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On March 6 the Texas Tribune held a conversation with the Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Mike Morath. The moderator was Evan Smith.

This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight of the discussions on the various topics the committee took up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the hearing, 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.

 

Evan Smith and Commissioner Morath

  • Smith – Coronavirus; 290 million students around the world have been kept home from school; many schools have closed or taken disinfection measures in the US and Texas (like San Antonio and Fort Worth)
  • Smith – What is TEA doing about this?
    • Communicating with districts on what they can do concerning preparation
    • Communicating with parents on continual access to curriculum and instruction at home
    • Communicating steps that would occur if schools were to close
  • Smith – Coordinating with other state agencies?
    • Yes, Governor taking leadership role
    • TEA meeting internally daily; meeting/sharing information with TDEM and DSHS
      • Information is disseminated with practitioners around the state
  • Smith – Federal coordination? CDC’s education guidelines for schools include a need to create an emergency plan
    • Communicate that to districts; our interdisciplinary group gets briefings from the CDC
  • Smith – Free and reduced lunch/childcare issues; are we prepared for any eventuality concerning the economics of this?
    • Have received over 100 questions from school districts about these things in addition to concerns about the 10% attendance requirement
    • Analyzing past protocol with current CDC recommendations/guidelines
      • Have sent out 2 communications, will likely send out two more
  • Smith – Is TEA willing to give districts flexibility like relaxing accountability during last hurricane?
    • Yes, will provide low attendance waivers
  • Smith – Concerns about Coronavirus and spring break; will you that you keep your kids home from school?
    • Kids go to school like normal; unlikely they will get the virus – not widespread as of yet
    • Working how to communicate to parents that they do not need to overreact
  • Smith – What is the status with the TEA takeover in HISD?
    • HISD had a series of campuses that never reached acceptable standards of performance; 50 DNF campuses; Wheatly High School and Cashmere High School were performing severely low
    • Invention occurs when there is chronic neglect, cases of fraud or corruption
    • Received complaints about HISD board wrongdoings in terms of oversight/corruption
    • State intervention raised their ratings
  • Smith – Ask about board wrongdoings in HISD
    • It is a criminal investigation, have to wait for the investigation to play out
  • Smith – HB 1842 states intervention happens after two consecutive school years of unsuccessful performance ratings; why is the state rather than local put in charge of fixing the issue?
    • Values local control, but also values an educated citizen
    • Local control is outranked when it does not supply a proper education to students
    • Local control could additionally limit the education certain populations
      • Based upon race or if they speak English
    • The legislature has decided TEA will step in when there is a chronic problem
  • Smith – Is the trigger for state intervention enough?
    • Triggers: stealing, cheating and within a 5-year window are you teaching children how to read, write and do math?
  • Smith – The 5-year window is what I want to focus on; are you happy with that?
    • If chronic underperformance happens for 5 years, then 5 sets of children from each grade have not had the kind of academic experience they need
    • Education is what equips us to participate in our democracy
    • Need to step in in order to ensure this
  • Smith – El Paso (cheating) and Beaumont (fraud) currently in the midst of state intervention
  • Smith – Issues come from taking over local control and inability to hold TEA appointed local leaders accountable; the latter is being dealt with?
    • Local officials are still in charge of these school systems
    • Local members are appointed into positions by TEA
  • Smith – Superintendents are not hired locally anyway?
    • They are possibly hired from anywhere
    • State is under temporary control, not long-term
  • Smith – Currently a process where local control is given back; 3 board members at a time over a period of years – Beaumont just got total local control back
  • Smith – Current lawsuit against TEA asserts you are targeting non-white school districts
    • False assertion: Shepard and Schneider were announced at the same time as HISD
  • Smith – After federal and state responses; There is a trial set for June?
    • In an injunction, not currently intervening in Houston
  • Smith – Was HB 3 historic?
    • HB 3 allows school districts to extend their school year; last time discussion was held about the school year calendar was approximately 130 years ago
  • Smith – How many schools are actually going to do that?
    • I do not know
  • Smith – State tourism industry is going to lobby hard on the thought of extending school year
    • The bill passed and had bipartisan support
  • Smith – Why is HB 3 for good?
    • Funding increases per pupil and $3.5 billion per year immediate infusion of resources
  • Smith – All the sudden the legislature wants more money for public education
    • We use money to pay people to educate kids
    • Mentions HB 3’s Teacher Incentive Allotment; districts get more funding for taking high performing teachers and putting them in struggling schools
  • Smith – You said Texas has the most equitable public education system in the country; how?
    • A commitment to equity
    • Legislation is systemic; no other states are doing this
    • Allocated resources for students have been increased
    • Created a spectrum analysis in order to calculate the amount of resources school districts get, dependent upon the needs of the students
    • System of school finance ensures every child in Texas is supported
  • Smith – Why did this not happen sooner?
    • Have been on this path for years
    • Reform
  • Smith – Do you believe new legislation is not necessary next session?
    • Need to constantly engage in reflection
    • Gotten feedback from field, need to make sure time is taken to absorb changes
      • Will be training 55,000 teachers in Texas on science-based literacy practices
  • Smith – I hear the anxiety concerning re-upping HB 3 funding
    • This is the way the democracy works; every two years we re-up on everything
  • Smith – Reality is that the legislature will not want to/have capacity to re-up HB 3
    • Public education is always number one priority in the legislature
    • We modeled it out for 10 years when planning the bill; no near-term concerns
    • Have seen a decline in student enrollment per year; budgetary pressure to fund enrollment is much lower for the foreseeable future
    • No reason to believe it cannot be sustained
  • Smith – How do you quantify if HB 3 succeeded?
    • Publish an annual report to look at graduation rates, entry into postsecondary education, 3rd grade literacy rates, and 2nd grade writing rates
    • Should see the effects of the reading academies when compared with national numbers
    • Should be effects on teacher retention and recruitment
      • Based upon new teacher payment
    • Should be effects from the CCMR bonuses per district
    • Need patience; not sure if next cycle that we will see results
  • Smith – Margret Spellings has written about poor math and reading scores; what do you say about that?
    • Using NAEP data; those numbers are accurate for the previous system; looks at systemic structures
    • Saw plateauing in education performance from mid-2000 to early teens
  • Smith – Are you satisfied on how we compete with other states?
    • Issue from that data needs to be dissected; results effected by the large number of students in Texas are learning English
  • Smith – Is the onus on higher education to prepare future teachers?
    • Yes
    • Large numbers of middle schoolers need structural support; discusses dyslexia
  • Smith – More important now for public education and higher education to work together
    • Yes, Governor Abbot created the Tri-Agency Workforce Commission; have worked on alignment of systems
    • Harrison at the helm has continued with that; had project management talks to make siloed organizations more integrated

