The Senate Committee on Education, chaired by Senator Florence Shapiro, met on February 2, and discussed flexibility and mandate relief for schools. Shapiro began the meeting by announcing her filing of SB 468, a shell bill to address mandate relief. She argued for the need to “weed out that which strangles our schools” in order for schools to be more productive. Shapiro stated, “The new normal is doing more with less.”
Highlights on mandates that witnesses requested to be eliminated:
- Accomplishing goals of HB 3, assessments
- 22-1 regulation
- Teacher salary restrictions
- Newspaper notice requirement for school boards
- School districts having to share the cost with the county for voting stations
Other publications have also highlighted certain mandates that should be addressed in order to help school districts:
- Adopt temporary provisions that enable districts to reduce salaries in order to save jobs
- Adopt employment reforms making it easier for districts to spend dollars efficiently
- Pursue modifications to the home-rule charter district statute
- Pursue changes to future mandates that can help reduce cost
In a TribLive conversation with Evan Smith yesterday morning, state Representative Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, the chair of the House Public Education Committee, was asked about reducing or eliminating unfunded mandates. Rep. Eissler stated he was in favor of raising the class size limit, which he doesn’t believe will lower educational quality if students are taught by a well-trained teacher. He also was in favor of allowing flexibility to furlough or reduce teacher pay and changing the 45 day notification rule in laying off teachers which is addressed in SB 468.
In regards to assessments, Rep. Eissler indicated he believes the state should move forward with the new tests and, if needed, fund the instructional materials for the subjects covered by the new assessments.
Rep. Eissler was also asked about the status of the $830 million Education Jobs funding approved by Congress last year but never delivered to Texas because of the additional requirements place on Texas by the Doggett amendment to the authorizing legislation. Under the provisions of this federal bill, a state can receive the funds if state education funding is maintained as a proportional share of the budget. Rep. Eissler expressed confidence that Texas would eventually receive those funds.