The House Committee on Public Education has released their interim report to the 85th Legislature which includes background and recommendations. Below is a spotlight on the summary recommendations directly from the report; however, for complete details please refer to the report.
Digital Learning Opportunities Interim Charge
- Designate a state lead to coordinate efforts to ensure that all schools have access to affordable and scalable broadband.
- Consider a state match for the e-Rate program to leverage all federal funds available to school districts.
Teacher-Student Relationships Interim Charge
- Encourage school districts to adopt electronic media policies for educator/student interaction and to consider employing available safe and transparent media platforms for educator/student communication.
- Clarify what must be provided to TEA/SBEC during the course of an educator investigation. Encourage the courts and prosecutors to cooperate with TEA/SBEC in educator/student matters.
- Allow TEA access to teacher evaluations as part of an investigation related to inappropriate educator/student conduct.
- Encourage hiring districts to conduct employment history reviews.
Institutional Partnerships Interim Charge
- Consider incentives for businesses that partner with districts to provide expanded learning opportunities for students.
- Provide districts and employers ways to provide students liability protection when offering students workforce training.
Middle Schools Interim Charge
- Support the dissemination of best practices for middle school instruction.
- Encourage districts to review their middle school programs to ensure that students are prepared for high school.
High Performing Students Interim Charge
- Support measures to identify students who have the potential to perform at high levels who might not currently be served by GT programs or enrolled in advanced coursework.
- Ensure that the new accountability system evaluates the performance and growth of high achieving students.
- Ensure that the accountability system rewards districts for providing students opportunities to complete advanced coursework.
School Choice Interim Charge
- Ensure that any entity that receives public funds has adequate fiscal accountability.
- Ensure that any entity that receives public funds has adequate academic accountability.