 

Audience Questions for Morath

  • Q: Is concerned about the opening of a charter school in their district that will be coemption for the public schools in the area; mentions Morath has sole authority over expansion amendments
    • Concerned about students having access to highest academic rigor; need more of those schools that produce high achievement outcomes (whether ISD or a charter)
    • In favor of ensuring families have access to options
  • Smith – Is it true you have sole authority over high performing charter expansion? Have heard they do not need the commissioner’s authority
    • Does not have sole authority over “much of anything”
    • Expansion amendments are a function of agency operations
  • Smith – (roleplaying as Superintendent HD Chambers) Why isn’t Texas taking money from high performing charters and giving it to public schools?
    • HB 3 increased funding for everyone
    • Money follows kids in Texas public schools; parents decide where to put (archive footage cuts here; the rest of the report was taken while the event was live) their kids
    • Not every school is equipped for every kid
    • Aim for all schools to grow in their performance; management and leadership matter
  • Q: Half of new teachers do not come through the higher education pipeline; laws currently in place that allow districts to not hire certified teachers; what do you say about that?
    • Only about 30% of teachers come from higher education in Texas
      • Others are certified or coming from out of state
    • Need to focus on how teachers are prepared
    • Cannot have a system that hires teachers that are not qualified
  • Smith – How many teachers are not certified?
    • Do not have numbers right now; probably less than double digit
    • Wants extraordinarily robust training for teachers
    • Teacher’s first year of teaching often is not sufficient for that class
    • Provides a personal anecdote about his first year of teaching
      • Those kids should get their money back