Senate Committee on Education – May 24, 2022

The Senate Committee on Education met on May 24 in order to hear invited and public testimony on the following interim charges:

• COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Educator Talent Pipeline
• Monitoring on: HB 3 (86R), HB 1525 (87R), HB 4545 (87R)
• Bond efficiency
• Homestead Exemption

This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight the discussions on 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.

 

COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Educator Talent Pipeline: Examine the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the public school educator talent pipeline, staffing patterns and practices, and declining student enrollment and attendance. Review any policies and regulatory actions that prevent students from receiving instruction from a highly effective teacher. Monitor the impact of both the Teacher Incentive Allotment and non-administrator compensation increases directed under House Bill 3 (86th Legislature), as well as the teacher pay raises implemented in 2019. Explore innovative models to improve recruitment and make recommendations to maintain a strong educator workforce pipeline, while adapting resilient school strategies to meet emergent demands in public education.

 

Mike Morath, TEA Commissioner

• Provides annual SBOE report
• Teachers are the single most important in school factor impacting student outcomes
• Texas is currently employing more teachers than at any point previously
• The teacher employment count remains high, even while statewide student enrollment has declined during COVID
• Recruitment challenges because college students are not interested in becoming teachers
• Retention challenges have worsened during COVID
• Successful retention and recruitment are impacted by pay
• Median teacher salaries have increased over the last five years
• The legislature had significantly increased overall funding, but the impact on teacher salaries depends on LEA staffing decisions
  • Decline in student teacher ratios in 90’s but decline since the great recession
  • As LEAs are getting more pupils they are hiring more people
  • If FTE is going up then amount to devote to wage increases goes down
  • Notes this is collective decision making by LEAs
• The funding devoted to teacher salaries is significant
• Teacher incentive allotment (TIA) is growing significantly and is per teacher allocation
  • TIA always results in wage increases
  • 386 district in pipeline of designing a TIA system
• In response to HB 3 and the increase in state funding for compensation, districts across Texas were able to invest significantly in compensation for teachers and other school-based staff members
  • Total salary gains for teacher, nurses, librarians and counselors were approx. $1,172 billion
  • Avg increase for teacher with 0-5 years’ experience was $3,839
  • Avg increase for teacher with 5+ years was $5,215
• Multiple districts have increased the amount they contribute for teacher health care, and some have offered low-cost daycare
  • Example was Ft. Bend ISD provided stipends in special education for mentor teachers at $9k a year
  • Longview ISD LIFT program adds incentives to teachers who demonstrate growth and progress
• Training structure varies by the phase of a teacher’s career and the nature of a candidate’s entry into the profession
  • Three phases include include: pre-service, 1^st years, and ongoing
• Certified teacher supply in Texas adjusts based on LEA demand, largely because of alternative certification
• Novice teachers on average achieve less academic growth with students than more experienced teachers
• Teachers prepared through alternative certification programs leave the workforce at a higher rate
• SBEC and TEA have been improving the policies and incentives
• Funding for the EPP-led efforts to prepare teacher candidates are almost entirely borne by the candidates themselves
• TEA supports districts directly in apprentice and other district-led non-traditional approaches
• The legislature has provided significant investments in district-led efforts to recruit and prepare (starting with high school students)
• SBEC to create a clearinghouse of continuing education requirements, including best practices recommendations
• Evidence of efficacy of teacher professional development efforts is mixed
• Most important training teachers get is on the job
• Creighton – For the paraprofessionals route, you mentioned it’s tied to long term solutions, how long are the terms?
  • In order to be a teacher, you must be a college graduate; so one of the key things is making sure paraprofessionals finish a degree
  • Future teachers are current high school students
  • We should have CTE pathways in every high school to prepare future teachers
• What are we seeing in other states related to teacher retention?
  • The cycle of attrition in the teaching profession aren’t isolated to Texas
  • In most higher performing countries, teachers are in front of students between 3 and 4 hours per day, compared to an averaged of 6 hours in the US
  • In the US, the days are packed that teachers do not have time to use the restroom, eat, sleep, or take care of their families
• What is stopping schools from improving this?
  • Staffing patterns and budget implications
  • Academic concerns (need curriculum support)
• For the particular schools that have started on those adjustments, how are those schools chosen?
  • The leaders have prompted the changes
  • TEA has provided technical assistance
• How do you move the dial on the academic concerns?
  • Expecting teachers to be instructional designers and instructional deliverers is too much
  • Intentionally mixing the content will allow you to go deeper and cover the breadth, but it takes engineers that are versed in memory formation
  • Open education resources statues have begun to do this
