SENATE EDUCATION The Senate Education Committee will hear several bills related to teacher preparation, instructional materials, early literacy and mathematics achievement, student cell phone use, accountability, school safety, and more. - SB 1262 is identical to HB 121 which was heard in the House Public Education Committee earlier this week and addresses safety and security. The bill:
- Allows the TEA to commission peace officers to enforce school security requirements
- Requires school districts to renew their good cause exceptions to the armed security officer requirement every five years
- Requires school district emergency operations plans to include provisions determined by the TEA for ensuring the safety of students, staff, and spectators at extracurricular activities sponsored or sanctioned by the district
- Requires the TEA to issue a report regarding school safety that identifies common deficiencies and recommendations for addressing them
- Requires school districts to provide info on safe firearm storage to parents three times per school year
- Requires school districts to renew good cause exceptions for facility standards every five years
- SB 1962 expands the Commissioner’s authority over the state accountability system and provides penalties for districts that participated in the lawsuits over the accountability system. The bill:
- Allows the commissioner to exclude indicators he deems are not valid and reliable or to to modify state standards annually
- Requires the commissioner to increase rigor in determining performance ratings and to increase scores needed to achieve performance standards only very fifth year
- Expands the CCMR indicator to include students who achieved a passing score on the ASVAB and successfully completed a JROTC program
- Requires TEA to maintain a list of industry certifications eligible for CCMR indicators, outlines requirements for the certifications, and requires two years advance notice to any change on the list
- Requires ratings to be issued every year and prohibits the commissioner from assigning “not rated” on a statewide basis, and requires previous interventions or sanctions to continue in a year in which a district or campus is assigned a “not rated” performance rating
- Allows the commissioner to adopt indicators or standards at any time before issuing the evaluation of a district or campus
- Requires TEA to establish a grant program to assist at least one district in each region in developing a local accountability system
- Requires the commissioner to take any a number of actions ranging from a public notice to the school board to appointing a conservator to the extent he determines necessary if a district initiates or maintains an action or proceeding against the state or an agency or officer of the state
- Prohibits districts from initiating suing the state to challenge potential violations of statute
- Requires the commissioner to impose interventions or sanctions for a district who brought or joined an action or proceeding to prevent implementation ratings being issued for the 2022-2023 or 2023-2024 school year if they would have been subject to commissioner action under the new system
- SB 2252 is identical to HB 123 which was heard in the House Public Education Committee last week and addresses early literacy and math. Click here for a full summary.
- SB 2253 is related to teacher preparation and is similar to the teacher prep components of HB 2. Click here for a full summary.
- SB 2365 is nearly identical to HB 1481 which was heard in the House Public Education Committee last week.The bill requires school districts to adopt a policy prohibiting student use of cell phones and other personal electronic devices during instructional time and requires school districts to provide a secure, out-of-sight storage area for phones and other personal electronic devices.
HOUSE PUBLIC EDUCATION The House Public Education Committee will consider HB 2, their school finance bill, and SB 2, the Education Savings Account bill. |
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| - 8,915 total bills filed
- 1,489 public education bills filed
- 127 have been heard in committee
- 39 have passed committee
- 23 have passed their original chamber
- 20 are scheduled for an upcoming hearing
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Bills are prioritized based on the expected impact to the district or the level of public attention garnered by the bill, not based on the preferences of the district. High priority bills are either a state leadership priority, related to a Plano ISD legislative priority, would require significant resources to implement a change in district policy, practice, or procedures, or would otherwise significantly impact the district. |
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| Across several committees, 43 public education related bills were heard this week, representing more than a third of the bills that have been heard in committees so far. The bills this week included House priority bills HB 7 on parents’ rights (read a full summary here), HB 121 on school safety, and HB 124 which increases the school safety allotment. The Senate was focused on student discipline and truancy hearing 7 bills related to those topics. Also of note, the Senate passed its budget, SB 1, off the floor this week. The bill has been scheduled for a hearing in the House appropriations committee where the House will substitute its version of the budget into the bill and then pass SB 1. Once the full House passes SB 1, a conference committee will be appointed to work out the differences. Next week, two more major public education bills are expected to advance. HB 2, the school funding bill, is expected to be voted out of the House Public Education Committee and the committee is also expected to substitute HB 3, its education savings account legislation, onto SB 2, the Senate’s version, and pass SB 2 to the full House. Like the budget, if SB 2 is approved by the full House, a conference committee will be appointed to work out the difference between the House and Senate versions.
Additionally, next week, the House will consider its first legislation on the floor this session.
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