves an unfunded liability of $40 billion but urged the committee to be diligent in not overreacting. He did, however, caution that some type of state contribution increase might be in order, but he and the committee were silent on whether that means a proposal to increase the active teacher contribution rate. The top priority at this point for TRS is to maintain the solvency of the fund, thus it appears any 13th check this session would have to come from general revenue above and beyond what goes to TRS to replenish the trust fund.

TSTA will monitor next week’s meeting for any bills pertaining to TRS.

March 17, 2009
House Public Education Discusses Accountability Reform
The Texas House Committee on Public Education held public hearings today on House Bill 3, which would reform the state’s public school accountability system. Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, presented the bill and explained what he regards as its improvements over the current system. Its most important component overall is that it sets the goal of post-secondary readiness for all Texas students, he said. It further sets the goal of elevating Texas to be in the Top 10 of student readiness for post-secondary success within 10 years.

Former Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff led off public testimony. When he was a member of the Texas Senate, he designed the first version of the current accountability system. But that, he told the committee, has morphed into something that is no longer workable. He commended the committee for its hard work on this much-needed reform. Ratliff explained that the Raise Your Hand Texas organization he helped found set five goals for accountability reform: higher expectations, disaggregation, comparability of socioeconomically similar schools and districts, use of a growth model, and fairness. He commended the committee for meeting the first four of those goals in HB 3 but said it does not yet meet the goal of fairness. No subgroup of students should be allowed to fail, he emphasized, but marking down an entire campus or district based solely on one subgroup is not fair.

A representative of the Texas School Alliance reiterated Ratliff’s point about fairness. He told the committee that a student who earns 3 A’s, 2 B’s and 1 C would not be referred to as a C student. Yet that’s what the current system does to schools and districts, and HB 3 retains that shortcoming.

Richard Kouri, TSTA’s director of public affairs, commended the committee on making some major progress with HB 3. But he cautioned lawmakers to remember what HB 3 is and what it can do. Kouri related that his doctor recently told him he needs to lose weight. And so for a month each morning, he stepped on the scale. A month later, he hadn’t lost any weight. So he complained to his wife that something was wrong with the scale. He said they needed to buy a new scale, a high-tech digital one. That new scale, he believed, surely would help him lose the weight his doctor ordered him to lose.

“What you’re building in House Bill 3 is a new scale,” Kouri told the committee. Weighing things can be important. Measuring things can help you plan and strategize. But testing does not make anyone any smarter. When we look at improving public education in Texas, he said, the scale is important. But our schools need more resources and improved programs to help make children smarter.

Kouri criticized HB 3’s continued emphasis on test and punish, and he had particularly harsh comments about the continued use of sanctions to punish districts and schools that do not meet the measure’s standards. He noted that HB 3 fails to move away from the same kind of failure in the current law.

TSTA’s written testimony on HB 3 and the identical Senate Bill 3 is online at http://www.tsta.org/teaching/current/
testimony.shtml.

Eissler asked that all public comments on HB 3 be submitted to committee staff by Friday as the panel considers changes to the bill.

The committee also voted favorably on and sent to the House general calendar three other bills: House Bill 350, by Rep. David Leibowitz, D-San Antonio, relating to the use of school district resources for athletic facilities or other instructional facilities. House Bill 1332, by Rep. Diana Maldonado, D-Round Rock, relating to responsibility for public school textbooks and technological equipment and to the failure by students to return textbooks and technological equipment. House Bill 1297, by Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, relating to optional flexible school day program courses offered by school districts to enable students to earn course credit under certain circumstances.

The committee will meet again next week.

Senate Education Also Discusses Accountability Reform
The Texas Senate Education Committee today held hearings on Senate Bill 3, which is identical to the House accountability reform bill. Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, is carrying the Senate measure. TSTA’s Richard Kouri also testified before that panel.

TSTA also supports three bills by Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, that the committee discussed today: Senate Bill 197, relating to the expansion of the financial literacy pilot program in public schools; Senate Bill 199, relating to providing training in personal financial literacy instruction for public school teachers; and Senate Bill 817, relating to funding of the Communities In Schools program.

House Stabilization Panel Discusses Education Needs
The Texas House Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding met today to take testimony on education funding from school finance gurus, education groups, Education Commissioner Robert Scott and concerned citizens. The cohesive message from all who spoke was that Texas public schools just do not have enough money. Representatives from school associations all asked for more money for school construction and greening programs, technology and textbooks, to decrease class sizes by hiring more teachers, staff development, math and science academies, and the ability to pay teachers and principals for summer program trainings.

Dick Lavine, the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities’ senior fiscal analyst, said the Legislative Budget Board has confirmed that public schools are fully funded using current existing levels, according to the state and local formulas. Chair Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, quipped that he was told that school finance problem was solved because special sessions were held to do so and Governor Rick Perry and former Comptroller John Sharp had said so. This was in response to Lavine’s statement that our schools are still short on money.

Scott reviewed briefly the status of stimulus funding, which has not changed in the past week. He made sure to point out that the $3.2 billion Texas expects to receive for education is going to be used according to the U.S. government’s strict guidelines. He is developing a plan for Perry to present to Washington. After being asked if he would share the plan with the committee, Scott said yes.

The Legislature may not have much of a say on what money goes where. Of the $700 million that is discretionary, at least 67% may be available by the end of next week. Lawmakers do not know if those funds will flow through Title I or if Washington will allow for some discretion with the money. Lawmakers in both houses are talking about expanding pre-kindergarten, so Scott will ask for $65 million if that happens. The main goal of the federal stimulus money for education is to help struggling schools and plug funding holes, he said.

TSTA’s Richard Kouri told the committee that the exact amount of the funding hole remains uncertain and that Texas public education is underfunded between $6 billion and $8 billion this biennium. So the anticipated $3.2 billion in federal stimulus money will not be sufficient to make up for that. That money would help, but at the end of the day Texas public schools still would not have adequate funding.