• How do we provide support staff and scheduling changes or how do we get the word out that we’re making these types of changes to hold teachers back from leaving?
  • Depending on local leadership, they might be able to do this quickly
  • Must be real with expectations
• Paxton – Most people don’t leave their job, they leave their manager. Do you have any context for what we’re seeing with teachers now?
  • It’s a mix; training managers is a good thing but this is mostly an engineering problem with teachers being overworked
  • There are teachers who have an effective balance so we know it is possible
• You also mentioned about the data that lags; in North Texas, I know campuses that have 18 teachers not coming back so it requires urgency
  • It is difficult to balance classroom size and schedules in an efficient way
  • The median class size in eighth grade in Texas is in the low 20s; in Japan it’s 36
  • It’s easier to rearrange this in a larger ISD
  • HB 3 increased funding for small-mid sized districts
  • Current student to teacher ratio is 14.6 to 1
• Menendez – I can understand that working conditions would be detrimental. We’ve received numerous complaints from teachers about the additional trainings we’ve required. HB 4545 disrupts teachers by pulling them out. If you could come up with a best practices model, including what it would cost?
  • HB 4545 has constraints that are good for the long impact of students but we want to effectively implement them
  • No one should be paying out of pocket for reading academies
• West – I’m hearing some of the same problems we’ve had for years and we’ve poured billions of dollars. Is there any way your agency can give us an idea of how effective programs have been?
  • Generally, there’s been myriad policy changes for 30+ years
  • Reading academies worked in the late 1990s; positive effect on reading proficiency; but we stopped doing them for 15 years
• As relates to the types of preparation models, which one(s) have been the most effective measured by student outcome?
  • 120 preparation programs in Texas so measuring the outcome is difficult
• Why should it be difficult?
  • Let’s say there’s a program with 10 teachers, it’s hard to track their first year process and that’s a smaller program; also we don’t have access to kindergarten teachers’ evaluation data
• What do we need to do to measure the efficacy to not waste taxpayer dollars?
  • We have data that preparation programs have produced higher teacher efficacy
  • We have evidence that the apprentice-model works
• So it’s difficult to measure because of the amount of programs we have?
  • We have 40 years of collecting inadequate data and we’re working on it
• How successful are stipends given to teachers who work in hard to teach/low income areas?
  • Some places do stipends on a one-off basis which are not effective
  • Moving teachers to these places more intentionally has been more successful
  • An example is Dallas ISD with the ACE program at the elementary level
  • You can’t do that everywhere; smaller districts have to recruit outside of their districts
• How do you measure that?
  • Discipline data, attendance data, you name it
• Powell – What percentage overall of teachers across the state receive the benefit of the TIA?
  • 80,000 teachers
• If we could expand that to reach more teachers than it would be more helpful to recruitment. We need to be thinking in terms of loan repayment and alternate preparation. What do you think is the best process to refill our teacher pipeline?
  • Subsidizing the pipeline makes sense
  • It would bear fruit to have a structured residency/apprentice model
• Creighton – TIA is an opt-in? Are districts still reviewing that policy?
  • 386 school districts have opted in
• What would be reasons why school districts would not opt in?
  • It’s a lot of work; you’re designating someone as a master teacher through an evaluative system that takes 24 months to build
• What could the state do?
  • Create a technical assistance grant to fund getting the TIA up and running
• Birdwell – One of the challenges I see in rural districts is having no mid-career teachers. Is there any incentive available?
  • For rural districts, the TIA is designed to overfund them
  • We have a higher percentage of successful rural signups
  • The district could create a salary schedule that sees a jump mid-career but the economics have to work
• You mentioned out of state teachers, are there states that we don’t take teachers from?
  • There is some reciprocity because it varies state to state
  • Texas has some specific requirements so they have to go through more steps
  • I think this could be further improved
• Hall – You just referred to teachers but never mentioned administration and how it draws away from the money for teachers.
  • Generally the growth of administrative positions has been faster than teaching positions
• Menendez – My concern is that if some districts are able to financially attract the best teachers, HB 4545 interventions will make it harder. Is there a profile of TIA you can provide us?
  • Absolutely

 

Monitoring: Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Education passed by the 87th Legislature, as well as relevant agencies and programs under the committee’s jurisdiction. Specifically, make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, or complete implementation of the following:

• House Bill 3 (86th Legislature), relating to public school finance and public education;
• House Bill 1525 (87th Legislature), Relating to the public school finance system and public education; and
• House Bill 4545 (87th Legislature), Relating to the assessment of public school students, the establishment of a strong foundations grant program, and providing accelerated instruction for students who fail to achieve satisfactory performance on certain assessment instruments.

