The House Public Education Committee held a formal meeting Thursday, April 15, and voted 35 bills out of committee. The following bills will go to the full House for consideration:
- HB 81 by Rep. Eddie Rodriguez would permit school districts to implement a community school model as a turnaround plan under the state accountability system and prohibit the commissioner from closing a low-performing campus without giving it the opportunity to operate as a community school for at least two years.
- HB 189 by Rep. Terry Canales would require charter school severance packages paid to superintendents to be reported to TEA, and the agency would be able to reduce the school’s Foundation School Program entitlement by any amount above one year’s salary, similar to traditional school districts.
- HB 370 by Gervin-Hawkins would ensure that new rules adopted by the commissioner or TEA are not implemented before the commissioner or TEA is fully prepared to implement them.
- CSHB 572 by Chair Harold Dutton would direct the commissioner to authorize districts and charters to operate dropout recovery competency-based educational programs to serve eligible students in grades 9-12. The programs would provide for flexibility in class scheduling and student attendance, and funding would consider content completion and seat time in the classroom.
- HB 622 by Barbara Gervin-Hawkins creates an abbreviated educator preparation program for a candidate seeking certification in marketing and health science.
- HB 742 by Rep. DeWayne Burns would require TEA to apply for a federal waiver to exempt students with significant cognitive disabilities from annual assessments.
- HB 750 by Burns would mandate that districts post their employment policies and their corresponding regulations and forms online.
- CSHB 764 by Rep. Krause would eliminate all STAAR exams that are not federally required and remove all end-of-course exams for high school students.
- CSHB 998 by Dutton would change the threshold required for a school to be designated as a dropout recovery school by lowering the age of the majority of students from 17 years old to at least 60 percent of students must be 16 years old.
- CSHB 1014 by Rep. John Bucy would require each student identification card issued by a school to a student in grade 6 or higher to include the contact information for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, the Crisis Text Line, and permit the inclusion of a local suicide prevention hotline, if available. Private schools would be exempt.
- HB 1080 by Rep. Jared Patterson would prohibit exclusion of district or charter students receiving outpatient mental health services from UIL activities if otherwise eligible.
- HB 1144 by Rep. Ana-Maria Ramos would require all public educators be retrained on suicide prevention and mental health information every two years.
- CSHB 1194 by Rep. Gene Wu would require school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to submit a report every year describing the total number of restraints administered to a student, complaints filed against a student, and arrests made of a student. The committee substitute adds a reporting requirement for a teacher who removes a student at least twice within a school year and an additional requirement that the reported incidents of student arrests/citations must also include the demographics of the campus’ student body, disaggregated by each student group.
- HB 1207 by Rep. Ryan Guillen would create a school turnaround specialist endorsement for principal certificates.
- CSHB 1504 by Rep. Christina Morales would allow ethnic studies to count toward social studies graduation requirements.
- HB 1776 by Rep. Cecil Bell would require that every district and charter high school offer an elective course on America’s founding principles. The bill also requires district school boards to permit and encourage the posting of America’s founding documents on their high school campuses.
- HB 2256 by Rep. Robert Guerra would require the SBOE to establish a bilingual special education certificate.
- CSHB 2391 by Rep. Alex Dominguez would allow both charter schools and magnet programs the flexibility to use weighted admissions lotteries if they choose to do so in order to increase the likelihood that students from traditionally disadvantaged populations are selected in admissions lotteries.
- HB 2802 by Rep. Jay Dean would require the commissioner to apply to the US Department of Education for a waiver from federal testing requirements during any school year in which there has been a declared disaster by the US president or Texas governor. TEA could not use standardized test results to calculate A-F ratings, nor could state tests affect a student’s advancement or graduation If the department does not grant a waiver.
- HB 2874 by Rep. Rafael Anchia would require public schools and open-enrollment charter schools to issue student identification cards that include a photograph, name, and date of birth.
- CSHB 2975 by Rep. Lacey Hull would prohibit a school resource officer or peace officer performing law enforcement duties at a school or school activity from restraining or using a chemical irritant spray on a student 10 years of age or younger, unless the student poses a serious risk of harm to the student or another person.
- CSHB 3256 by Rep. Sam Harless would allow full-time school employees to restrict public availability of their information, just as public officials, peace officers, and others can under the law.
