The Texas Education Agency (TEA) hosted an information session for textbook publishers to review House Bill (HB) 1605, 88th Texas Legislature, Regular Session. The bill addresses instructional materials and technology review and approval as well as the extension of additional state aid to school districts for the provision of certain instructional materials. This information session provided the opportunity for interested publishers to hear an overview of HB 1605 and to begin discussing implementation. Commissioner Mike Morath and TEA staff hosted the discussions.
This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight the various topics taken up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the discussions but is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer and the desire to get details out as quickly as possible with few errors or omissions.
- HB 1605 overview including certain main parts
- No longer Proclamations but new process
- Parent/transparency – parent portal for enrolled parents
- Impacts more than textbooks – can include lesson plans, manipulatives, etc
- HB 1605 Why – teacher planning time and addressing learning decline
- Slides reviewed that went over many changes by HB 1605 such as $40 allotment per student on top of IMA and an additional $20 per student to print out high quality curriculum materials; prohibits 3 cueing
- IMRA – Instructional Materials Review and Approval (IMRA)
- IMRA is the process for getting materials formally adopted as a necessary precondition for districts to access $324 per year of new funds to purchase printed textbooks
- Significant increase in funding in IMTA
- This has always been a multi-year process
- Distinction from past practice – within the year SBOE will be reviewing and the next year the same standards are in place for the following year
- Once a grade and subject open – assume always open from that point forward
- You can submit the year later if you miss the deadline or come back and try again the following year
- Annual review cycle gives publishers options and this is a break from past practices
- There is a new IMRA process and an expanded set of criteria for conducting the review
- The SBOE has final authority on approvals, the process and criteria to be used
- IMRA process includes standards alignment, quality review, suitable and appropriate, factual errors, compliance check
- Timeline includes process and criteria adopted by 2024
- First review of instructional and adoption will be in 2024
- Content process will be redefined for new grades and subject
- SBOE was asked if they have a preference on what to start with – K-3 phonics, ELAR, math and science all happen first
- Additional subjects will follow the next year but SBOE has year to pick
- There was a question on science, Morath said science is confusing
- Everything in Proc 2024 keeps going (but old law does not give an extra $40 per child)
- Just because you got approved under Proc 2024 doesn’t mean it will be approved in next IMRA process
- Suitability rubric will also be adopted and applied which has not been done previously
- IMRA funds still available for districts to use, discussion today is about trying to get materials up quickly so districts can access the $40
- First year approval is unusual, money is already flowing starting Sept 1st so on first year of purchase the district will have $80 waiting on them
- Morath points out the dollars accumulate so theoretically if district does not purchase item for 10 years, then they would have over $200 to access
- It would be logical that foundational before enrichment materials occur, but once all subjects opened up then a triggering condition would be if TEKS change then everything has to be redone at that point
- Morath agreed there are some TRR grades and rubrics in place now for some subjects but not all, so it is a starting point for discussions staff will use as they work to bring something before the SBOE
- No statutory mechanism to trigger a TEKS review, that is still up to SBOE
- SBOE had discussion on prioritizing grades and subjects, Morath said now is the time to get engaged
- April 2024 is goal for rubrics and process to be developed and presented to SBOE board for FULL approval
- November 2024 goal for SBOE to adopt materials
- Possible publishers can get on list in first quarter
- Morath said best to conceptualize district access materials in 2025-26 school year
- SBOE now has new standard terms and conditions authority
- Some conditions the SBOE may determine: length or term of contracts, pricing provisions, publisher obligations, quality standards, remedies for publisher default
- Once approved the material stays on the list (pending TEKS change), no need for termed contracts
- There are several rulemaking items needed as a part of HB 1605
- TEKS Review and Revision
- Possible timeline for ELAR includes required list of vocabulary and one literary work for each grade level shall be started by SBOE in Feb 1, 2024
- Morath notes this could end up being substantive changes depending on the final list
- The new law gives SBOE authority to review at any point
- Q: How does this work with SBOE keeping open door open every year
- A: Morath- SBOE has statutorily authority to open door however they want
- Parent Transparency
- Includes local school system to establish a instructional material review and have a parent portal available
- Q: are there copyright concerns?
- A: Morath- says that is a legislature question but there is some language about copyright
- A: Morath- there is not a requirement that anyone access but parents with students enrolled in the district who are the customers can access for personal review but if copying and posting on social media there is possibly a copyright violation
- Believes school districts will let the publisher know who are the parents
- Morath suggests a link may be made available on the student portal so that parents can access through there
- Timeline considerations
- Roughly 200 sets of instructional materials can be reviewed in a given year
- The count of all instructional materials offerings by publishers in 4 foundation subjects for all 13 grades, 572…in enrichment, 467
- It will take multiple years to do the initial review of all grades and subjects
- Morath said he would like to have it completed in 4 years so they are talking about efficiency and automation to support SBOE
Q&A
Q: Does staff help, only teacher reviewing?
A: Staff – Teachers will be a key part, how and who is still to be determined, likely not agency staff and most likely third party review teams
Q: How do you ensure 3rd party has capacity and training to conduct the reviews?
A: Morath- answer will become clear over the next 5 months, theoretically need to define rubric well in advance and SBOE has to approve review process which includes how they selected reviewers, how many different reviewers look at same product, credentials of reviews, interview process, interrelated reliability, how are they compensated
A: Morath – in answer to a question on process, there will be an SBOE process to review all phonics as well and create a formally approved list and phonics rules will just be embedded
Q: Will there be Proclamations continuing?
A: Morath – old process is repealed with the exception of Proc 2024 which needs to finish, going forward will be new IMRA process
A: Morath – any instructional material is subject to review and SBOE has authority to choose
Q: What training is being provided to LEA’s on this change?
A: Morath – there are 1200 so its possible some have not heard yet, have not yet done an LEA facing training but he does discuss this change on the Superintendent call and all were sent a link to this slide deck and the 4 hr SBOE work session
A: Staff – money is already flowing and LEA’s see them, questions are about when they can access the $40
Q: If material not approved in IMRA, can districts still purchase?
A: Staff – Yes, in that contracts from old proclamations are still in place until the contracts end
A: Morath – if SBOE rejects the material it can still be purchased with other dollars, it is not prohibited material