Weekly Summary
March 8th is the last day to file a bill without suspending the rules. On Thursday, 752 bills and resolutions were filed and we expect at least that many to be filed on Friday!
SB 758, by Senator Williams (R-The Woodlands), was approved by the Senate on Tuesday and pays a $1.75 billion tab for public education. Last session, legislators postponed a major education payment from the Permanent School Fund into this biennium’s budget. Senator Kirk Watson (D-Austin) praised legislators for patching the education budget but reminded constituents that it doesn’t change funding to Texas public schools: “Today’s vote is a recognition that a wise investment can make a real difference for Texas children. But in case anyone’s forgotten, the legislature slashed $5.4 billion from Texas schools two years ago, and today’s bills don’t come close to undoing that damage. We should start working immediately to find a permanent solution to the state’s school finance crisis.”
School choice and voucher bills are in the spotlight this week. Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) filed the Texas Equal Opportunity Scholarship Program, SB 1410. Sen. Paxton’s (R-Plano) SB 1015 lets corporations receive a tax credit by donating to a non-profit which would provide scholarships to educationally disadvantaged students and those who attend a low performing school. SB 115, by Sen. Williams (R-The Woodlands) applies to students in special education programs. Parents can use a voucher tied to district funding to send their kids to another public school or to a nongovernmental community-based establishment that provides for the education needs of students with disabilities.
Representative Jason Isaac (R-Dripping Springs) and Texas Families First announced the filing of HB 300, the Independent School District Act.
Representative Isaac said, “My bill proposes an alternative education code that provides the support families need to embrace the best public school for their children. The bill proposes a system that school districts can choose to join, gives districts that opt into the new system greater freedom to set goals, curriculum, testing, schedule, calendar, and staffing policies of their schools. It allows families to apply to any public school that has opted into the new system, and provides families with free, licensed education advisors to help them choose the best school for their children. And if the school fails to perform, families would be empowered to apply to another public school, or bring in a replacement operator to manage the school. This voluntary system replaces burdensome state mandates with local control. It’s time to think outside the box for the sake of the future of our state, and passing this bill would be a huge step in the right direction.”
Some Texas business leaders are raising concerns that legislation currently being considered would cause high school graduation requirements in Texas to drop dramatically. They believe that could mean a substantial decrease in the number of students who are graduating career or college ready. Bill Hammond, President and CEO of Texas Association of Business said, “The only end-of-course exams in these bills are for high school freshmen level courses. There will be little to no incentive for students to take harder courses if we eliminate the current high school graduation requirements. When the last math course you’re testing is Algebra I, and you are eliminating the need to take any course beyond geometry, you are discouraging students from succeeding in their future studies. While not all students will need a bachelor’s degree, more than 20% will, yet, according to a 2006 study, fewer than 20% of students, who stopped high school math at geometry, earned a bachelor’s degree.”
TEA Commissioner Michael Williams submitted a federal waiver for No Child Left Behind requirements this week. As legislators find ways to improve the accountability system without over-testing students, criticism stacks up from states that have A-F accountability grading systems. Maine, Indiana, Virginia, New Mexico, and now Oklahoma are ditching A-F grading for schools that rely on high-stakes testing because while “achievement data are obviously important for assessing schools, an accountability grade based almost exclusively on test scores does not account for numerous critical factors that contribute to school performance.”
News of the Week
An Examination of the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s A-F Report Card
Using the A–F grading system has fallen short of providing a clear and credible picture of individual school performance. The effort to report school quality using the familiar letter grade, while laudable, has fallen short of its goal.
-Read full report-
Sex-ed plan would keep groups like Planned Parenthood out of schools
A Texas Senate education panel heard details Tuesday on a proposal to prohibit organizations linked to abortion providers from teaching sex education in public schools statewide — even though critics say there are very few cases where that’s actually occurring.
-Read full article-
Senate approves more funds for Medicaid, schools
House Bill 10, which now heads back to the House for consideration of Senate changes, provides supplemental funding this budget year of more than $4.5 million for Medicaid and children’s health care, and more than $1.7 billion for public schools. It reverses two gimmicks the Legislature used two years ago to balance the budget, and its approval was expected.
Senate panel considers voucher plan for students with disabilities
Texas would join a handful of states that allow students with disabilities to attend private schools at state expense under legislation that was considered by a Senate committee on Tuesday.
Kent Grusendorf: Choice is the Way to Save Our Schools
Every Texan has the freedom to buy the car they want and shop at the supermarket they wish, yet only the rich have choice regarding the education of their children. Why in a free society do we deny parents the right to school choice? This just does not seem to be fair, nor is it equitable.
School Vouchers a Bad Idea
We must begin by acknowledging that vouchers do nothing to improve public education. They do just the opposite. Vouchers drain badly needed money from already underfunded public schools, public schools that today educate almost ninety percent of all American children K-12.
-Read full editorial-
The Lone Star State Left Out To Dry
The economic impact of the sequester on Texas will be enormous. Texas receives 8 percent of its state revenue through federal grants, well above the national average of 6.6 percent. One study showed that Texas is among the top three states that will lose out most as a result of the sequester, both in terms of jobs and GDP. The cuts could cost Texas $16 billion in gross state product and as many as 159,000 jobs.
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Testing the Limits: A Texas Mother’s Radical Revolt Against Standardized Tests
If politicians and school officials want data on student performance, they need students to provide it. If enough students quit cooperating, politicians will have to find another way to measure school performance—without tests.
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TEA submits NCLB waiver request
On Feb. 28, Williams submitted Texas’ request for a waiver from a variety of ESEA provisions in order to give TEA and more than 1,200 school districts and charters additional flexibility while reducing duplication between state and federal accountability systems.
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Perry endorses efforts to reevaluate STAAR exams
Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday added his voice to a chorus of bipartisan state lawmakers, parents, teachers and educational professionals who say it’s time for Texas to take a hard look at the standardized tests it requires students to pass in order to graduate from high school.
Former education commissioners: Kids take too many tests
Four of the state’s past education commissioners, now free from political backlash, agreed Monday that Texas needs less high-stakes testing in its public schools — a common theme among parents, educators and some lawmakers.
Senator Files Tax Credit Scholarship Bill
Controversial legislation that would provide scholarships for students to attend private schools through a business tax credit has finally found a home.
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Dan Patrick’s Latest Civil Rights Cause: “Catholics and Christians”
Over the weekend, the AP‘s Will Weissert took a long look at state Sen. Dan Patrick’s new missionary zeal for school choice, which the Houston Republican has been calling “the civil rights issue of our time.”
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Texas Senate Expends $1.75 Billion to Change a Payment Date to School Districts, While Restoring Zero Dollars for Public Schools
The Texas Senate on Tuesday accomplished a rare feat. It managed to pass a supplemental spending bill, HB 10, bearing $1.75 billion for school districts, without using a single dime of it to restore school funding that was severely cut in 2011.
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Schools shift from textbooks to tablets
Welcome to the new digital bookcase, where traditional ink-and-paper textbooks have given way to iPads and book bags are getting lighter
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Two School Voucher Bills Emerge, While Lucio Denies Support
Paxton’s SB 1015 would let companies steer up to 75% of what they owe in state taxes to a nonprofit that, in turn, awards private school scholarships for low-income students. Williams’ SB 115 would provide a voucher for parents of children in special education programs, with its value tied to the special education funding the school district would receive from the state.
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Goliad to offer education program for adults
Residents of Goliad County can apply to and join the program, Successfully Provide Adults Resources and Knowledge (SPARK) for free and complete their high school diploma.
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