The Senate Education Committee will meet starting at 9 a.m., Thursday, May 11, to hear testimony on the following House bills:
- HB 3 (Burrows) would establish various provisions related to school safety and security. Among other provisions, the bill would authorize the hiring of armed security officers in schools, require TEA to provide oversight to guarantee compliance by schools with the new safety and security measures, and would amend multi-hazard emergency operations plan requirements. (Read the House Research Organization analysis for a full summary.)
- HB 11 (Dutton) would amend or establish provisions regarding educator certification, such as local optional teacher designation systems and the Texas Teacher Residency Partnership Program. (Read the HRO analysis for a full summary.)
- HB 900 (Patterson) would make amendments to the authority of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, the requirements of school library vendors, and the definitions of what is considered sexually relevant or sexually explicit material. The bill would also create requirements for TEA and local school districts regarding their enforcement of these provisions. (Read the HRO analysis for a full summary.)
- HB 1002 (Price) would authorize a chool district or charter school to include a licensed chiropractor or licensed physical therapist as a member of its concussion oversight team, provided that the person has had training in the evaluation, treatment, and oversight of concussions at the time of appointment. The bill also requires a student to be removed from an interscholastic athletics practice or competition immediately if a licensed physical therapist believes the student might have sustained a concussion during the practice or the competition.
- HB 2729 (Cody Harris) would amend the qualifications required for teacher to teach pre-K to include at least eight years’ experience in a Texas Rising Star program. The bill also would create requirements for each pre-K teacher for a class provided by an entity with which a school district contracted, establishing that a teacher would be required to either have one of the qualifications established in code or be supervised by a person who met those requirements. The bill would specify that an entity contracted to provide a pre-K program would be required to attempt to maintain an average ratio of no less than one qualified teacher or teacher’s aide for each 11 students. The condition that such a teacher be a “certified teacher” would be replaced with “qualified teacher.” This bill was added to the agenda May 10.
- HB 3803 (Cunningham) would allow parents and guardians to have their children repeat a grade up to grade 8 instead of grade 3. The parent or guardian of a high school student could elect for the student to repeat any course from the previous school year, unless the school district or charter school determined the student had met all the requirements for graduation.
- HB 4005 (Raney, et al.) would establish the Texas Competency-Based Education Grant Program (TCBEGP) with the purpose of providing financial assistance to enable eligible students to enroll in competency-based baccalaureate programs. This bill was added to the agenda May 10.
- HB 4363 (Kuempel) would establish the Future Texas Teachers Scholarship Program with the purpose of recruiting, preparing, and retaining a talented and diverse workforce of career teachers and providing assistance for tuition, mandatory fees, and other usual and customary costs of attendance at an eligible institution.
- HB 4375 (VanDeaver) would require students in grades 7-12 to be instructed on how to use automated external defibrillators (AEDs). The bill includes conforming language establishing that provisions regarding instruction in CPR, and any equipment donated for such programs, would also apply to AED education.
