Buckley Files 2nd Omnibus Education Bill that Includes Taxpayer-Funded ESA/Voucher Program

On Tuesday, November 7, the first evening of the fourth called special session, Chairman Brad Buckley filed HB 1, a 177-page dense bill that was referred to the Select Committee on Educational Opportunity and Enrichment. A hearing on the bill will be held Thursday, November 9, starting at 9 a.m. (Please note: Originally, both the committee’s November 9 and 10 hearings were reserved for testimony on HB 1. However, the updated notice for the Friday, November 10, hearing states: “If the Select Committee does not complete consideration of HB 1 during its November 9 public hearing, the Select Committee will conclude its consideration. No further public testimony will be taken.”) Watch both hearings live online.

Highlights of HB 1

ESA/Taxpayer-Funded Voucher Program

• Provides that ESAs (vouchers) would be administered by the state comptroller, who has the authority to enter into contracts or agreements and engage in marketing, advertising, and other activities to promote the development and use of the program. Authorizes the comptroller to retain up to 3 percent of the funding to administer the program.
• Removes the cap on the number of students who are eligible from HB 1 filed in the third called special session (it was 25,000 during the 2024-25 school and allowed an additional 25,000 per student each year through 2026-2027).
• Prohibits the governor and Legislative Budget Board from transferring or repurposing money to provide funding to administer the program.
• Establishes that ESAs would be available to students who are eligible to attend public schools in Texas and: were enrolled in a public school in this state for 90 percent of the previous school year; are enrolling in kindergarten or first grade for the first time; or attended a private school on a full-time basis or were home-schooled during the previous school year. Allows siblings of each eligible category of students to participate in the program.
• Ends eligibility for the program when a student graduates from high school or when a student is no longer eligible to attend a Texas public school. In addition, eligibility ceases: when the student enrolls in a charter school and is counted for ADA purposes under the FSP; on the date on which the student fails to perform satisfactorily for the second consecutive year on the state assessment instrument or a nationally norm-referenced equivalent exam; or on the date on which the child is declared ineligible for the program by the comptroller.
• Provides that the ESA amount will be 75 percent of the statewide average of per-student funding as determined by the commissioner by January 15. The cost is estimated to be approximately $10,500.
• Moves the sunset provision to 2029, when TEA is scheduled for sunset review.
• Prioritizes eligible students as follows:
  • Children with a disability who are members of a household with a total annual income that is at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty guidelines;
  • Children who are members of a household with a total income that is at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty guidelines;
  • Children who are members of a household with a total annual income that is above 185 percent of the federal poverty guidelines and below 400 percent of the federal poverty guidelines; and
  • Children who are members of a household with a total annual income that is at or above the 400 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.
• Requires the comptroller to create and maintain a waiting list based on the above-mentioned categories for those cycles when there are more acceptable applications than there are available positions.
• Establishes some of the acceptable education-related expenses to include tuition and fees for a private school; a higher education provider; an online educational course or program; or a program that provides training for an industry-based credential. Other allowable expenses include textbooks, uniforms, assessments, private tutors, transportation, educational therapies, and fees for classes or other educational services provided by a public school, including a charter school, if the classes or services do not qualify the child to be included in the school’s ADA.
• Provides that homeschool students would receive $1,000 per school year.
• Requires TEA to ensure that each participating child is annually administered:
  • each assessment required to be administered to a public-school student at the child’s grade and course level or subject to exemptions or accommodations as required for public school students; or
  • an equivalent nationally norm-referenced assessment.
• Requires TEA to report to the comptroller the results of the assessments in aggregate and disaggregated by race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and status as a child with a disability. Provides that a child’s results on an assessment are confidential and in compliance with FERPA.
• Requires ESCs to administer these assessments. Permits a school district to administer the assessments and allows a private school, if authorized by TEA, to administer the assessments in accordance with agency rule.
• Requires the results of these assessment instruments to be included in an annual comptroller report. Requires the annual comptroller report to also include percentages of participating children who, within one year after graduating from high school, are college, career, or military-ready.