 

Mike Morath, TEA Commissioner

• Changes with HB 1525:
  • Established Texas Commission on Special Education Funding
  • Funding autism/dyslexia grants
  • Tiered CTE funding
  • Established resources campuses
  • Allocated federal COVID funding
• Builds off HB 3 which:
  • Supports teachers and rewards teacher excellence
  • Focuses on learning and improving student outcomes
  • Increases funding and equity
• Additional Days School Year (ADSY) combats summer slide by providing up to 30 addition half days of funding
• HB 3 prioritized early reading instruction and provides $800 million per year to pay for early literacy support, including the cost to deliver Reading Academies
  • Year 3 adjustments will make reading academies more flexible, efficient, and effective
  • Reading academies must be fully embedded into master calendars
• HB 3 specifically defined what it means to be college, career, or military ready
• HB 4545 did 3 things:
  • Clarified definition of acceleration instruction
  • Removed all student level high stakes for testing
  • Established a Strong Foundations grant
• Evidence that high quality tutoring programs can significantly accelerate instruction
• HB 1525 established a large funding base for 4545 tutoring (approx. $3 billion dollars)
  • To date $74 million dollars has been spent
• TEA created optional supports to help school systems implement tutoring requirements
• There are no high stakes tests for students from STAAR testing grades 3-8
• Creighton – What do you plan to recommend to us?
  • Creating designated time during the day for independent study
• Paxton – How are you collecting the data around implementation?
  • We only have data collection on student outcomes; administrative is trickier so we do a smaller number of case studies
  • One of best practices is bringing district leaders together for discussions
• How frequently are those happening?
  • We had a conference 3 or 4 weeks ago to discuss 4545
• How often are school districts invited?
  • Due to the pandemic, I have a monthly call now with all superintendents in Texas
  • Sometimes we have to limit the number of participants and it also depends on interest
• Schwertner – Regarding the COVID chasm and students who have fallen behind in math in particular, what should we be expecting about trying to accelerate children and studies that were done in Peru where they never caught up?
  • It is going to take several years
  • We have seen the largest decline in student proficiency; we are better off than most states by keeping schools open during the pandemic
  • If we don’t recover, we will reduce every kid’s lifetime earnings by 6%
• West – Is there a systematic way to look at providers to see if they are the same ones?
  • We will do that; a majority of them went out of business
• What happens after these dollars go away?
  • There’s a particular piece called supplemental instruction for tutoring
  • When federal funds expire which is in a few years, districts are no longer required to have tutoring
  • I think this is a positive structural change whether we have federal dollars or not
• Paxton – If we talk about student outcomes, the research says that we must engage parents. What are you seeing with regard to what we’re going to make sure we help parents understand how critical it is?
  • It is the partnership between the family and the school that can make a difference
  • Policies and proven interventions should be further looked into
• Menendez – My concern is investing money in a build it yourself program.
  • We’ve created a best practices model and we recognize there’s a balance between state and local control
  • We look at the results (with the A-F system) to see who has proven results
• Powell – Is that $74 million satisfactory to you?
  • It is a little light
  • Districts have figured out how to do this more efficiently
• Hughes – A bill worked with non-profit teacher organizations like TRS to get involved with tutoring.
  • It is my understanding that in order to gain that benefit, the teacher has to be associated with the non-profit organization
  • Districts don’t think they get the benefit without that additional step
• Regarding the bill about human sexuality instruction, legislature has worked to have parental involvement. One of the provisions says parents must opt in. Can you speak on that?
  • If a parent is not opting in then the student cannot be penalized with a grade that’s bringing them down
  • That has not solved the problem in every district
• Anything else we can do?
  • One of the roles you have assigned me is serving as an appeal judge so that is possible to happen between now and next session

 

Bill Mackey, Texas Impact Network

• ADSY planning and execution program
• Rural TIA consortium
• Rural CCMR accelerator program
• 3 years since passage of TIA, school systems across the state continue to see value of implementing the program
• Texas CFO Strategy Network provides opportunity for finance leaders from across TX who are committed to maximizing the impact of their district’s resources

 

Dr. Sharla Horton-Williams, Commit Partnership Dallas Will overview HB 4545

• Seen a regression in academic outcomes; academic levels have regressed by a decade
• Lack historical success in recovering learning; need to reimagine teaching and learning
• Have partnered Dallas ISD, Garland ISD, and UPLIFT
• High impact tutoring has a higher effect than any other intervention tool; need continued investment
• Texas is one of 10 states that have enacted legislation for academic recovery
• Learned that it is a heavy operational lift, but districts value the intent and the benefit tutoring offers students
  • Tutoring during the school day is most effective; but it is difficult to meet hour requirement
• Barriers at local and state level for districts to implement this
• Is about changing the mind
• Need to maintain current ratios and provide flexibility for schedule
• Need to narrow scope to grades 3-9 and focus on reading and math

 

