CAPITOL "TEA"

Last night, the House passed its version of the state budget for the next two years. Nearly 400 amendments were filed and considered throughout the day and into the night last night. Ultimately, the education portion of the budget remained unchanged with $8.1 billion in new funding for public schools, including $7.7 billion for House Bill 2 and $400 million for increasing the school safety allotment in House Bill 124.

The House also approved House Bill 500, the supplemental appropriations bill, which adds additional funding to the budget passed last session. The supplemental appropriations bill includes $935 million to offset lost revenue to school districts from changes at the federal level related to school health and related services for students (SHARS). The budget will now go back to the Senate, and a conference committee with members from both chambers will be formed to work out the differences.

BY

THE
NUMBERS

• 1,486 public education bills filed
  • 210 bills have been heard in a committee
    • 54 have passed the original chamber
    • 69 have passed the original committee
  • 36 are scheduled for hearing

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.

LEGISLATION HIGHLIGHTS

This past week, the education committees heard several bills, including the following:

HOUSE PUBLIC EDUCATION

• HB 1057 allows certified CTE teachers to receive experience credit for salary steps up to 5 years, instead of 2, for years of relevant work experience.
• HB 1876 creates a grant program for school districts to report data related to CTE programs for the purpose of improving student outcomes in CTE programs and sets requirements.

SENATE EDUCATION K-16

• SB 1418 changes references in statute to the ACT-PLAN to PreACT to align with the renaming of the assessment by ACT.
• SB 2742 imposes specific civil penalties for individuals who use public funds to engage in electioneering or publish political advertising; prohibits political subdivisions from indemnifying an employee or officer who violates the prohibition on using public funds to electioneer or for political advertising.

Several public education bills will be heard in various committees next week as well.

HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS

• HB 755 prohibits districts from spending public money or providing other compensation to contract with a person required to register as a lobbyist unless a majority of the board of trustees votes to authorize the expenditure as a stand-alone item on an agenda and requires related information to be posted on the district’s website

HOUSE PUBLIC EDUCATION

• HB 1178 provides a temporary one-year certificate for a teacher who is certified in another state and has a bachelor's degree.
• HB 1411 allows non-exempt employees who are paid hourly to use personal leave to be compensated for unpaid school holidays.
• HB 1441 requires model training for SROs and school district police to include training in the effects of mental health conditions, including grief and trauma, on student behavior.
• HB 1773 allows school districts to appoint a non-voting student trustee.
• HB 1813 requires individuals serving as non-attorney representatives to take a special education law course prior to serving as a non-attorney representative in a special education due process hearing.
• HB 2107 allows local school boards to make an annual training requirement for educators only required every other year.
• HB 2598 changes the name of "licensed specialist in school psychology" to "school psychologist".
• HB 2911 allows districts that opted out of TRS health insurance between September 1, 2021 and September 1, 2023 to rejoin TRS without waiting the five-year period. The bill also creates an allotment for school districts to provide health insurance outside of TRS.
• HB 2967 requires the TEA to publicly report the number of students, disaggregated by campus, grade level, and demographic factors, found to have vision disorders through regular vision screening in schools. The bill also provides an allotment to schools of $75 for each economically disadvantaged student who is identified as having a vision disorder to pay for eye exams, corrective lenses, and other vision care.
• HB 3672 creates a grant program for organizations to provide extracurricular education programs for students. The bill requires that the activities must occur outside of regular school hours and sets requirements for grant applications.
• HB 5263 requires the TEA to make state assessment results available to parents within one click using a unique identifier that does not require the parent to secure additional information from any third party.
• HB 3797 changes references in statute to the ACT-PLAN to PreACT to align with the renaming of the assessment by ACT.

SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• SB 2529 requires the 60% of the governing body of a political subdivision to approve the issuance of bonds. The bill also requires 80% of the governing body of a political subdivision to approve a tax rate that exceeds the voter approval tax rate.

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