The Senate Education K-16 Committee held a formal meeting Monday evening to distribute and advance a new 241-page committee substitute that “cleaned up” the Senate’s version of House Bill (HB) 2. The conversations and behind-the-scenes negotiations between key players in both the House and Senate continued all week on HB 2, which you can read more about in this post on Teach the Vote.  

The following day the committee convened again for its regular Tuesday hearing. The committee heard 12 House bills, and ATPE weighed in on the following: 

• ATPE-supported HB 1481 by Rep. Caroline Fairly (R–Amarillo) would require school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to adopt a policy prohibiting students’ use of cellular or other personal communication devices while on school property during the school day. 
• ATPE-supported HB 2310 by Rep. Claudia Ordaz (D–El Paso) calls for the Texas Education Agency (TEA), in coordination with the Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas Workforce Commission, to develop a strategic plan for the improvement and expansion of early learning and educational opportunities for young children with disabilities. 
• ATPE-opposed HB 2674 by Rep. David Cook (R–Mansfield) would prohibit the regulation of homeschool programs by eliminating even minimal oversight, potentially jeopardizing student safety, educational equity, and the state’s ability to ensure all children receive an adequate education. 
• ATPE-supported HB 1178 by Rep. Charles Cunningham (R–Humble) seeks to create a temporary educator certificate for educators certified by other states. 

The committee also held a formal meeting Wednesday evening in which eight bills were advanced, mostly related to higher education and homeschooling. The committee voted to send to the full Senate two ATPE-supported bills heard the prior day that affect prekindergarten through Grade 12 as described above: 

• HB 1481 by Fairly was sent to the full Senate following a 10-0 vote.  
• HB 2310 by Ordaz was sent to the full Senate with a vote of 8-0.  

On Thursday, the committee met again. They heard 11 out of 18 House bills on the agenda before going to the Senate floor. Among those 11 bills, ATPE registered in support of HB 2243 by Rep. Tom Oliverson (R–Tomball). The bill proposes a new commission to study factors affecting teacher job satisfaction and retention. Initially, the commission included no teachers; however, the House author added in three teachers after ATPE requested teacher inclusion.  

While the committee was in recess to allow senators to go to the floor, Creighton and others met to hash out final negotiations on the new committee substitute for House Bill (HB) 2. After much deliberation in committee last week and long negotiations with key members of the House this week, the full Senate finally heard CSHB 2 on the floor late Thursday night. Eight amendments were suggested, but most were withdrawn so the bill could advance to third reading. You can read more about the details of CSHB 2 in this Teach the Vote blog post. 

After the floor debate on CSHB 2, the Senate Education K-16 Committee reconvened at 11:45 p.m. Thursday night to finish hearing the bills it didn’t get to that morning. The committee met until after 3 a.m. Friday and heard two bills (HB 4 and HB 4623) on which ATPE submitted testimony.  

ATPE Governmental Relations Director Monty Exter testifies before the Senate Education K-16 Committee.

HB 4623 by Rep. Mitch Little (R–Lewisville) relates to the liability of public schools and professional school employees for certain acts or omissions involving students and was heard just before 12:30 a.m. ATPE Governmental Relations Director Monty Exter testified on the bill and made suggestions to improve it. ATPE’s written remarks can be found here. The bill was left pending in committee. 

ATPE also registered a neutral position on HB 4 by Rep. Brad Buckley (R–Killeen) relating to public school assessment and accountability. ATPE strongly supported HB 4 as it left the House, but the Senate added new language to the bill that unfortunately returns it to a high-stakes testing bill similar to the original version filed in the House—the version predating the favorable amendments for which ATPE advocated. ATPE would prefer that the Senate use the engrossed version of HB 4 as passed by the House. The bill was left pending in committee. 

With just nine days left in the session, many bills are dying or in danger of dying soon. Although last night was a headline-making night for school finance and teacher pay raises, there is still work to be done with more late nights and very limited time. The Senate has until May 28 to consider all bills on second and third reading. Keep an eye on Teach the Vote for updates.