H.D. Chambers, Superintendent Alief ISD and Texas School Alliance

• Will discuss HB 4545
• Previous discussions about out of the $3.9b only spent $74m; in part due to the inability and lack of people to hire for these tutoring programs
• Are receiving STAAR data at this time; are seeing growth in our district but are still nowhere near current standards
• Need to be careful in comparing in Spring 2021 and Spring 2022 because of the flexibilities last year
• No one in the field disagrees with the impact of tutoring; had to re-teach staff on how to algin with what HB 4545 requires
• Building a master schedule and embedding tutorials in a school day is very difficult; also causes less emphasis on first-line instruction
• Requests the legislature provides flexibility on the 3:1 ratio
• Asks the legislature allow flexibility on the 30 hours required; some students need more and some need less
• Is not enough time between when we receive STAAR data and summer school programs
  • Need some flexibility in this area as well

 

Questions

• Menendez – Concerned CCMR funding favoring districts who are already doing well
  • Mackey – Is a threshold; is a differentiated formula for students who are coming from an economically disadvantaged background
• Menendez – Would be more difficult to get parents to comply with tutoring outside of normal school hours; asking about flexibility, but need to focus on effectiveness
  • Chambers – Is additional pressure on transportation department; aim to plan as much as possible during the school day
  • Chambers – Placing a significant burden on the education system due to the STAAR test
  • Chambers – Notes students who came over after Katrina did not necessarily “not make it” just because they did not meet a singular assessment
• Menendez – Should not be a sole measurement of success, but need a level of accountability
• Creighton – Is the first hearing, have more things under review; will further discuss CCMR, the programs in place, and re-thinking what is prioritized
• Creighton – Will lean on many experts to ensure we are working in collaboration with higher education

 

COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Educator Talent Pipeline: Examine the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the public school educator talent pipeline, staffing patterns and practices, and declining student enrollment and attendance. Review any policies and regulatory actions that prevent students from receiving instruction from a highly effective teacher. Monitor the impact of both the Teacher Incentive Allotment and non-administrator compensation increases directed under House Bill 3 (86th Legislature), as well as the teacher pay raises implemented in 2019. Explore innovative models to improve recruitment and make recommendations to maintain a strong educator workforce pipeline, while adapting resilient school strategies to meet emergent demands in public education.

 

Scott Muri, Superintendent at Ector County ISD

• 356 teacher vacancies in 2019, and no vacancy was filled the entire school year
• 50 teacher vacancies today, have created progress and positive change in this national crisis
• Approach had to be multifaceted
  • Compensation – $58,700 base starting teacher salary thanks to HB 3, minimum wage increased to $15/hour in district
  • Teacher incentive allotment district – awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars this year, “difference maker” in our system
  • Strategic staffing with opportunity culture – great teachers teach half the day and spend the other day coaching colleagues, make $17,000 more a year
  • Developed teacher pipelines – ECISD is one of 3 in state, have program where residents (seniors in college) are paid to student teach
  • Paraprofessional to teacher pipeline – partnership with UTPB
  • Pathway to counseling – partnership with Odessa College
• Recommendations
  • Continue to support flexibility in districts of innovation
  • Continue to support the board of national teaching standards
  • Continue to support the teacher incentive allotment
  • Consider funding for teacher residencies, need funding in perpetuity
  • Consider funding for innovative culture, one that supports local opportunities with higher education

 

Andrew Kim, Superintendent at Comal ISD

• Hired 327 teachers the past two years, about 70 are first year teachers
• Bus driver shortage is also dire
• American sign language, math, science – areas where district struggles to find teachers
• Large applicant pool in our schools – There needs to be an incentive for high school students wanting to become teachers
• Additional training and support needed for our teachers based on culture, culture needs to be about the advancement of education but also for teachers

 

Clifton Tanabe, UT El Paso

• Educator teacher pipeline – redesigned a yearlong teacher program where teachers are ready on day 1
  • Co teaching for full year along trained mentor
  • Intensive coaching and feedback by site coordinator
  • Shared governance between districts and UTEP’s Teacher Prep Program
  • Stipends for Residents funded by philanthropy and district
• Highest quality teacher preparation rounded out by field training is key to creating successful teachers
• Internship stipends for each resident is key to allowing everyone to participate

 

Questions:

