The Senate Education Committee will meet starting at 9 a.m., Wednesday, May 17, to hear testimony on the following K-12 bills, which have been passed by the House:
- HB 4372 (Oliverson, et al.) authorizes the governing body of a private school that has an enrollment of at least 1,500 students to commission peace officers to enforce state and local law on the school’s campus.
- HB 5167 (Wilson, et al.) relates to protections for certain military dependents enrolled in a public school. This bill was added to the agenda after the original posting.
- HB 3623 (Hefner) authorizes a public school district, open-enrollment charter school, or private school to enter into a memorandum of understanding with another public or private primary or secondary school under which a school marshal appointed to a campus of the school may temporarily act as a school marshal at a campus of the other school for the duration of an event occurring at the campus of the other school at which both schools are participating.
- HB 1614 (Dutton) requires the commissioner of education to establish and administer a grant program to support school districts and open-enrollment charter schools in increasing partnerships with community-based child-care providers to provide pre-K classes.
- HB 2102 (Goldman) requires the commissioner of education to allow a charter holder to provide written notice of the establishment of a new charter school campus up to 36, rather than 18, months before the date on which the campus was expected to open. The bill also would allow a charter holder to submit a request for approval for an expansion amendment up to 36, rather than 18, months before the date on which the expansion would be effective.
- HB 1905 (Talarico, et al.) allows a school district to provide school safety training courses, including certain active shooter training courses, available at no cost to employees of accredited private schools located in the district, child-care facilities, or other organizations providing out-of-school-time care to children younger than 18 years old who reside in the district.
- HB 699 (Frank, et al.) requires the UIL to apply the same student enrollment calculation formula to all schools, whether or not the school allowed a non-enrolled student to participate in the league activity when assigning league classification to a public school.
- HB 1883 (Bhojani, et al.) would allow a school district’s board of trustees or an open-enrollment charter school’s governing body to make considerations for religious holy days and periods of observance likely to be observed by its students for the administration of assessments during that school year, with certain restrictions.
The committee will also hear testimony on several bills related to higher education.
Watch the hearing online starting at 9 a.m. Wednesday, May, 17.
