LISD's Latest Lege #12
A Recurring Legislative Update on #txed & #txlege
Sine Die (2)
I hope you enjoyed your Labor Day Weekend! When we last left off, House Democrats had broken quorum while the elections bill was on the House Floor. The 87th Regular Legislative Session concluded and the quorum break lasted through the first special legislative session. The Texas Senate was able to move forward, but the House was unable to do business.
The second special legislative session kicked off on August 7th as we were preparing to head back to school. Eventually, the House was able to establish quorum and resumed legislative activity. Last Thursday, both chambers gaveled out ahead of schedule with a few key education bills taking effect pretty quickly.
Let's get to the lege!
Top Five for the Second Special Legislative Session
SB 3 (Hughes) on civics instruction was sent to the Governor. Not without its controversy, the bill addressed Governor Abbott's agenda item on critical race theory (but it doesn't actually reference this term). It requires the TEA Commissioner to create a civics training program for teachers and administrators. The commissioner would appoint a nine-person advisory board and districts and charters will need to ensure at least one teacher and administrator from each campus that includes an eligible course attends the training. Schools that use a learning management system to provide content (ex. Canvas) must provide parents with login credentials. It's a big bill, so I encourage you to give it a read for yourself and watch for more information to come.
SB 9 (Huffman) also passed both chambers and is awaiting the Governor's signature. It requires public schools to provide instruction and materials relating to the prevention of child abuse, family violence, and dating violence at least once in middle school and at least once in high school. Of note is that parents must opt-in to the content.
SB 15 (Taylor) on virtual instruction was sent to the Governor's desk. While it allows ISDs and open-enrollment charters to provide a local remote instruction option for students, it includes specific criteria on which students will receive average daily attendance (ADA) funding. For example, students who spent the majority of learning in a virtual setting last year must have passed their STAAR tests, have a number of unexcused absences that is less than 10% of the total instructional days, and earned a C or better in foundational curriculum classes like math and ELA.
HB 5 (Bonnen) was a large supplemental funding and appropriations bill that passed in both chambers. It includes a one-time supplemental payment of $2,400 to retired educators.
A third special legislative session is forthcoming to address redistricting and what to do with $16 billion in unallocated federal funds, but the dates have not been established yet.
Noteworthy Bills That Didn't Pass
I usually post noteworthy bills here that are not addressed in the Top Five section above; however, following this special legislative session, I want to highlight some bills that didn't pass. While they didn't make the cut this time, we might see some form of these bills in a future session.
- HB 28 (Toth) was the House bill that also addressed civics instruction, but included a provision that would have required schools to post "teaching material or activity that was assigned, distributed, or otherwise presented to the district ’s or school ’s students" on the school or district website each month. LISD communicated the extreme burden this would have placed on schools to its delegation.
- HB 141 (Leach) and HB 164 (Dutton) were discussed in committee and a compromise bill was in the works that would have addressed the ability of school districts to mandate masks while allowing parents to opt-out. A compromise bill did not get filed.
- HB 233 (Huberty) cleared the House but didn't move in the Senate. It would have changed some of the requirements established by HB 4545 (Dutton) such as narrowing the accelerated instruction requirements to math and reading assessments in grades 3-8 and raising the student-teacher ratio for accelerated learning instruction.
- SB 2 (Perry) on requiring students to participate in UIL athletic activities based on biological sex passed in the Senate but was left pending in the House Public Education Committee.
LISD Government Relations
Email: sheehans@lisd.net
Website: www.lisd.net/legislative
Location: 1565-A West Main Street, Lewisville, TX, USA
Phone: (469) 948-8006