Basic Allotment (BA), Other Funding, and Grant Funding

• Removes funding for school safety. Although not included in HB 1, school safety funding is included in HB 72 filed by Rep. Ryan Guillen. That bill, as filed, provides allotments of $100 per student and $100,000 per campus; it has not yet been assigned to a House committee.
• Increases the BA from $6,160 to $6,700 beginning in the 2024-25 school year.
• Provides an inflation factor in the second year of the biennium starting in 2026-27 notwithstanding any legislative changes to eliminate the provision during the 2025 legislative session.
• Increases the Small and Mid-sized Allotments for the 2024-25 school year from 0.0004 to 0.00044.
• Provides a recapture adjustment for the formula transition grant program.
• Increases the cap on charter school facilities funding from $60 million to $300 million per year beginning with the 2025-26 school year.
• Eliminates the cap on the Fast Growth Allotment in the 2024-25 school year.
• Moves special education to enrollment-based funding, creates tiered funding levels based on the intensity of services, and increases the special education transportation allotment to $1.75 per mile in the 2025-26 school year.
• Increases P-Tech funding from $50 to $150 beginning with the 2025-26 school year.
• Increases the Comp Ed Allotments in the 2024-25 school year by 0.005.
• Increases the CCMR outcomes-based bonus for special education students from $2,000 to $4,000.
• Provides school districts with $500 or more, depending on appropriations, for each student for whom a school district conducts a full individual and initial special education evaluation.
• Creates a Fine Arts Allotment for grades 6 through 12 beginning with the 2023-24 school year.
• Allows the commissioner to administer grants to eligible school districts to offset a reduction in the district’s FSP funding resulting from the use of the state value for the 2022 and 2023 tax years. Prohibits the Property Value Study Hardship Grants program from exceeding $60 million per school year. The program expires September 1, 2025.
• Creates a two-year grant program established by TEA to provide training in dyslexia for teachers and staff. School districts would have to submit a proposal on the use of the funds that incorporates evidence-based and research-based design and increases local capacity to appropriately serve students with dyslexia by providing high-quality training to teachers and administrators or training to intervention staff resulting in appropriate credentialing related to dyslexia.
• Creates a two-year grant program providing innovative services to students with autism.
• Creates a Career and Military Technical Grant Pilot program to be administered by TEA that cannot exceed $2 million. Requires TEA to report program results to the Legislature in 2026.
• Reduces the additional day school year (ADSY) funding requirement from 180 days to 175 days beginning in the 2025-26 school year.
• Provides funding for school districts that have an ADA decrease of more than 5 percent. Establishes that funding will be based on an ADA of 95 percent. Limits cost to the state to $50 million.
• Provides for military transition aid of 0.08 for the first year a military-connected student is enrolled in a school district beginning in the 2024-25 school year.
• Provides a Communities in Schools Expansion Allotment capped at $50 million per year beginning in school year 2025-26.
• Adds pre-K to the early education allotment beginning in the 2025-26 school year.
• Creates an annual allotment of 0.2 for each student in ADA enrolled in a pre-K class provided through a contract with a community-based child-care provider beginning in the 2024-25 school year.
• Creates a Regional Disaster Insurance Variation Allotment of 0.012 per ADA as determined by the commissioner.
• Creates the Texas Teacher Residency Partnership Program to enable qualified educator preparation programs to form partnerships with school districts or charter schools to provide residency positions at school districts or schools.

Employee Compensation, Leave, and Data Collection

• Provides a one-time teacher retention stipend in the 2023-24 school year of $4,000 for full-time employees subject to the minimum salary schedule and $2,000 for part-time classroom teachers, librarians, counselors, and nurses.
• Makes major changes to the Minimum Salary Schedule.
• Establishes the Local Optional Teacher Designation System Grant Program to provide money and technical assistance to expand the implementation of local optional teacher designation systems and increase the number of classroom teachers eligible for the designation. Authorizes rule-making for the commissioner of education.
• Increases amounts under the Teacher Incentive Program beginning in 2025-2026.
• Requires school districts to adopt a policy that allows teachers the option to take paid leave separately from FMLA due to pregnancy or the birth or adoption of a child.
• Requires TEA to collect data from school districts and charter schools for the recruitment and retention of classroom teachers, including the classification, grade level, subject area, duration, and other relevant information regarding vacant teaching positions.

General Assessment and Accountability Provisions

• Requires districts to report in writing the results of benchmark assessments, as defined in statute, to a child’s parent within 30 days after the assessment results are available.
• Makes changes to the early reading instrument (ERI) process and approved list, limits administration of ERI to three times per school year; requires reading intervention for each K-3 student based on the ERI results; specifies what the reading intervention program must include and when it can or cannot be offered; requires an additional written report to the parent not later than 30 days after the ERI results are available; and allows the commissioner, in collaboration with ESCs, to use funds appropriated for teacher literacy achievement academies to assist in complying with these requirements.
• Establishes an additional supplemental reading instruction program for students whose ERI results administered in two consecutive school years indicate reading deficiencies; requires a district or charter to make available “high-quality” tutors from a list approved by TEA, the district, or charter for students needing the supplemental intervention; mandates the ISD or school contract directly with the selected tutor; and requires a district using ISD staff as tutors for this purpose to issue supplemental pay to the teachers. Note: These same provisions were part of HB 2162 (88^th Regular Legislative Session), which did not pass.
• Establishes a temporary provision regarding A-F ratings and state assessment scoring. Requires the commissioner of education to use the rules prescribed by the 2022 Accountability Handbook when assigning ratings and scoring state assessments for the 2023-24, 2024-25, and 2025-26 school years. Expires this section August 31, 2026.
• Expands the definition of military readiness performance indicators to include passing the ASVAB or successfully completing a JROTC program.
• Requires the commissioner of education to study CCMR indicators as related to post-secondary success, including the correlation of industry certifications with wages and available jobs.
• Rewords the section of code on the adoption of indicators and standards as follows: The commissioner may adopt indicators and standards under this subchapter at any time during a school year before issuing the evaluation of a school district or campus for a school year.
• Rewords the section of code requiring the commissioner to provide a document (accountability manual) to each school district by removing language saying that the measures will be applied for that school year in assigning ratings.
• Creates a Local Accountability Grant program to assist at least one school district in each ESC area in developing a local accountability system. Authorizes TEA with rulemaking for the program.
• Sunsets TEC Chapter 39 on August 31, 2026. Establishes the Texas Commission on Assessment and Accountability to develop and make recommendations for improvements to the current system and for the adoption of a new system that complies with ESSA. The 15-member commission would be composed of four members appointed by the governor; five members appointed by the lieutenant governor; five members appointed by the speaker of the House; and one member of the State Board of Education. Requires a report to the governor and Legislature with recommendations on statutory changes to improve the system by December 31, 2024.
• Contains conflicting provisions on pages 177-178:
  • Section 9.08(a) … the commissioner of education may not assign A through F ratings, domain-scaled scores, or overall scale scores … for the 2022-2023 school year.
  • Section 9.08(b) … the commissioner of education may, using abbreviated notice as determined practicable by the commissioner and without a public hearing, but with input from the legislature, adopt rules for determining the accountability for public schools for the 2022-2023 school year.
  • The two provisions conflict as rules should not need to be adopted for 2022-2023 if ratings are not to be issued for 2022-2023.