• Menendez – What federal requirements are required for school bus drivers?
  • Kim – There are federal requirements, Comal ISD uses its own CDL system
  • Competing with other private businesses – Buccees, we are paying $16 an hour but still not enough
  • Housing also a huge concern – many staff in rural areas
  • Encourages Legislature to investigate transitioning veterans into profession
• Menendez – Do you have data to show your students dropped out of the profession at a slower rate?
  • Tanabe – Program is in its third year right now, tracking data extensively, should have better data around year five but looking very good right now
• Menendez – How much is the stipend for residents?
  • Tanabe – $11,000 – $12,000
• Creighton – What are some other winning aspects of UTEPS program?
  • Tanabe – If we build out pipelines from the high school, students are ready to teach independently by semester two of the program
  • Tanabe – 150 this year, hoping to get to 250-300
• Creighton – You have out 850,000 in one year?
  • Muri – Yes, over 100 teachers receiving money
• Creighton – School district must op in?
  • Muri – Correct
• Creighton – Why have some school districts not chosen to participate yet?
  • Muri – Technical support is a barrier for districts across the state, a lot of data was needed to be collected and preparation by the district
  • Some teachers are making six figures – incentive for teachers to get districts involved
• Creighton – Do you feel it hurts moral for some teachers to make more than others?
  • Muri – Certainly, there is a risk, district must ensure allotment culture is healthy; has witnessed teachers celebrating other teachers making more money
• Creighton – Can you speak on your district’s rapid growth?
  • Kim – Have utilized portable classrooms, bond package has allowed for opening of new campuses, have opened two new high schools, plans for two new elementary and one middle school
• Creighton – How do personal needs relate to that rapid growth?
  • Kim – Have been fortunate, applicant pool has been competitive, pay is still below DFW or Houston markets
  • Looking strategically down the road, considering TIA as an incentive moving forward
• Creighton – What does the school calendar look like for you, and how does it relate to this issue?
  • Kim – Teacher schedules are more of an issue than student pay
  • Recommends to Legislature to allow more flexibility on degree plans, allow for more electives and classes that students are interested in
• Creighton – What do we need to do to address conduct issues in the classroom to support teachers?
  • Kim – Classroom management is key to great instruction, need to refocus on systems and structures that currently exist, focus on enforcement issues; Increase number of spaces for DAEP
• Creighton – Is DAEP a learning environment or a hold environment?
  • Kim – It should be a learning, sometimes, perceptually, it looks like a holding environment, need to assure there is no learning loss
  • Muri – Growing mental health issues lead to discipline issues, from a teacher perspective, what additional support can schools provide, additional counselors, psychologist, social workers
• West – Do you see a lot of kids going to DAEP? Are they disproportionally minority children?
  • Muri – Yes, something we are addressing on the local level, has been an issue pre-pandemic
• West – If we have this persistent problem, and nothing is being done to mitigate it, what are we doing? When did you first notice the problem?
  • Muri – This has been a problem in my 35 years in education, many people have tackled this problem but
  • Kim – Less minority students in our district, from a perception standpoint, there is an overrepresentation
• West – What have you done to ensure improvement?
  • Kim – Want to make sure they are on path for graduation, on pace with other students at normal zoned school
  • Lack of communication from home campus teacher and DAEP teacher
• West – Is this a part of your strategic plan?
  • Kim – Not specifically
• Menendez – Have you found that students and teachers in your districts have had a difficult time finding mental health professionals?
  • Muri – Mass shooting in 2019 in his district, community came together to assess and add components to support healing; Not enough professionals and supports
  • Kim – Some strategic moves in counseling department to student support, moved some counselors who only did scheduling/school advising to mental health counseling

 

Bond Efficiency: Conduct a comprehensive review of the school district bond issuance process. Specifically, review public notice and disclosure requirements, the bond election process, procurement requirements, and how unused bond proceeds may be utilized. Study the best practices implemented by school boards and make recommendations to improve bond issuance efficiencies.

 

Rolinda Schmidt, President, Kerrville ISD School Board

• “No trustee ever wants their taxes raised” but also must properly provide for students and teachers and their safety
• Provides overview of the bond process in Texas public schools
• Legislature has enacted proposals that have made passing bonds more challenging, only 50% of bonds were passed in 2022
• No state agency required to collect bond election results
• 2019 legislation requiring “this is a property tax increase” even if there is no tax increase – challenging to schools for bond elections
• Advocating for clear ballot language, along with many other school board trustees
• There will always be a need for school facilities and maintenance, if Legislature will not increase funding to other programs, burden will fall on local communities

 

Devon Padavil, Superintendent of Taylor ISD

• Over 60% of workforce in first 7 years of their career
• Vacancy crisis right now due to lack of compensation, leaving administrative staff positions vacant so hourly staff, teachers, and nurses can become compensated more
• Austin area districts are in an “arms race” to recruit teachers
• District has many infrastructure issues, using maintenance budget to fix these issues, but that is taking money away from compensation
• Due to this, Taylor ISD is considering calling for a school bond
• Greatest harm is the uneducated voter, must make sure voters understand there is no property tax increase with a bond election in Taylor ISD

