At the second of two September meetings, the State Board of Education (SBOE) on Friday, September 11, considered the eight applications for new state charter schools recommended by Commissioner Mike Morath. The SBOE voted to veto three charters, including Clear Public Charter School (proposed service area included Hays, Guadalupe, and Caldwell Counties), Rocketship Public Schools (proposed service area included Tarrant County), and Heritage Classical Academy (proposed service area included Harris County and areas within the Spring, Cypress-Fairbanks, Aldine, and Houston ISDs).
The SBOE voted to take no action on the other five applications, Brillante Academy (proposed service area includes Hidalgo County, specifically targeting students in McAllen ISD), Doral Academy of Texas (proposed service area includes Bexar County, specifically targeting students in the South San Antonio and Harlandale ISDs), Learn4Life-Austin (proposed service area includes Travis and Williamson Counties, specifically targeting students in Austin and Pflugerville ISDs), Prelude Preparatory Charter School (proposed service area includes Bexar County, targeting students in all Bexar County ISDs), and Royal Public Schools (proposed service area includes Travis and Hays Counties, specifically targeting students in Austin, Hays, and Del Valle ISDs as well as students from other ISDs in south central Texas), effectively approving the applications and clearing the path for those five charter schools to open campuses as early as fall 2021.
Working with a packed agenda, the SBOE gave preliminary approval to a state sex education policy, proposing new language in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Health Education as well as for the TEKS for four high school science courses. The SBOE will act on second reading and final adoption of these health and science TEKS in November.
On the school finance front, the SBOE established a rate of return for the Permanent School Fund (PSF). The final decision will occur at the November meeting. This action is part of the every-other-year preparation for the appropriations process for the 2021-23 biennium. The rate of return will set the amount of money that the SBOE will send to the Legislature for the Available School Fund (ASF) and the Instructional Materials & Technology Fund, commonly identified as the IMF. In a separate action, the SBOE approved a proposal that will provide for an additional distribution from the PSF to help address the unique financial circumstances the State of Texas faces because of the reduced revenue over the past seven months.
The November meeting will take place on Nov. 17-20. That meeting will be the final meeting for former SBOE chairs Donna Bahorich (R-Houston; District 6) and Barbara Cargill (R-The Woodlands; District 8), current SBOE vice Chair Marty Rowley (R-Amarillo; District 15), and veteran member Ken Mercer (R-San Antonio; District 5). Mercer is a distinguished former member of the Texas House of Representatives. All four opted to retire when this current term expires in January 2021. Three other members of the SBOE face general election opponents in November. Those members are Gina Perez (D-El Paso; District 1), Dr. Keven Ellis (R-Lufkin, District 9), Tom Maynard (R-Florence; District 10), and Sue Melton-Malone (R-Robinson; District 14).