The committee will hear testimony on higher education funding tomorrow.

Texas Senate Acts on Two Education Bills
The Texas Senate met today to consider several bills, including the committee substitute to Sen. Leticia Van de Putte’s Senate Bill 90, which is an interstate compact to remove barriers to educational success imposed on children of military families because of frequent moves and deployment of their parents. The bill did not draw any floor debate. The Senate passed the substitute version to engrossment.

The Senate also considered the committee substitute to Senate Bill 33, by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo. The substitute measure requires a district to provide to parents of students removed to a disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP) written notice of how that student can complete coursework required for graduation, including all methods available for completing coursework. The measure also requires that this be at no cost to the student. The bill further requires a principal or administrator to prepare and maintain documentation to indicate the date a conference was held, who attended the conference and who failed to attend upon request, and the outcome of conference for placement of the student in DAEP. The bill did not draw any floor debate. The Senate passed the substitute version to engrossment, then suspended the rules to allow for second and third reading and final passage.

March 13, 2009
Committees to Discuss Proposed Accountability Changes
The House Public Education Committee will meet Tuesday in Room E2.036 of the Capitol Extension to begin discussion of House Bill 3, which would change the state’s system of accountability for public schools. The text of the bill is online at http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HB
00003I.htm. TSTA’s analysis of the bill is online at http://www.tsta.org/legislative/update#Lengthy.

The Senate Education Committee will begin considering the identical Senate Bill 3 when it meets at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in Room E1.028 of the Capitol Extension. Go to http://www.tsta.
org/legislative/update/031709_SenateEducation.pdf for the list of all the bills this committee will discuss at that meeting.

TRS Trust Fund's Loss Not as Bad as Equities Markets'
The bad news is that the Teacher Retirement System of Texas Trust Fund declined in value from $104.9 billion to $70.6 billion since Aug. 31, 2008, as a result of the national economic downturn. The good news, comparatively speaking, is that while U.S. stock and international equities lost 40% of their value since the end of last August, the TRS Trust Fund lost only 32% of its value.

TRS released its Actuarial Valuation Update today. The update is online at http://www.tsta.org/legislative/update/
TRSActuarialValuationUpdate_031309.pdf .

Appropriations Panel Discusses 13th Check, Raises
The release of the TRS update came about the same time the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education was talking about a possible 13th check for retirees. Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, explained that this additional payment would have to come out of general revenue because of the TRS Trust Fund’s decline in value. The subcommittee also heard from TRS staff about the recommendation by the system’s actuary that the state contribution continue to be 6.58% or be set somewhat higher, rather than being cut to 6.4%. The panel did not take action today on TRS matters.

Earlier in the meeting, the Appropriations subcommittee discussed the possibility of using some of the $1.866 billion in new state money expected to be appropriated for public education for an educator pay raise. Hochberg and other members talked about including language in the appropriations rider that would say any educator pay raise should come from this money. The subcommittee did not take any action following this discussion. The House Public Education Committee would have to determine how an educator pay raise would happen. Hochberg is the vice chair of that panel.

March 12, 2009
Senate Education Considers Pre-K and Other Bills
The Texas Senate Education Committee today took up six new bills and four bills previously left pending.

Senate Bill 522, by Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, was up first. It would allow an employee of a public school district to choose the order in which the employee would use different categories of leave and to use certain previously accumulated sick leave in the order desired as long as the leave used is appropriate to its purpose. The bill drew no opposition, so the committee sent it to the Senate’s local and uncontested calendar with a favorable recommendation. TSTA supports this bill.

Next, the committee heard Senate Bill 987, by Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano. It would require the commissioner of education to adopt procedures for compliance with federal requirements relating to transition services for students who are enrolled in special education programs. The procedures would have to provide that transition planning begins for a student not later than when the student reaches 14 years of age. This bill also received no opposition, so the committee sent it to the Senate’s local and uncontested calendar with a favorable recommendation. TSTA supports this bill.

While the committee was waiting for bill sponsors to appear to present their measures, the panel took up three bills that were previously left pending.

Senate Bill 503, by Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, calls for school districts to publish the names of superintendent candidates interviewed in the final round of interviews. The committee passed this with a favorable recommendation.

Senate Bill 300, by Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, would change class size limits for kindergarten through fourth grade to a campuswide average of 22 students; would allow the commissioner of education to exempt not only exemplary, but also recognized campuses from the class size limit if shown that it would not be harmful to the academic achievement of the students on the campus; would remove mandatory language requiring school boards to establish goals to reduce annual electric consumption and make it permissive; would remove the requirement that districts purchase light bulbs that use fewer watts and merely encourages compliance with this goal; and would make bus evacuation drills permissive. A committee substitute replaced Patrick’s bill. The substitute deleted the language regarding a campuswide average of 22 students, provided for one bus evacuation drill for students who actually ride the bus and deleted the language that attempted to exempt recognized campuses from class size limits. The committee passed the substitute with a favorable recommendation. TSTA opposes SB 300.

The committee also brought back Senate Bill 688, by Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio. It would require a developer of a proposed residential development containing 1,000 or more single-family housing units to submit the plat to the school district in which the development is located. The panel adopted a committee substitute, which changes the language allowing for competitive pricing for the land offered to a school district for an elementary school. The committee left the revised measure pending.

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, presented Senate Bill 451, which would require staff training on instruction of students with disabilities for certain educators who are not special education instructors but may have special education students in their classes. The committee replaced this with a substitute that was not available at the time of the hearing and was left pending. The new language would address more acutely those teachers who are captured by the bill. TSTA supported this bill in its original form.

