The Senate Education Committee will meet starting at 9 a.m., Wednesday, April 19, to hear testimony on the following bills:
- SB 2117 (Creighton) would require that a school district bond election proposition include the following statement: “THIS AUTHORIZES THE DISTRICT TO TAKE ON ADDITIONAL DEBT” (and omits the words “IS A PROPERTY TAX INCREASE”).
- SB 2304 (LaMantia) requires districts and charter schools to provide information regarding the Texas Driving with Disability Program to certain public school students and in the curriculum of driver education courses and driving safety courses.
- SB 2141 (Parker) requires the SBOE, in adopting the essential knowledge and skills for the technology applications curriculum for K-8, to adopt essential knowledge and skills that include internet safety and keyboard use. It would prohibit the SBOE from adopting essential knowledge and skills for the technology applications curriculum for K-5 that include coding, computer programming, computational thinking, or cybersecurity, or that would require the use of electronic devices, digital instruction, or the internet, for any purpose other than as necessary for internet safety curriculum or keyboard use curriculum.
- SB 1557 (Parker) would allow the parent of a student who was victimized by a public school employee to transfer the student to another public school campus or receive funding for the student to attend private school.
- SB 418 (Paxton) relates to the transfer of public school students between certain school districts, removing the condition that districts/counties be adjoining and more.
- SB 1064 (Middleton) relates to the school district property value study conducted by the comptroller of public accounts.
- SB 668 (West) requires school districts to make available certain school safety training courses to employees of child-care facilities and certain organizations providing out-of-school-time care.
- SB 1567 (Campbell) requires districts and charter schools to maintain physical copies of certain instructional materials.
- SB 2403 (Springer) relates to required reporting regarding a school district’s program for gifted and talented students.
- SB 1471 (Bettencourt) would permit TEA to obtain criminal history record information for an employee on behalf of private schools that are accredited by an accrediting agency that is a member of the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission, and to provide that information to a requesting private school.
- SB 2205 (Parker) relates to the information that must be included in a school district bond election proposition. If passed and a district determines that the issuance of the bonds would require the district to increase the district’s interest and sinking fund tax rate for the tax year immediately following the tax year in which the bonds are issued in order to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds for that tax year, the ballot proposition would have to include the following statement: “THIS IS A PROPERTY TAX RATE INCREASE.”
- SB 1506 (Hughes) relates to a seizure management and treatment plan for the care to be provided by a public school to a student with a seizure disorder.
- SB 2428 (Creighton) relates to the removal of a public school student from the classroom for the possession or use of an e-cigarette.
- SB 595 (Kolkhorst) would require parental consent for psychological or psychiatric examination, testing, or treatment conducted by a school district employee.
- SB 1954 (Zaffirini) relates to the essential knowledge and skills of the public school foundational curriculum for civics education and social studies. This bill was added after the initial hearing notice was posted.
See the hearing notice.
Watch the hearing live 9 a.m. Wednesday.
