The Texas Education Agency (TEA) Strategic Plan for the Fiscal Years 2011-2015 has been published online. The strategic plan outlines five priority areas that will direct the agency’s focus over the next five years: quality early childhood education; educator effectiveness and equity; student achievement; school support; and data quality. These priorities will guide a comprehensive approach to providing the student population of Texas with the tools they need to meet the high academic standards and to succeed both in school and in life beyond school.
Highlights of the plan include:
- In March of 2010, a minor restructuring of the agency occurred after the appointment of Ann Smisko, Associate Commissioner of School Improvement and Support. The rationale for creating this position was to provide a clearly defined area of responsibility in the agency to assist LEAs and individual campuses in reaching their highest performance potential. Two existing functions were relocated (Individuals with Disabilities in Education [IDEA] Coordination and NCLB Program Coordination), and two new functions were created (School Engagement and Improvement and Statewide Center for Innovation and School Success) to complete Dr. Smisko’s new responsibilities. There were some other minor movements of agency functions (Driver Training, GED, etc.) that were relocated to improve supervision and performance.
- TEA is responsible for the 2010–2011 biennial expenditure of over $36.7 billion in state general revenue (GR) funds, including the Property Tax Relief Fund. This represents a decrease of $3.3 billion compared to the 2008–2009 fiscal biennium. The decrease in GR funding is offset by the State Fiscal Stabilization Funds – Education Grant federal funding that the agency received as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
- One major factor drives increases in funding to public education: demographic growth of the student population. Texas public-school enrollment could increase by approximately 80,000 students in each of fiscal years 2012 and 2013, for a total of 160,000 additional students over a two-year period.
- However, as part of a statewide GR reduction for the 2010–2011 biennium, TEA submitted a plan to reduce its administrative budget by $5.5 million and its program budget by $120.8 million, for a total biennial reduction of approximately $126.3 million in GR funding.
- The agency requested two waivers during fiscal year 2010. TEA requested to exceed the capital budget threshold requirement for the SBEC Rewrite Phase 2 project. Completion of this project will bring this Web-based application into alignment with current agency architecture standards and technologies and address security concerns. Additionally, TEA requested to exceed the limitation on expenditures for reimbursement of three advisory committees.
- The major components of financing for the $26.3 billion budget administered by TEA during fiscal year 2010 include $16.2 billion from FSP; $4.3 billion in ARRA funding; $2.2 billion from NCLB Titles I–III and V–VI; $1.4 billion from Nutrition; $982.8 million from Special Education; $1.1 billion from state and GR; and $145.6 million from Administrative, funded by multiple state and federal sources.
- Federal changes sometimes create inconsistencies and incongruities with current state statute, which can cause confusion and duplication of work for LEAs. To avoid this, the legislature could consider giving the commissioner waiver authority to temporarily suspend only those sections of state statute that conflict or interfere with amended or new federal requirements until the legislature convenes.
To view the complete plan, please visit: http://www.tea.state.tx.us./WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=2147485141&libID=2147485140