 

Terrell Palmer, Post Oak Municipal Advisors

• Many parties involved in bonds – Underwriters, bond counsel, Attorney General office, rating agencies
• Permanent school fund – guaranteeing timely principal and interest on all bonds that have made an application to that program
• Texas leads with the permanent school fund, not seen elsewhere around the country
• Phenomenal time to issue and refinance with interest rate

 

Kimberly Smith, CFO at Frisco ISD

• One of largest districts in the state, and fastest growing district in the country
• Student opportunity model – Build smaller high schools than surrounding districts so students have more opportunities, model is more expensive, more buildings required
• Community engagement and transparency is important when it comes to bonds, District has a standing committee (District Advisory Council) that meets quarterly to keep a pulse on community
• Process for a bond starts 18 months before an election is called
• Frisco ISD has passed every bond election called for
• Ensure the life of debt issued is not longer than the life of the asset
• Must have flexibility in programs, repurpose funds if needs change for the district

 

Questions

• West – What do you think is a better way of disclosing that doesn’t harm information received by the voters, but helps district to tell the whole story?
  • Schmidt – Give districts more flexibility, remove language of a tax increase from the ballot, a level of distrust is created with the voter
  • Padavil – Transparency is most important, voter should be informed what their tax rate is and what it will be after the bond
  • Palmer – Only language required is ballot language that state it will be a tax increase
• Birdwell – Concerned with the issue of tax rate and appraisals, property values are going up so technically isn’t there a tax increase?
  • Palmer – Even if you projected and told voters you would go down on your INS tax rate, there still must have ballot language saying there is a tax increase; INS tax rate increase is only in theory
• Birdwell – I think there is merit to what the panel has said, but it cannot simply be a statement saying there is no tax increase due to no increase of rate, property value needs to be taken into consideration
• Hall – There must be a way to communicate the confusion between rates, property value, and amount of tax paid
  • Padavil – This is part of Taylor ISD’s education materials for a bond election
  • Schmidt – Counties and municipalities keep all excess funds taken by increase of property taxes, school districts do not receive extra; Districts cannot depend on increase of property taxes
  • Smith – Communicated with voters that tax rate might be changed during the duration of the bond if property values did not grow as predicted
• Creighton – You can’t label a tax increase as just an MNO increase, correct?
  • Palmer – Bond elections are only concerning INS tax rate; MNO has been dropping and hard to predict what the MNO tax rate will be
• Creighton – Even if the MNO is being lowered, and INS is increasing, that would be communicated, correct?
  • Palmer – Yes, would be communicated
• Creighton – When was the last bond Kerrville attempted a bond election?
  • Schmidt – 2018, 6% INS tax rate, overall tax rate went down 6% (MNO and INS side)
• Creighton – You see the compression efforts as a good thing?
  • Schmidt – Yes
• Creighton – Would school board and superintendent assist in this?
  • Schmidt – Board, superintendent, and assistant superintendent would all assist
• Creighton – Important for local elective officials to put their name on these bonds and get out there to promote these bond elections
• Creighton – Can you talk about those legislative requirements that have caused bond elections to lessen in success ratios?
  • Schmidt – Tax increase language, uniform election dates in May and November (timing is an issue due to proximity to tax bills being paid)
  • Palmer – Requirement to break out technology, sports stadiums, and other facilities from bond packages
• Birdwell – SB 30 (86R) allowed for bond election packages to be broken apart, greater flexibility for communities, against take it or leave it bond packages
• Menendez – Do you consider the state is treating you like liars? You are lowering your tax rate, but still required to tell voters there is a tax increase on the ballot
  • Smith – New property value has allowed us to maintain our tax rate from our 2018 bond, way longer than expected
• Menendez – People 65 and over have their rates frozen, correct?
  • Smith – Yes
• Creighton – How did the state frame the school district as dishonest?
• Menendez – With the tax increase label on the ballot, the language on the ballot is transparent, but it must be honest
• Hall – We are trying to tell half a story, with two versions of the story; we must be honest and transparent
• Birdwell – Perhaps to be as transparent as possible, bond elections should be in November, after appraisals and property tax season, is it better to say it is a tax levy?
• Creighton – It would be onerous for districts to only have one day to choose from

 

Homestead Exemption: Study the use and effect of the optional homestead exemption available to independent school districts. Examine and report on costs to the state if school districts receive incentives to increase the optional percentage exemption.