The committee then brought back Senate Bill 398, by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, which would allow a school district that pays each classroom teacher, librarian, counselor or nurse a salary that is greater than the state minimum to not give those employees annual pay increases based on their respective levels of experience. The committee voted 5-3 to send this to the Senate with a favorable recommendation. TSTA opposes this bill.

Next up was Senate Bill 759, by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, which would increase the number of years a company or organization can distribute to, sell to or grade for the same school district from three to eight years. The bill drew no opposition, so the committee sent it to the Senate’s local and uncontested calendar with a favorable recommendation.

Finally, Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, presented Senate Bill 21, which would allow a district already offering a half-day pre-kindergarten program to opt to include a full day of pre-kindergarten, using funding from the Foundation School Program, local sources, tuition and grants. TSTA’s John Grey testified in support of the bill, telling the committee that TSTA believes that one of the most important factors in a child receiving a quality education is the student-to-teacher ratio. This bill calls for one teacher or teacher’s aide for every 11 students, which ensures each child will receive a high-quality pre-K experience. Grey referred to a study by Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government showing that children who had a high-quality pre-K experience were 30% more likely to complete high school, 66% less likely to be retained and 41% less likely to be placed in special education. Due to the large fiscal note ($651.9 million per year), the committee left SB 21 pending.

Bill Would Create Safe Schools Pilot in Five Counties
TSTA supported House Bill 318, by Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, in the House Corrections Committee’s hearing today. This bill would establish a pilot program for a Safe Schools Unit in the Texas Department of Public Safety for the 2010-11 school year. The unit would provide information and other assistance to districts concerning juvenile delinquency, juvenile substance abuse and other law enforcement issues involving juveniles. The pilot program would run in Webb County, with four other counties also to be selected to participate.

March 11, 2009
Senate Education Committee To Consider Several Bills
The Texas Senate Education Committee will meet Thursday. The list of bills the panel will consider at this meeting is online at http://www.tsta.org/legislative/update/031209_
SenateEducCmte_bills.pdf.

Bill Would Help Chapter 41 Districts Hit by Disasters
The Texas House Appropriations Committee met today to consider House Bill 6, by Speaker Pro Tem Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, which would pay for unreimbursed damages suffered by state agencies and institutions of higher education resulting from natural disasters since the 80th Legislature adjourned in May 2007. This will cover damages caused by Hurricanes Ike, Dolly and Gustav, as well as wildfires and other flooding.

The bill is a work in progress, so the committee is likely to change it before sending it to the full House for action. The only item in the draft discussed today that directly affects any TSTA members is a provision affecting Chapter 41 districts hit by natural disasters.

The two districts Eiland identified – Galveston ISD and Barbers Hill ISD in Mont Belvieu, both devastated by Hurricane Ike – would be allowed to delay sending their “Robin Hood” payments to the state until insurance and the Federal Emergency Management Agency pay the districts what they are supposed to pay. This would allow the districts to use that money for rebuilding and recovery. The draft of HB 6 also would allow such districts to permanently retain the amount of “Robin Hood” money equal to any unreimbursed damage costs resulting from natural disasters. Eiland said Education Commissioner Robert Scott does not believe he has authority to allow districts to do this without legislative authorization.

House Ways and Means Discusses Homestead Exemption
The Texas House Ways and Means Committee heard numerous tax bills today, leaving them all pending. House Bill 16 (David Leibowitz, D-San Antonio), House Joint Resolution 11 (Leibowitz), House Bill 87 (Armando Martinez, D-Weslaco), House Joint Resolution 18 (Martinez), House Bill 668 (Chuck Hopson, D-Jacksonville) and House Bill 731 (Abel Herrero, D-Robstown) are the most significant. All would increase the homestead exemption, but they differ in how much, ranging from 25% to 45%.

Committee members did note that although this would provide significant tax savings for homeowners in Texas, it would also cause significant decreases to district funding levels for public schools. TSTA has not taken a position on these bills.

March 10, 2009
TSTA Backs School Crossing Zone Safety Bill
Rep. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, wants to make school crossing zones safer for students, crossing guards and even for motorists driving through them. And the oldest education organization in the state endorsed his effort today as the Texas House Transportation Committee discussed his House Bill 219.

TSTA backs Menendez’s measure that would ensure that drivers are more alert while driving through crossing zones by prohibiting them from using cell phones or other wireless communication devices then. He does, however, plan to add language that would allow bus drivers to use radios in crossing zones in emergency situation.

The Texas House Public Education Committee also met today to hear bills related to school board term limits, temporary closure of campuses used as emergency evacuation sites and teacher service records for determination of appropriate pay, among other issues.

TSTA also supports these bills:

House Bill 1297, by Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, would allow for a flexible school day program for students who as a result of attendance requirements are denied credit for one or more classes in which they are enrolled.

House Bill 1332, by Rep. Diana Maldonado, D-Round Rock, would require that each student and her/his parents are responsible for not only unreturned textbooks, but also electronic textbooks and all technological equipment.

House Bill 1365, by Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, would ensure that employees who change school districts receive the proper pay to which they are entitled. The House Public Education Committee chair’s bill would require a school district to provide the service record of a former classroom teacher, librarian, counselor or nurse to a district employing that individual not later than 30 days after the date of the request. If a district fails to comply, the Texas Education Agency would be required to provide information it has to the employing district to enable it to determine the new employee’s proper placement on the district's salary schedule. Back pay would have to be paid for any difference upon a determination that a higher salary should have been paid.

The complete list of bills the committee discussed today is online at http://www.tsta.org/legislative/update/031009_
HousePublicEducation_bills.pdf.

Appropriations Panel Discusses Virtual School Network
The Texas House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education met this morning to continue reviewing the Legislative Budget Board’s recommendations for the Texas Education Agency’s budget, but it did not take any action. The panel began with a lengthy discussion of the agency’s cap on full-time employees.

