The House Public Education Committee is scheduled to meet at 8 a.m., Tuesday, March 9, to hear testimony on the following bills:
HB 434 Bell, Keith
Adds one credit in career and technology education as an alternative to a fine arts credit in the curriculum requirements for the foundation high school program, beginning with the 2021-2022 school year.
HB 547 Frank
Would allow home-schooled students, who meet certain eligibility criteria and requirements, to participate in UIL sponsored activities on behalf of the public school. A home schooled student who seeks to participate in a UIL activity on behalf of a school is required to follow the relevant policies that apply to students enrolled in the public school: registration, age eligibility, fees, insurance, transportation, physical condition, responsibilities, event schedules, standards of behavior and performance. Additionally, home schooled students must demonstrate grade level academic proficiency on any nationally recognized, norm-referenced assessment instrument.
HB 690 Metcalf
Requires a school board member to complete training on school safety. The State Board of Education will establish the requirement and will coordinate with the Texas School Safety Center to develop the curriculum and materials for the training.
HB 691 Metcalf
Requires the Texas School Safety Center to report to the TEA if a school district fails to comply with certain safety measures in Chapter 37 of the Education Code. TEA may impose an administrative penalty against the district for non-compliance in an amount not greater than the superintendent’s annual salary.
HB 699 Rosenthal
Would require school districts to excuse the absence of a student that results from a serious or life-threatening illness or related treatment. The student’s parent or guardian must provide certification from a physician specifying the student’s illness and the anticipated period the student will be absent related to the illness or treatment. HB 699 would also require a school district to offer additional counseling and prohibit them from referring a student to truancy court if their absence is a result of severe or life-threatening illness or related treatment. HB 699 prohibits a school from denying promotion to a student if it is determined that failure to meet the requirements for advancement or to perform satisfactorily on an assessment was primarily due to circumstances resulting from serious or life threatening illness or related treatment.
HB 759 Harless
Would amend the law governing Threat Assessment Teams in public schools. It would require that threat assessments of individuals be completed within 30 days of commencement of the assessment. Would also require that within 10 days of a determination that a student poses a serious risk of violence to themself or others the threat assessment team must enter the student’s threat assessment into the threat assessment database and make a notation in the student’s cumulative record that the student is included in the threat assessment database. TEA is required to create the Student Threat Assessment Database, and must allow access to the database to a peace officer/resource officer at the school the student has attended or is currently attending. The principal/principal’s designee as well as the superintendent/superintendent’s designeee at each public or private primary or secondary school or charter school the student has attended or is currently attending must also be given access. Any threat assessment info for a student that is reported in the database must be deleted upon the student reaching the age of 21. Additionally, the bill creates an offense — punishable as a Class B Misdemeanor for any person who has access or obtains confidential info from the threat assessment database who uses the information for any purpose other than school safety and security. It is also an offense if the individual with access to the database released info to an unauthorized individual or permits an unauthorized individual to inspect confidential information.
HB 773 VanDeaver
Would require TEA to include students who successfully completed a program of study in career and technical education as a performance indicator when evaluating the performance of high school campuses and districts that include high school campuses, beginning with the 2021-2022 school year.
HB 1147 Huberty
Adds enlistment in the Texas National Guard to requirements relating to military readiness for purposes of the college, career, or military readiness outcomes bonus under the Foundation School Program.
Use TASA’s Bill Tracker to learn more about education-related bills filed in the 87th session.
