The Texas House ultimately passed House Bill (HB) 8 by Chairman Brad Buckley (R–Salado) Tuesday on third reading on a 82-56 vote. The Senate was also expected to take up its companion bill, Senate Bill (SB) 9, Tuesday, but now that the House has passed HB 8, it is likely the upper chamber will consider HB 8 instead.

HB 8 and SB 9 purport to “eliminate the STAAR test.” But based on the bill’s language and educators' reaction to that language, the reality of the bill seems considerably more complex.

HB 8 provides new transparency in the accountability system by requiring significantly more advance notice to districts and the public of Texas Education Agency (TEA)-driven changes to significant portions of the system. Additionally, the bill provides a means to measure through-year (instead of cross-year) student growth while prohibiting most district benchmarking. However, the bill would also triple or more the number of high-stakes exams tied to the state’s punitive accountability system. It would also block parents, educators, and locally elected officials from challenging TEA decisions in court, even when the agency exceeds its legal authority. The bill further consolidates power in the commissioner’s office without fixing persistent problems in test scoring or ratings. And though HB 8’s new beginning- and middle-of-year tests are pitched as diagnostic, tying them to accountability dramatically impacts their value as a diagnostic tool.

Five amendments were adopted during the more than two-hour debate on the bill. The first and longest amendment, brought by Buckley himself, made more than a dozen changes to the bill and was the result of negotiations with other legislators, ATPE, and other stakeholder groups. Some of the issues the amendment touched on included the handling of rescoring a test, shoring up the prohibition on benchmarking, and increasing the specificity of the commissioner’s report required at the beginning of the next regular legislative session on the agency’s plan to implement the bill prior to the new testing system going into effect the following school year.

Amendment No. 4 by Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D–Austin) ensures kindergarteners will continue to be excluded from high-stakes testing in the accountability system. Amendment No. 6, also by Hinojosa, limits testing to federally required assessments only. An amendment by Rep. Diego Bernal (D–San Antonio) that would have replaced the bill with a commission to study reforms was tabled.

We thank all of you who reached out to your House members to share concerns. Your advocacy is essential as the conversation on assessment and accountability continues. Stay tuned to updates from ATPE’s Teach the Vote as the Senate considers this legislation.