The subcommittee also had a lengthy discussion of an exceptional item request for $18 million, above the $2.3 million in the base budget, for the Texas Virtual School Network, which the 80th Legislature created but did not fully fund. The network became operational this spring and has 106 students from 59 districts across the state taking courses. Three provider districts offer 50 courses.

TEA looks at all school districts already offering online courses and invites them to join the network to offer their courses to students in other districts if “seats” open. Online courses typically serve the same number of students as bricks-and-mortar classes. The network disseminates course content online, and the program also requires extensive interaction with teachers through emails and online chats. Any district whose student takes an online course has to pay the providing district for it. These courses have to meet Texas Essential Knowledge Skills standards and also meet national standards for online courses. Although the legislation authorizes online courses from kindergarten through grade 12, the network offers only high school courses. TEA is also looking at offering middle school courses. The network will have 1,400 seats available for the summer. TEA expects the number of provider school districts, course and available seats to grow.

The subcommittee also began discussing an exceptional item request related to investigating educational employees who have misdemeanor or felony records, under the terms of the 80th Legislature’s Senate Bill 9. According to TEA, more than 6,000 certified employees and more than 10,000 noncertified employees have such records, but only small percentages of those have serious enough records to require in-depth investigations.

Texas Senate Standing Committees Do Not Meet
The Texas Senate spent the day meeting as the Committee of the Whole to discuss highly controversial, partisan voter identification legislation. So standing committees could not meet to conduct other business.

March 9, 2009
Appropriations Panel Zeroes Out Steroid Testing
In a not-so-subtle rebuke of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the Texas House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education voted not to renew $6 million in state funding for testing high school student-athletes for steroid abuse. Two years ago, Dewhurst successfully championed the measure in the 80th Legislature.

The Associated Press reported last month that the second year of testing produced only seven positive results. The first year of testing had produced only four positive results. Each positive result would up costing the state more than $545,000. The AP story is online at http://news.yahoo.com/
s/ap/20090220/ap_on_re_us/high_school_steroids.

Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, called the $6 million overall cost an “excessive expenditure.” He explained that the program typically also costs class time for the students being tested.

This was the only action the subcommittee took on a busy day that saw members considering Legislative Budget Board recommendations for the Texas Education Agency’s budget.

TEA is requesting an exceptional budget item of $64 million to provide professional development for high school teachers to prepare them for the new end-of-course exams that will replace the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills at that level. TEA wants to launch a statewide program of training in the summer, which would include stipends for teachers. The item also would fund professional development for all grade levels in new science Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, which the State Board of Education is supposed to adopt this year, and the new social studies TEKS that SBOE will adopt next year.

TEA is also asking for an exceptional budget item of $342 million more for the Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) and District Awards for Teacher Excellence (DATE) programs. This is in addition to the $343 million the base budget bill already includes for the two incentive pay programs. A spokesman for TEA acknowledged that only 203 districts across the state are participating in DATE, but he said DATE is more important than TEEG.

The subcommittee also discussed funding for textbooks and technology, study guides for TAKS, professional development for early childhood education, adult basic education and work force training, administrative costs for the Communities in Schools program, the Existing Debt and Instructional Facilities allotment programs, the State Board of Educator Certification’s online service for credential checking, a pilot grant program for health and physical education, the Permanent School Fund’s ongoing asset diversification effort, pre-kindergarten expansion and several technical and procedural items.

The subcommittee will reconvene at 8:15 a.m. Tuesday.

TSTA Supports Parental Involvement Bills
The oldest education organization in the state today endorsed two important parental involvement bills in the Texas House Business and Industry Committee. House Bill 1005 by Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, would entitle employees to unpaid time off to meet with teachers and to participate in a facility or school activity. House Bill 615 by Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, would mandate unpaid leave time for employees who have been employed by the same employer for at least one year to allow them to meet with school personnel when they have a child enrolled in a special education program in kindergarten through grade 12. A person would be entitled to up to 10 hours of leave for this purpose in each 12-month period.  

March 6, 2009
Lengthy Bill Would Rework Texas Accountability System
Senate Bill 3, by Florence Shapiro, and House Bill 3, by Rob Eissler (www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/pdf/
SB00003I.pdf) is a complex bill that reworks the state’s accountability system, including graduation requirements, financial requirements, and rewards and sanctions for campuses.  

Major changes would occur in grades 3, 5 and 8. Instead of relying only on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) to determine if a student passes to the next grade, every district would have to establish promotion standards that would have to include the test score, the recommendation of the teacher, the student’s grade and other information considered necessary by the district. Students would have two chances to pass the state test, instead of three. Districts would be required to provide a student who fails the test an accelerated instruction program that could include summer school. A student who refuses to participate in such a program would be required to repeat the grade. 

SB/HB 3 proposes extensive changes at the high school level. The minimum high school degree would be renamed the standard degree. The current recommended plan would become the Texas Diploma. The advanced diploma would keep its name.  

The current recommended plan (the Texas Diploma) requires, in addition to the 4-by-4 core curriculum (four years each of math, science, English and social studies), two courses in a foreign language and eight unspecified elective courses. The proposed standard graduation plan (comparable to the current minimum gradation plan) would require four credits in English, three credits in math, two credits in science, three credits in social studies, one additional course in science or social studies, and nine elective courses. Those graduation plans would be for students entering high school in the 2011-12 school year. A student’s parent or guardian would have to approve the student’s enrollment in the standard program. Elective courses are no longer specified, and the SBOE cannot require specific elective courses. 

The bill apparently would create two diplomas: a college-ready diploma and a work force-ready diploma. To receive the college-ready diploma, a student would have to pass the Algebra II and English III end-of-course exams. The intent is that by 2016 any student passing those two exams would be able to enter college without remediation in English or math. Standards after initial benchmarking would be increased to achieve that outcome. The work force-ready diploma would require a student either to pass the Algebra I and English III end-of-course exams or to receive a certification in a field that the Texas Workforce Commission has declared a high-wage profession. 