- CSHB 3261 by Rep. Dan Huberty would require that all STAAR exams be administered electronically unless the commissioner determines otherwise. The bill creates a matching grant program for schools to acquire the necessary infrastructure to take assessments online. Huberty previously said the substitute removes the expiration date for the transition plan to online testing and allows districts to use their Instructional Materials Allotment to purchase infrastructure.
- HB 3298 by Rep. Steve Allison would require the commissioner to establish a competitive professional development grant program to encourage teachers to obtain computer science certification and continue professional development in coding, computational thinking, and computer science education.
- HB 3299 by Allison would add the relationship between physical and mental health as part of the health topics covered under the required curriculum in public schools.
- HB 3400 by Rep. Chris Paddie would require, on the request of a peace officer who is a parent or a person standing in parental relation to a student and who reasonably fears for the student’s safety, the board of trustees of a school district or the board’s designee to transfer the student to another district campus or to another school district.
- HB 3597 by Rep. Will Metcalf would update language to include the five phases of a multi-hazard emergency operations plan, update language regarding a school safety plan to protect against a train derailment, ensure schools are implementing proper school safety drills, require increased information sharing with the Texas School Safety Center, and allow the school safety center to complete criminal background checks.
- CSHB 3668 by Rep. Gary VanDeaver would eliminate non-federally mandated assessment instruments, including those in grades 4 and 7, social studies in grade 8, and end-of-course exams in English and US History. The bill would align state statue with federal statute by amending the language that the agency must adopt assessment instruments only as necessary to comply with ESSA to meet minimum federal requirements.
- CSHB 3731 by Dutton would substitute\g references such as “unacceptable rating” or “acceptable rating” with actual letter grades from the state accountability system for both district and charter sanctions available to the commissioner. The bill would include D-rated schools in the “unacceptable rating” group, as opposed to just F-rated schools as is current practice. CSHB 3731 creates a two-year pause instead of a one-year pause on changes, eliminates reference to a D domain rating for interventions purposes, narrows commissioner authority by keeping improvement plans local, and removes confusion regarding interventions by clarifying language.
- HB 3864 by Rep. Andrew Murr would allow a school district to excuse a student from school for a Career Investigation Day to visit a professional’s workplace for the purpose of determining the student’s interest in pursuing a career in the professional’s field.
- HB 3889 by Rep. Penny Morales Shaw would require TEA to provide guidelines to ensure that students who qualify for free and reduced lunch programs receive broadband internet access at no cost if TEA creates a program to provide broadband access to school districts.
- CSHB 4096 by Rep. Donna Howard would direct the Higher Education Coordinating Board, TEA, and Texas Workforce Commission to develop and make available model FERPA-compliant data sharing agreements for voluntary use by school systems and postsecondary institutions.
- HB 4334 by Rep. Ina Minjarez would direct public school districts to provide students and their parents information about eligibility requirements for public assistance programs, including medical assistance, child health plans, and supplemental nutrition assistance programs.
- CSHB 4465 by Dutton would require school districts and charter schools to adopt a plan on use of federal funds each year. They would have to submit the plans to TEA for comment; local plans would be posted on TEA’s website and the districts’ websites. The bill also seeks to ensure that students in needs of remediation are identified and receive appropriate services to get back on grade level.
- CSHB 4545 by Dutton would require school districts to establish an accelerated learning committee for each student who does not perform satisfactorily on the third-grade, fifth-grade, or eighth-grade math or reading assessment instrument. Students who fail to perform satisfactorily on an assessment must be provided accelerated instruction in the applicable subject during the subsequent summer or school year. The bill also permits the commissioner to use available funds to purchase curriculum programs and other instructional tools to provide to school districts and charter schools. The substitute prohibits schools from using accelerated instruction as a punishment, and it provides a waiver to schools of the assignment of a certified teacher. The bill also establishes the Strong Foundations Grant Program to be administered by the commissioner to implement a rigorous school approach that combines high-quality instruction, materials, and support structures for students up to fifth grade. The bill also creates an outcomes-based funding incentive. Schools would be entitled to $500 for each successfully accelerated student who is not educationally disadvantaged and $1,000 for each successfully accelerated student who is educationally disadvantaged. A school would be entitled to $250 per sustained accelerated student who is not educationally disadvantaged and $500 for each sustained accelerated student who is educationally disadvantaged.