 

Dale Craymer, President of Texas Taxpayer and Research Association

• Provides background on the optional homestead exemption, authorized in 1981 and other exemptions in Texas
• Estimate the value of single property homestead exemptions in Texas is $1.6 trillion, but not what the state will have to pay with subsidies
• Homestead exemptions today are more generous than exemptions on other types of property
• School finance is extremely important but advocates for the Committee to give some thought to taxpayer equity, since exemptions vary on different types of property

 

Leo Lopez, Chief School Finance Officer at TEA

• Provides background on how the public school system is financed in the state of Texas
• All homestead properties receive the exemption, regardless of school district
• School districts budgets are not impacted when exemptions are increased, Comptroller is main driver of state aid
• 196 school districts offer LOHEs
• Entitlement prevails over recapture – protects recapture districts from having net revenue decreased

 

David Young, Superintendent at Abilene ISD

• HB 3 caused a decrease in tax rate; compression is paid for by the state
• AISD offers a 5% local homestead exemption, local exemption is at expense of district, AISD is not a recapture district
• Taxpayers benefit – compression of MNO rate
• Recommendations:
  • Require statutory change on how Tier 1 is calculated, net effect would be 1.7 million in AISD

Andrew Kim, Superintendent at Comal ISD

• 30% growth in values from 2021 to 2022
• Homeowners have 20% local homestead exemption, approximately 800 in savings per homeowner
• Providing additional tax relief to homeowners has not yielded any negative effects on students
• Recommends school districts offering local exemptions and having fast growth be given more exemptions
• Recommends school districts offering local exemptions and having fast growth continue to receive full funding requirements regardless of recapture

 

Public Testimony:

 

Kimberly Smith, CFO at Frisco ISD

• Testifying on HB 1525 (87R) – fast growth allotment
• Changes in allotment allow for more realistic funding model
• Statewide cap was exceeded the first-year law went in effect; amount each district receives is significantly prorated
• Fast growth districts receive much less revenue intended by Legislature

 

Rebecca Ozuna, Grant Specialist at Austin ISD

• Claims HB 3 is not doing what it was set out to do, does not have funding to support it
• Little has been achieved with the bill, demands on educators has increased everywhere
• Inflation and supply chain disruptions are especially hard on educators
• AISD recapture rate has gone up significantly
• Advocates for funding for HB 3

 

Mitch Elatkin, KIPP Texas

• Open enrollment public charter school
• Students in special education have been hurt by pandemic, 25% vacancy rate of special education teachers this entire school year
• Everyone is out compensating each other
• Individuals with Disability Act allows for a 60-day windows for evaluation, recommends Texas also does
• Consider special education funding and variance provided by student’s individual needs

 

Lori Kuykendall

• Testifying on HB 1525, section 7 regarding sexual education
• Major changes on sex education, increased parent and community involvement, all sex education became op-in
• Schools have been overwhelmed with these changes, guidance from TEA has been limited

 

Kelly Emadi, Lockhart ISD

• Testifying on HB 3 and the Texas Reading Academies
• Recommends reducing cost or providing additional funding for face-to-face training
• Recommends extending deadline past 2023
• Recommends extending this training to pre-service training, not post training certification

 

Chandra Villanueva, Every Texan

• Holes left behind in HB 3
• Basic allotment is the same as 2019, stagnant for 4 years by 2023
• Required schools to provide full day PreK programs, but only funding it as a half day program
• Leaving behind nearly 80% of ELL students in the bill
• 68k non-eco dis vs 41k economic disadvantage students actually drawing down funding for CCMR bonus
• Tax cuts above kids, tax rate compression will be costly and ongoing and request instead to fund classrooms

 

Angie Jackson, 1^st grade teacher

• Was expected to provide accelerated learning instruction to 4^th and 5^th graders, without funds or staff
• Must maintain 3:1 ratio

 

Sarah Baray, PreK4SA

• Challenges to implement HB 3
• Access to full day pre-k is at an all-time high
• Recommends pre-k partnerships – providing more guidance and greater funding for districts used for pre-k
• Need to investigate compensation for teachers, move forward and build on HB 3

 

Christina Etree, Richardson ISD

• Advocating for establishing standards for mentor programs across the state
• Lack of effective mentoring is a main reason for teachers leaving the classroom

 

Raymond Falcone, Teacher

• Advocating for more support for gun violence in schools, including increasing number of SROs

 

Stacey Ward, ATPE

• Advocating for more soft skill communication skills for students, due to learning loss from COVID-19

 

Steven Aleman, Disability Rights Texas

• Advocating for addressing teacher shortage and educator pipeline issues

 

Lonnie Hollingsworth, Texas Classroom Teachers Association

• Advocating for addressing the teacher turnover rate, improving on the progress on salary addressed in HB 3

 