In addition, a student would have to pass two out of three end-of-course exams in each of the core curriculum areas to graduate. The end-of-course exam would be 15% of the final grade for each course. 

The test would have to be designed to show growth from grades 3-11, and growth would become a key measure of campuses and districts over the next eight years. The old rating system would be gone, and districts and campuses would be rated accredited, accredited-warned or accredited probation. The primary driver would still be test scores, with both absolute and growth measures used in the matrix. Disaggregation of data would still make it possible for a single sub-group to affect a district’s rating. However, a three-year rolling average would take the place of the single snapshot system currently used. The proposed rating system also would use a district’s financial situation, dropout rate and compliance with its special education plan. The proposal would authorize the commissioner of education to consider other factors. Several categories of distinguished merit are created. Districts and campuses would be rated on the effective use of data and financial efficiency by the comptroller of public accounts. 

The current system of sanctions for low-performing schools would stay the same, except that the proposed system would allow for low-performing schools to be turned over to for-profit companies. The commissioner would be given greater latitude to evaluate whether a campus should be closed than under the current system.

March 4, 2009
Senate Likely to Change Bus Safety Training Law
The Texas Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee met Wednesday morning to discuss two bills that could affect TSTA members: Senate Bill 356, by Chair John Carona, R-Dallas, and Senate Bill 635, by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo. TSTA supports both bills, which address school bus emergency evacuation training.

SB 356 would amend the training law to eliminate the requirement of training in the spring. The law currently requires training twice each school year. Carona’s bill also would require review and demonstration of bus evacuation procedures immediately preceding every field trip. 

SB 635 requires a school district to conduct school bus emergency evacuation training at least once each school and also requires students and teachers to view a video as part of the training. 

Carona said he would allow Seliger’s bill to be the vehicle for changing the current law. Seliger offered a committee substitute that makes the bill apply only to school bus passengers.

House Ways and Means Reviews Revenue, Tax Issues
The House Ways and Means Committee met Wednesday to hear invited testimony from the comptroller’s office, the Legislative Budget Board and the Texas Education Agency on the comptroller’s revenue estimate, the margins tax, appraisals and property taxes, and school finance.

Chair Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, began the meeting by saying he believes the margins tax is underperforming, leaving a structural deficit. This is the new business tax the 79th Legislature adopted in 2006 to fund reductions in school property taxes.

Before leaving to testify before another committee, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Susan Combs said, “The national downturn has made its presence felt in our state. Our wisest course is to remain cautious and calm.” The comptroller’s office will continue to monitor the situation and update revenue information for the Legislature as appropriate, she added.

Responding to a committee member’s question, Combs said her office’s revenue estimate is “funds available for any purpose.” ARRA money will be handy, she noted, but “is not available for any purpose.”

The comptroller’s chief revenue estimator followed his boss by telling the committee that the Texas economy is uncertain, as is when ARRA dollars will start arriving in Texas and when that money will have a wider ripple effect on the economy, particularly on state tax revenues. But the comptroller’s office can start looking at this potential impact and how it might affect the revenue estimate.

The chief estimator reported that the comptroller’s office expects the state to begin 2010-11 biennium with $2.1 billion beginning balance (“surplus”) in general revenue fund. It also expects small decrease in revenues in most revenue categories. Sales tax revenue should grow minimally, about 0.5 percent annually, for the next two years, before beginning to recover. The decline in the value of the Permanent School Fund will prohibit a transfer to the Available School Fund in 2010 and 2011, and that will have an impact on both the revenue estimation and the budget, the estimator added.

A representative of the Legislative Budget Board reiterated Oliveira’s comments about the margins tax’s underperformance. He said it pays for only 43% of the property tax reduction the Legislature passed in 2006. General revenue pays for the remaining 57% of the reduction.

A representative of the comptroller’s office gave the committee a lengthy refresher course on the appraisal process, including how appraisal districts work.

A representative of the Texas Education Agency gave the committee a refresher course on school finance, including how the state determines its share of funding to school districts.

Appropriations Panel Discusses Stimulus Act, Higher Ed
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education began its Wednesday morning meeting with a presentation by Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, of an overview of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This was much the same information that the House Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding has been discussing. A representative of the Legislative Budget Board joined in the committee discussion.

Hochberg noted that Texas is in a much more favorable position on state education funding than many other states, so ARRA’s education funding poses both challenges and potential opportunities. Even so, LBB is projecting a $4.6 billion general revenue gap, including a significant shortfall in the Available School Fund because of the declining value of the Permanent School Fund.

The subcommittee then turned its attention to higher education funding issues for the remainder of its morning meeting and subsequently in its afternoon meeting.

Bills Concern School Bus Emergency Evacuation Training
Today the Senate Committee on Transportation & Homeland Security met to discuss two bills that affect education. Senate Bills 356 (Carona) and 635 (Seliger) both address the same subject matter: school bus emergency evacuation training.  SB 356 amends the school bus evacuation training law to eliminate the requirement of training in the spring, and it requires review and demonstration of procedures immediately preceding every field trip.  SB 635 requires a school district to conduct school bus emergency evacuation training at least once each school year and also requires students and teachers to view a video as part of the training.  Sen. Carona stated that he would allow Sen. Seliger’s bill to be the vehicle for this initiative.  Sen. Seliger offered up a committee substitute that makes the bill apply to school bus passengers only.  TSTA supported both bills, which were left pending.--John Grey, TSTA Government Relations Specialist

March 3, 2009
House Public Education Committee Considers Bills
The Texas House Public Education Committee met today to discuss and hear testimony on bills on a variety of issues. To check bill status, go to http://www.tsta.org/legislative/update/
CommitteeHearingReport.shtml.

Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, presented House Bill 374, which would change the law passed last session mandating school bus evacuation safety training. The bill had an unintended impact on districts that do not have their own bus fleets. Highland Park ISD, for example, had to rent buses to conduct the drills. Bonnen told the committee about safety concerns, citing the examples of a teacher who fell off the back of a bus during a drill and children being injured during the training exercises. TSTA is neutral on the bill because school bus safety is important for students and some form of safety drills should be required without, however, creating an undue burden on districts.

Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano, presented House Bill 552, which would provide for competitive grants to fund programs for public school students assigned to disciplinary alternative education programs (DAEP) or in-school suspension (ISS). Madden testified that this program is designed to assist students who might get lost in the system because of behavioral problems. TSTA supports HB 552.

Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, presented House Bill 772, which would require webcasting and archiving of video of State Board of Education meetings. SBOE webcasts only audio of its meetings. Howard and witnesses supporting her bill told the committee that video webcasts would improve public access to SBOE and its proceedings. The committee unanimously sent Howard’s bill to the full House general calendar with a favorable recommendation. TSTA supports HB 772.

Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, presented House Bill 339, which would require all Texas school districts to offer driver education, while giving districts flexibility on how to do this. The requirement that all districts must offer driver training every school year would cost the state millions of dollars. Phillips’ bill also would require any teen wanting a license to take a driving test and would require the Texas Education Agency and Department of Public Safety to develop better curriculum for parents to teach their teenagers how to drive. The existing TEA curriculum is too lengthy and muddled for most parents to use it effectively, Phillips said. HB 339 also requires more hours of training and more hours of in-vehicle practice. Phillips and witnesses testifying in favor of his bill cited two recent tragedies involving teen drivers from Pottsboro, Grayson County, as the reason for his bill. Phillips believes HB 339 will combat this problem and “will save lives.”

The committee will meet again next Tuesday.

TSTA Backs Some Bills Senate Education Is Considering
The Senate Education Committee met this morning to discuss several bills.

The first was Senate Bill 956, which, despite the separation of the new Higher Education Committee from the Education Committee, is actually a higher education bill. The measure by Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, would establish a law school in downtown Dallas that would be part of the University of North Texas System.

Next was Senate Bill 38 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, which would add new indicators to the accountability system to include the percentage of students subject to in-school suspension, suspension from school, disciplinary alternative education programs, expulsion from school and juvenile justice alternative education programs. The bill also calls for information to be collected showing whether these actions were discretionary or mandatory and by the status of a student in a special education program. The bill could have a chilling effect for teachers who need to remove seriously disruptive students from their classes. Supporters believe the bill helps with transparency, shows where discretionary placements are occurring and provides helpful information for parents if they are looking to move to school district for special education services.

The committee next considered Senate Bill 401 by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo. His bill deals with the mid-size adjustment under the public school finance system. The bill allows the commissioner of education to make certain adjustments only if the district’s wealth per student does not exceed the equalized wealth level. Seliger introduced a committee substitute, which the committee adopted. The substitute leaves the bill unfunded, wiping out a substantial fiscal note and the guaranteed funding increase for midsize school districts that the bill as filed guaranteed. TSTA supported the bill, which the committee passed favorably to the full Senate.

The panel heard two bills aimed at helping the Galveston area recover from Hurricane Ike.

Sen. Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, introduced Senate Bill 574, which exempts certain Chapter 41 districts from paying the state recapture funds until certain recovery efforts are completed and the district's financial situation is equal to or better than it was immediately before the natural disaster. Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, questioned whether the Legislature could use the rainy day fund to address the situation instead of tinkering with public school funding. Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, noted that this only helps Chapter 41 districts and that there are numerous Chapter 42 districts that need aid as well. TSTA, TASA and TASB support the bill.

The second disaster relief bill, Senate Bill 644 by Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, is more inclusive, allowing for relief for all school districts located in a disaster area and not limiting the bill to Chapter 41 recapture amounts. TSTA again joined TASA and TASB in supporting the bill.

The committee then discussed Senate Bill 503 by Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, which calls for school districts to publish the names of superintendent candidates interviewed in the final round of interviews. The wording of the statute is broad, allowing a school district to potentially have one candidate in the final round. Currently, the majority of school districts publish only one finalist, not a group of finalists. The bill allows school districts to decide how they would like to comply with it if it becomes law. TASA opposes the bill, encouraging the committee that if it wished transparency to expand the bill to include higher education and charter schools. Mark Williams of the Austin ISD board told the committee that if they were required to publish a pool of finalists, the candidates they considered the best candidates stated they would not have applied. Williams contends that the bill will dilute the candidate pool. The Texas Association of Broadcasters, the Texas Press Association and the Texas Daily Newspaper Association support Eltife’s bill.

The committee concluded with a discussion of Senate Bill 688, by Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio. The bill requires a developer of a proposed residential development containing 1,000 or more single-family housing units to submit the plat to the school district in which the development is located. Under certain circumstances, the school district will be entitled to purchase land in the development for construction of a new elementary school. TSTA and TASB support the bill.

Appropriations Panel Considers Education Needs
The Texas House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education met twice today to hear testimony on public education and higher education budget issues. Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, began the first meeting with a brief discussion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and what it may mean for Texas public education. Although the subcommittee did not go into much detail on ARRA, members will return to the topic from time to time as needed.

Representatives of the Texas Alliance of Boys & Girls Club presented information about a skills-gap remediation program the Boys & Girls Club of McAllen is working on with the local Sylvan Learning Center. The speakers said that this program for students at high risk of dropping out has resulted in phenomenal increases in both grade point averages and Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills scores. The statewide alliance is seeking $2.4 million of dropout prevention funding to expand this pilot effort to 30 sites statewide.

Representatives of the Texas Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments and the Alliance of and for Visually Impaired Texans requested additional funding for Texas Education Agency Rider 18, targeted toward students with visual impairments for specialized training and skills to succeed in school and to be more independent.

