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The Senate Committee on Education has published their interim report to the 85th Legislature. The report addresses discussions on nine interim charges and six monitoring charges as well as several letters to the chair. Sen. Bettencourt in his letter to the Chair encouraged the Legislature to consider granting TEA the authority to establish an Office of Inspector General.
 
Provided below is a spotlight on the recommendations and/or conclusions; however, for complete details please refer to the full report.
 
INTERIM CHARGE 1 – School Choice
While taking into consideration and working to address concerns from interested stakeholders, the Legislature should continue efforts to study the benefits of private school choice programs, including tax credit scholarship programs and education savings accounts, and ultimately pass a private school choice program that increases opportunities for Texas students and their families.
 
 
INTERIM CHARGE 2 – Public Charter Schools HB 2

  • The Legislature should develop a statutory mechanism that ensures the reasonable and expedient disposition of property after a charter ceases to operate.
  • The Legislature should give further consideration to per-pupil facility funding or some other type of facility assistance for charter schools.

 
INTERIM CHARGE 3 – Performance Review of All Public Schools

  • The Legislature should take advantage of the opportunity that has arisen to fundamentally change the school finance structure without the restrictions of a court order.
  • The Legislature should consider how to incorporate efficiency and productivity measures into the school finance system in a way that accurately and uniformly measures these indicators for all school districts.
  • The Legislature should further study whether combining financial and academic accountability systems could result in greater efficiency and productivity.
  • The Legislature should encourage the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to support school districts across the state if they are incorporating competency-based education practices into their curriculum.
  • The Legislature should consider directing TEA to develop guidelines for competency based education that could be adopted by ISDs.

 
INTERIM CHARGE 4 – Digital Learning Opportunities

  • The Legislature should establish a matching fund in order to leverage the maximum amount of federal E-rate funds available to Texas schools for fiber connectivity.
  • The Legislature should require TEA to update the State Long-Range Plan for Technology and explore ways to incent districts to adopt or maintain technology plans.
  • The Legislature should enact rules for the collection, maintenance, and use of students' personal information to ensure student data privacy.
  • The Legislature should further study cost savings associated with the use of Open Education Resources (OER).
  • For the benefit of all students, the Legislature should continue to identify and eliminate barriers to fostering 21st century learning in Texas classrooms.

 
INTERIM CHARGE 5 – Inappropriate Teacher-Student Relationships  

  • The Legislature should consider legislation that improves and strengthens reporting requirements and related penalties for non-reporting after any indication of an inappropriate relationship between a school employee and a student has been received by a campus principal.
  • The Legislature should consider legislation that further expands and supports TEA's investigative capabilities in this area.
  • The Legislature should consider legislation that prohibits any district employee or contractor from an inappropriate relationship with a minor in any school district.
  • The Legislature should consider legislation related to schools posting their social media and electronic communications policies online and dissemination of those policies to parents, students, and all school employees.
  • The Legislature should consider legislation requiring all digital or electronic communications between a student and school employee also include a parent, supervisor, or any other school administrator in the communication. The Legislature should consider requiring TEA to compile best practices and resources from school districts that have already implemented these policies to be shared with other school districts. 

INTERIM CHARGE 6 – County-Based School Systems

  • The Legislature should continue studying the structure and performance of both DCS and HCDE. In particular, further study is necessary to determine if either entity is acting outside the scope of its intended mission.
  • While taking into consideration any potential disruption to ISDs, the Legislature should continue studying whether or not services provided by DCS or HCDE could be provided by education service centers.

INTERIM CHARGE 7 – School Board Governance

  • The Legislature should continue to maintain a state policy environment that supports local leaders while ensuring all students have access to a quality education and are not stuck in failing campuses.
  • The Legislature should consider legislation directing TEA to disseminate information on the spectrum of interventions and available supports to school boards dealing with unsuccessful academic outcomes.