Mellissa Beckett, Parent from Longview

• Keep opt in for sex ed and remove expiration date
• HB 4545 and educator talent pipeline – need to go back to true basics
  • Get history our of math and when we put 10 subjects in math then we are not developing students
  • Losing a generation of students due to math reform
• Personal example of student in accelerated tutoring, need to go back to basics and teach students math and reading so then the mental health problems will fall away because they can learn
• Educate my child in the basics, stop stepping out of the education lane
• There should be laws in place where if parents are not welcome there should be consequences

 

Jennifer Fleck, Parent

• Advocating for keeping the opt-in requirement for sex education
• Irreversible harms with government overreach
• Advocating against mandatory masking and virtual learning due to COVID-19
• Going into summer with vacancies and not about to meet requirements of HB 4545, teachers are overburdened by weight of whole child and equity
• Schools should return to basic diffusion of knowledge
• “Get out of mental health business and indoctrination business, we don’t need underserved mentally harmed social justice warriors, need a critically thinking educated citizenry”
• Take back public education, urge them to listen to parents
• Parents don’t have ill motives like money grab or Marxism

 

James Quintero, Texas Public Policy Foundation

• Thanks legislature for improving trust and transparency in the bond process
• Some districts are actively misleading voters
  • Northside ISD example
  • Tyler ISD makes statement there is a $0 amount which makes the assumption there is not a tax impact with the bond

 

Wes Cunningham, CFO Frisco ISD

• HB 4545 has some significant burdensome requirements, providing remediation and acceleration is already at the core of what they do
• The bill over complicates the situation
• Teachers should be allowed to determine what student needs remediation and how to deliver
• The bill needs more flexibility
• Subsequent TEA updates are not clear if parents can opt-out
• Request more clarifications and flexibility

 

Erin McCloud, CEO Intervene K-12

• Tutor provider
• Have seen significant student growth with tutoring
• They now employ thousands of tutors and getting ready to launch initiative to turn tutors into teachers going in the classroom
• Would like a seat at the table as discussions continue on HB 4545 since they are providers

 

Patty Quinzi, American Federation of Teachers

• Pandemic did not cause the workforce issue, it exacerbated it
• Look at classroom size waivers for example
• Handed out report “Lost Decade”, teachers salaries now lower than previously when adjusted for inflation
• Salaries have dropped 4% statewide, HISD saw a 13% decrease, etc
• Points out unfunded mandate in reading academy stipend not guaranteed
• Increase basic allotment and tie it to inflation
• Points out program about teacher aids getting training and going back into classroom but it is not funded
• Charter school bonds don’t have to publish notices like ISD or break out individual projects
• Efficiency audit and metrics required for public schools should apply to charter schools as well

 

Richard McKensy, Parent in Eanes ISD

• DEI curriculum pursuit, divisive philosophy is in every aspect of curriculum
• Kids are becoming technology dependent
• SEL is really DEI in disguise
• Tech has interactive programs that manipulates students to answer a certain way
• Values teaching to children may be antithetical to what they are learning at home

 

Ron Jones, Intervene K-12

• In his district offers intensive tutoring to do academic heavy lifting
• Also does work with Friends of Texas Public Schools
• Thanks legislature for work

 

Laura Atlas Kravitz, Texas State Teachers Association

• Workplace shortage goes beyond pandemic
• Educators need collective respect, they are professionals and must be paid accordingly
• Texas teachers still over $7k less than national average
• Teachers need to work 2^nd job to make ends meet
• HB 3 merit pay in TIA is not working, flawed system based on unreliable STAAR and only rewards a few
• State needs to implement pay raise across the board and pay based on experience
• Texas should fund student and provide hold harmless
• State should take holistic approach to learning loss unlike HB 4545 which is driving instructors away
• HB 4545 only further emphasis stakes on one day test
• Menendez asked for list of those teachers paying for their time, she will follow up

 

Kyle Lynch, Superintendent of Seminole ISD

• HB 3 guaranteed a gain almost for all district but inflation is eating up funds and address pay
• Formula transition grant expires in 2024, those districts heading for a fiscal cliff
• Districts need to pay more to fuel busses, meet needs and school don’t receive revenue from increase property value
• Increase property value only results in increase amount of recapture
• Recapture is growing, this year it will be over $3 billion in recapture
  • This can be addressed in Basic Allotment, need to adjust BA to inflation
  • Every time BA is increased by $100 it would mean $100 million reduced in recapture statewide

 

Chloe Latham Sikes, Policy at IDRA

• Provided a brief to members covering bilingual education funding and impact of COVID on student attendance
• Most comments will focus on HB 3
• Dual language programs are evidence based and help accomplish workforce and postsecondary goals

 

George Knowke, Self

• Written testimony provided
• District near him passed a bond to spend mostly on a gym, upgrade to football field and cafeteria which worsens the run-off aiming at his land
• Providing them a list of recommendations such as a taxpayer bill of rights that require bond and construction requirements online