A representative of the Texas Early Childhood Coalition testified in favor of House Bill 130, which would expand high-quality pre-kindergarten programs statewide. The coalition is seeking $300 million for one year, which would become $600 million in the following biennium. The coalition spokesperson and subcommittee members agreed that investing in pre-K is a critically important investment in figure educational success and in ensuring that Texas has a well-qualified work force for the future.

A representative of the Texas Association of School Boards concurred in supporting expansion of pre-kindergarten statewide as a cost-effective way to reduce future costs in human services and criminal justice. TASB also wants a new formula funding system but recognizes that even without it, Texas public education has plenty of pressing needs. The association’s priorities include increasing discretionary spending, golden pennies, the transportation allotment, the high school allotment and funding for textbooks and technology. TASB wants the Legislature to give district flexibility to construct incentive pay programs as they see fit to meet local needs and to increase access to the virtual schools network in various parts of the state. The association opposes increasing the cap on charter schools.

The subcommittee also heard testimony on various higher education budget issues.

March 2, 2009
House Select Panel Hears from Education Commissioners
The House Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding began by taking up transportation issues related to projects that the Texas Department of Transportation was planning to do with stimulus money. Among the many issues it discussed, the committee seemed particularly concerned that TexDOT might not be planning to use the money properly and that too much of it is going to fund toll projects.

After two hours, the committee recognized Education Commissioner Robert Scott to talk about the stimulus. He pointed out that the $2 billion in Title I and IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) money would flow through existing formulas.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $3.9 billion to Texas for a state stabilization fund. The governor will have the authority to allocate $723 million of that, which leaves $3.25 billion unallocated. If the state does not decide how to use this, Scott noted, it will be distributed to districts under Title I. “The purpose is to fill budget holes,” the commissioner explained, leading to a lengthy discussion of how the stimulus legislation defines holes.

Scott, who recently returned from a meeting with federal officials in Washington, D.C., will go back to the capital again soon for more information. He also noted that “we expect to get guidance from the USDE (the U.S. Department of Education) this week.”

Committee Chair Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, and Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, asked most of the questions. Hochberg is not a member of the select committee, but he chairs the House Appropriations education subcommittee.

Scott said ARRA requires an absolutely clean audit trail, which the Texas Education Agency will work hard to satisfy.

The commissioner said the stabilization fund is a down payment by the Obama administration on expanded federal investment in public education. Another $5 billion in federal Race to the Top incentive grants will be available in the fall for states to compete for. The administration’s education goals, which these grants will advance, are:
--College and career readiness for all students.
--Teacher effectiveness and equity.
--Technology enhancement.
--Helping struggling schools.

Scott expressed particular enthusiasm for what he sees as the administration’s push for incentive pay and more charter schools. He reluctantly acknowledged that ARRA funding cannot be used for private school vouchers.

The commissioner and committee also discussed:
--The Permanent School Fund decline and the resulting shortfall in the Available School Fund. This will have a major impact on the $800 million needed for textbooks and technology, which Scott believes the stabilization funding could be used for.
--A one-time teacher bonus.
--Increasing counselor support for college readiness.
--Renovation of schools devastated by Hurricane Ike.
--Pre-kindergarten funding.

Higher Education Commissioner Raymund Paredes requested one-third of the $3.9 billion for higher education, to be used to mitigate fee increases and to pay for facilities renovation and upgrades.

Tomorrow’s Major Committee Meetings
Senate Public Education at 8:30 a.m.
House Public Education at 2:30 p.m.
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education at 8 a.m.
House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Stimulus at 9 a.m.
House Federal Economic Stabilization Funding at 2 p.m.

February 26, 2009
House Panel Hears about High-Tech Textbooks, TRS
The Texas House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education spent the morning hearing testimony from Pearson, which has most of the K-12 educational testing for Texas, including the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills and the development of the new high school end-of-course exams, as well as many textbook contracts. Steven Dowling, the executive vice president of Pearson, testified before the subcommittee

Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, started the conversation by asking about creating tests that have more depth and difficulty than TAKS. He then shifted to another of his favorite topics: replacing textbooks with an electronic system involving computers or a device like Kindle. Dowling pointed out that access issues result in having to maintain dual systems for an extended time. He then talked about the expense involved in the development of high-quality digital content. He also discussed the trade-off between printing cost and maintaining the cost of the electronic system.

The subcommittee had a very long conversation about short-term and long-term costs involved in making a transition to an electronic textbook environment. The costs of infrastructure and teacher training are other considerations in moving to a high-tech content-delivery system.

The Teacher Retirement System of Texas was up and testifying in the afternoon part of the subcommittee meeting. The active member contribution rate is 6.4%, and by statue the state rate can be no less that active member rate, which makes the state rate 6.4%, as well. The cost of the state contribution rate is $3.4 billion in general revenue. The state contribution for TRS Care is $541 million, and it is also in the budget.

TRS will not have a premium increase or plan changes for retired health care coverage next year; however, TRS retires are already paying a lot more than retired state employees. The TRS Active Care program, which covers more than 340,000 people, is going to have a 1.5% premium increase next year.

TRS Executive Director Ronnie Jung projected that the state would have to raise the contribution rate to over 10% to have the fund meet the 31-year funded objective required to give retirees an annuity increase. The cost of a one-time 13th check is approximately $370 million, and it would have to be appropriated from general revenue.

Hochberg asked several questions regarding the salaries of TRS staff. TRS staff replied that the Legislature stopped paying for the cost of operating the system in 1997, so the fund has been using assets to pay overhead.

February 25, 2009
Executive Director Says TRS Overall Is In Good Condition
The Texas House Committee on Pensions, Investments & Financial Services met today to hear from all the state pension systems, including the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, and to hear invited testimony from the Texas State Teachers Association.