INTERIM CHARGE 8 – Teacher Shortage and Retention Issues

  • The Legislature should explore options for Texas to conduct a comprehensive workplace analysis of the teaching profession in order to provide a better understanding for policy makers of the data on teacher recruitment, retention, shortage areas and educator preparation.
  • The Legislature should consider separating the general special education certification either by age of student, level of disability, or a combination of the two, allowing teachers to have a more focused training and job scope.
  • The Legislature should encourage the State Board of Education to require training in special education for all certified teachers.
  • In order to raise the standard of all educator preparation programs, the Legislature should explore the effect of requiring all Texas educator preparation programs to get national accreditation and whether there are ways for the state to incentivize programs to acquire national accreditation.
  • The Legislature should further study how to improve professional development for teachers, especially in their first few years in the classroom.
  • The Legislature should continue to find ways to increase the number of math, science, bilingual education, special education and computer science teachers across the state.
  • The Legislature should direct the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to study successful educator preparation programs, such as UTeach, in order to share best practices among providers. 

INTERIM CHARGE 9 – HB 5 (83R) and postsecondary education

  • The THECB should conduct a longitudinal study examining the rigor of dual credit and how students who take dual credit perform in subsequent courses. Additionally, meaningful data should be gathered on those students taking dual credit courses, but not entering postsecondary education upon completion of high school.
  • The Legislature should monitor the forthcoming recommended industry certification proposed by the TEA for the 2017-2018 school year.
  • The Legislature should explore ways for the state to incentivize collaboration between school districts and higher education institutions to create P-16 pathways and crosswalks for students, to aid in navigating their endorsements and academic plans to better ensure successful completion.
  • In order to ensure students are receiving accurate academic advising, the Legislature should direct the TEA and the THECB to collaborate and implement vertical training for both school district counselors and higher education advisors.
  • The Legislature should continue to discuss ways the state can assist districts in transitioning students who transfer from one school district to another where endorsement offerings do not align.

 
Monitoring Charges
Monitoring Charge 10.A – Districts of Innovation

  • Based on the experiences of ISDs that become districts of innovation, the committee recommends that the Legislature should consider whether or not any statutory changes are necessary. 

Monitoring Charge 10.B – High-Quality Pre-Kindergarten Grant Program

  • The committee recommends that the Legislature should continue to monitor the implementation of HB 4, especially as data from high-quality pre-kindergarten providers is analyzed by TEA, and determine whether any future legislative changes are necessary.

 
Monitoring Charge 10.C – Teacher Preparation Programs

  • HB 2205 requires more extensive data reporting to TEA by educator preparation programs and raises the minimum grade point average for new educator preparation course cohorts among other things. The committee recommends that the Legislature should continue to monitor the implementation of HB 2205. 

Monitoring Charge 10.D – Video Cameras

  • The Legislature should continue to work with stakeholders to ensure SB 507 can be successfully implemented in ways that minimize the burden on school administration officials and campuses.
  • The Legislature should clarify the breadth of a request made by a parent, staff member, or administrator.
  • The Legislature should clarify the definition of "staff member" in statute. The Legislature should align the new definition with the one originally implemented in the Texas Education Agency's rulemaking.
  • The Legislature should consider other clarifying and technical changes that reinforce the original intent of the legislation and are responsive to the concerns of school districts and stakeholders. The Legislature should consider ways to further encourage gifts, grants, or donations of cameras or funding to school districts to implement SB 507.

Monitoring Charge 10.E – Training Support for Counselors

  • House Bill 18 was passed with the intent of improving professional development opportunities for school counselors, particularly those tasked with counseling students about their high school endorsement choices created by House Bill 5 (83R). Among other requirements, HB 18 also requires schools to provide instruction to every Texas student, in either the 7th or 8th grade, about preparing for high school, college, and career.
  • The committee recommends that the Legislature should continue to monitor the implementation of HB 18, especially in relation to its support of the successful implementation of HB 5, and determine whether any future legislative changes are necessary. 

Monitoring Charge 10.F – Alternative Measures of Assessments
SB 149 has a sunset date of September 1, 2017, and without legislative action a high school student in Texas will not have the option of graduating with a diploma awarded on the basis of an Individual Graduation Committee (IGC) recommendation beyond that date. The committee recommends that the Legislature should consider whether continuing IGCs beyond September 1, 2017, would be beneficial to the students of Texas.