During its May 10, 2023, meeting, the Senate Education Committee moved one step closer to passage of a bill intended to alleviate the burdens of accelerated instruction requirements imposed by House Bill (HB) 4545 from 2021. 

ATPE has supported HB 1416 by Rep. Keith Bell (R–Forney) and its companion, Senate Bill (SB) 1261 by Sen. Angela Paxton (R–McKinney). In Wednesday’s hearing, Paxton substituted language from SB 1261 into HB 1416 as it was passed out of the House in April. 

The latest language removes the requirement for school districts to maintain a district-wide average of 30 hours of supplemental instruction and clarifies that “computerized” methods for providing supplemental instruction are options for the waiver for utilizing automated or augmented methods, among other changes. 

The committee heard a handful of other House bills on which ATPE took a position:  

• ATPE supported HB 1225 by Rep. Will Metcalf (R–Conroe), which would allow school districts to administer the STAAR on paper to any student whose parent requests it. 
• ATPE supported HB 2892 by Rep. Brad Buckley (R–Salado), which would require school boards to approve transfers for children of military service members. 
• ATPE supported HB 1959 by Rep. Candy Noble (R–Lucas), which would require a district to accept a transfer for a child of a peace officer.  
• ATPE opposed HB 1707 by Rep. Stephanie Klick (R–North Richland Hills), which would require municipalities to treat charters the same as school districts for the purposes of zoning and other regulations. ATPE has pointed out that while part of the public school system, charters are privately run and not subject to the same accountability and transparency requirements. 

You can read Wednesday’s full agenda here. The committee is scheduled to meet again Thursday.