Chair Vicki Truitt, R-Southlake, began the meeting with personal comments to the committee and expressed her shared concern with the rest of the public over the financial markets’ impact on retirement funds. She stressed that the main purpose of the committee is to assure the best oversight possible of the agencies under its jurisdiction. Truitt emphasized that the committee must remember to whom the funds entrusted to the state belong and that the committee’s top priority is to ensure the stabilization, growth and long-term viability of all state retirement funds.

TSTA Governmental Relations Specialist Portia Bosse testified that Texas educators are fortunate to have a defined benefit plan that is in better shape than retirement plans in many other states. But, she said, something needs to be done to provide a cost of living increase or raise to retired teachers as they have not seen a permanent change in earnings since 2001. She stressed that with the economic downturn, the solvency of the fund should be the main priority. Bosse encouraged the committee to find a way to provide at least a 13th check this biennium. She added that a long-term solution is needed for the future well-being of active and retired teachers.

State Demographer Karl Eschbach, who is also a professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, testified that the over-65 population will increase by three times the current number by 2040, with 6.5 million projected for that demographic group. Currently, Texas has 2.4 million people over the age of 65. He stressed that this is the fastest growing segment of the population.

Ronnie Jung, the executive director of TRS, testified regarding the current status of the fund. The last value of the fund was $81 billion at the end of 2008. This is a loss of almost $35 billion from when the fund was at its highest value. However, Jung testified that the fund is solvent until 2013 and overall is in good condition. Jung cautioned the committee to not overreact to this situation and to let the markets rebound naturally. The committee will meet again next Wednesday.  

Senate Education Committee Meets on Five Bills
Senate Bill 300 by Patrick attempts to eliminate several mandates charged to school boards and districts. The bill changes class size limits for K-4 to a campus wide average of 22 students; allows the Commissioner of Education to exempt not only exemplary but also recognized campuses from class size limits if shown that it will not be harmful to the academic achievement of the students on the campus; and changes from mandatory to permissive the language requiring school boards to establish goals to reduce annual electric consumption. In addition, the bill removes the requirement that districts purchase light bulbs that use fewer watts and merely encourages compliance with this goal. Finally, the bill makes bus evacuation drills permissive. 

Eissler, Perry Agree 65% Rule is Out, DMN Reports
The Dallas Morning News is reporting that Texas will likely scrap the controversial 65% rule, which mandated that 65% of school funds had to be spent on classroom instruction. more

February 17, 2009
House Public Ed Reviews School Finance, Accountability
The Texas House Committee on Public Education met this afternoon to organize and provide an overview of its two most important tasks this session: school finance and accountability. Chair Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, introduced returning and new members of the committee and the panel’s staff.

Vice Chair Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, gave a brief review of school finance, acknowledging that both the formulas for determining funding and the state’s share of funding adopted in 2006’s House Bill 1 are outdated. Weights and the cost-of-education index (e.g., differing land, labor and transportation costs) have been off the table for many years. So districts are stuck with outdated numbers while costs are going up all across the state. This discussion raises hope that the panel will consider overdue changes in school funding.

Eissler reviewed the work of the Select Committee on School Accountability, which he co-chaired and which met between sessions. The select committee traveled across the state to hold hearings and received lots of feedback about the current accountability system, including that it overemphasizes performance on one test on one day, that it fails to recognize or reward growth, that it is wrong for work force development, that it is too complex and fails to inform stakeholders in meaningful ways, that it necessitates inefficient use of resources. Eissler said work is under way on the draft of a bill for a new accountability system and that it should be completed next week. The new system is intended to accomplish many important goals, including moving away from curricular limitations resulting from TAKS, focusing on student achievement and growth, providing diagnostic reporting that can be used to improve performance, offering more easily understandable reporting, vertically aligning standards across grade levels and meeting work force development needs. TSTA Public Affairs will report on the accountability bill when it becomes available.

Eissler also said that he told Gov. Rick Perry today that the 65% rule would not work with the new accountability system and that the governor agreed. TSTA Public Affairs also will be tracking any meaningful developments on this issue

February 16, 2009
House Appropriations: Education, Health Care, Pensions
Starting two weeks behind Senate Finance on working on the state budget, the House Appropriations Committee covered a lot of ground in an 11-hour marathon meeting on Monday. 

February 13, 2009
Texas House Appropriations Committee Organizes
The Texas House Committee on Appropriations was the first committee to meet yesterday after the House adjourned for the weekend. The Legislative Budget Board briefed the committee on its recommendations for the 2010-11 budget, which has originated in the Senate this session. The LBB reported $170.8 billion in all funds which is a 0.6% increase from this current budget. There is $83.4 billion in general revenue, which is a 1.3% increase from 2008-09 spending levels. And base spending is up by 1% from 2008-09.

The LBB recommendations are within the constitutional spending limits established back in November of last year. Since spending cannot grow more than the personal earnings in the state, the spending cap was set at 9.14%. The LBB is recommending $2.3 billion over the comptroller’s recommendation. Due to the 80,000 new students entering Texas every year, the LBB recommends that the state’s share of the cost for education must increase in the next budget. The LBB also noted that the House version of the budget keeps incentive funding at the same level of spending currently, while the Texas Senate is asking for more money for this initiative.

The LBB testified that the real recovery for the economy is not expected to occur until 2010. This expectation makes the new budget very difficult to fund due to loss of revenue from the current state tax system. The committee expressed doubt about how the federal economic stimulus package would help; no information is yet available on how the money can be used. TSTA will continue to monitor this committee as it faces monumental funding challenges this session.

February 12, 2009
House Committees Announced
Public Education: Rob Eissler, chair; Scott Hochberg, vice chair; Allen, Dutton, Jackson, Olivo, Aycock, Farias, Patrick, Shelton, Weber.