With twenty specific action items, several information items, and a public hearing on the Proclamation 2015 instructional materials on the docket at its September meeting, the State Board of Education (SBOE) had a full schedule when it met in Austin from September 16 through September 19.
After considering the item at its July meeting, the SBOE recommended a 3.5% distribution rate to the Available School Fund (ASF) from Permanent School Fund (PSF) for FY 2016-17. The PSF distribution is projected to be $1.677 billion during this current 2014-2015 biennium. The 3.5% distribution rate in the next biennium should generate a payout of over $2 billion. Provisions of SB 6 passed by the 82nd Legislature in that summer special session stipulate that at least 50% of the distribution amount will become the Instructional Materials Fund for the biennium. The SBOE will take the final vote on the ASF distribution rate during the November 19-21 meeting.
The September meeting is when the SBOE holds the required public hearing on any instructional materials that will be considered at the November meeting. This year’s hearing covered the instructional materials submitted in response to Proclamation 2015: high school math, K-12 social studies, and K-12 fine arts. Forty-eight individuals offered testimony on those materials. Written comments submitted to the SBOE during the hearing were disseminated by the TEA staff to publishers participating in the adoption. Publishers’ responses to the comments, including any factual errors, will be reported to the SBOE at an October 20 work session in Austin. The work session was scheduled to provide necessary time for the SBOE members to review and consider this information prior to the November meeting when final approval of the Proclamation 2015 items will take place.
Also on the agenda for the October 20 work session is an item on the SBOE’s long range plan. Texas Education Code §7.102 (c)(1) requires the SBOE to develop and update a long-range plan for public education. An ad hoc committee of the SBOE, approved during the September meeting, will begin conversations to determine whether to update the required long-range plan.
The Oct. 20 work session agenda, once published, may be viewed at: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=25769814582. As this is a work session, no public testimony will take place.
In the curriculum area the SBOE also approved proposed revisions to the TEKS for Languages Other Than English and to TAC Chapter 113 that requires that AP and IB social studies courses identified in Subchapter D must address the TEKS for the corresponding courses in Subchapter C. Other items on the agenda included revisions to TAC Chapter 100 on Open Enrollment Charter School rules and a review of various proposed rules on Educator Preparation Programs.
On an 8-4 vote with one abstention and two absences, the SBOE adopted a resolution on the revised AP U S History framework. The resolution was the final item on the SBOE agenda at the Friday meeting. The action followed several hours of public testimony on the proposed resolution.
