House Committee on Public Education, March 19, 2019

On Tuesday, March 19, 2019, the House Committee on Public Education heard 21 bills on a variety of topics, including compensatory and accelerated education services, elections, and the state's share of public education funding. Additionally, the committee voted out several bills, including Chairman Dan Huberty (R-Humble) and the Texas House's plan for school finance, HB 3. Read our blog post on HB 3 here for more information on what's in the bill.

The following bills were considered by the committee during yesterday's hearing:

• HB 462 (Geren et al., R-Fort Worth): This bill enables House Joint Resolution (HJR) 24, which was also on the agenda for Tuesday, and states that the legislature must set base funding and guaranteed funding for each fiscal year at an amount necessary to comply with a minimum state share of education funding at 50% or a greater amount. This bill would cost $10 billion over the next two years. The minimum state share of 50% would be set by HJR 24 (see below).
• HJR 24 (Geren, R-Fort Worth): Proposes a constitutional amendment requiring the state to pay at least 50% of the cost of maintaining and operating the public school system and prohibits the comptroller from certifying legislation containing an appropriation for public education unless the requirement is met. Constitutional amendments, if passed, are voted on by Texans and require a two-thirds majority for final passage.
• HB 548 (Canales, D-Edinburg): Would require that districts and charter schools use Texas's Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) to report truancy information on the number of: children who fail to enroll, children who fail to attend without excuse for 10+ days within a six-month period in same school year, students for whom a district initiates a truancy prevention measure, and parents of students that schools have filed a truancy complaint.
• HB 735 (VanDeaver et al., R-New Boston): Rep. VanDeaver explained that HB 735 allows districts to lower and raise their tax rate to a maximum that was previously approved by voters in the past 10 years without a tax ratification election (TRE). He stated that this helps districts provide tax relief without worrying about the cost of an election in the future should the district need to raise its tax rate. HB 735 also requires a Comptroller study of the bill.
• HB 1160 (Johnson, J., D-Houston): Would allow the compensatory education allotment to be used for guidance, counseling, and/or social work services provided by a licensed social worker or licensed professional counselor.
• HB 1182 (Goodwin et al., D-Austin): Would change personal financial literacy from an elective to a required course. The committee substitute changes the bill so that the number of credits required for graduation would remain the same.
• HB 1199 (Miller, R-Sugarland): Would change the way the Texas Education Agency (TEA) monitors school district compliance with dyslexia screening and testing to be more stringent. TEA would develop rules to audit, monitor, conduct site visits of all school districts, identify compliance problems, and develop remedial strategies to address noncompliance.
• HB 1388 (VanDeaver, R-New Boston): Would require, in the student achievement domain of the accountability system for high school campuses and their districts, a measure of students (rather than a percentage of students) who successfully complete a practicum or internship approved by the State Board of Education (SBOE) and students who successfully complete a coherent Career and Technical Education (CTE) sequence.
• HB 1453 (Bernal, D-San Antonio): Would require that one of the four teachers on the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) has to be a teacher certified in special education with classroom experience. Requires SBEC to propose rules to establish a minimum requirement of field-based experience in which an educator certification candidate actively implements an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Updates staff development requirements to include training on IDEA and proactive and evidence-based inclusive instructional practices. Also allows for remote coaching for teachers in rural areas.
• HB 1556 (VanDeaver, R-New Boston): Would make changes to law regarding the purchasing of goods and services to increase clarity for districts. Eliminates the phrase "in the aggregate" so that districts are not met with challenges in purchasing smaller chunks of goods.
• HB 1597 (Lambert, R-Abilene): Would apply to a person whose parent or guardian is active-duty, allowing them to establish residency by providing a military order to the school district. Then, the family must provide proof of residency within ten days after their arrival date. The bill would also make charter schools subject to the same law.
• HB 1632 (Bell, K. et al., R-Forney): For purposes of a school district's provision of compensatory education, intensive, or accelerated services, the bill would add the following to the definition of “student at risk of dropping out of school:” student with dyslexia, educationally disadvantaged, has enrolled in 2+ public schools in the same school year for either the current or preceding school year, or has 10+ absences in a school year in the current or preceding school year.
• HB 1639 (Martinez, D-Weslaco): States that, before December 21, 2024, boards of trustees can change the length of the terms of their trustees to either three- or four-year staggered terms.
• HB 1664 (King, Ken, R-Canadian): Rep. King said that this bill cleans up some of the implementation issues with last session's educator misconduct bill, SB 7. The bill states that a superintendent or director is not required to notify SBEC or file a report if they complete an investigation into educator misconduct before the educator’s termination and determine that the educator did not engage in the misconduct.
• HB 1773 (Middleton, R-Wallisville): States that for districts that have their administration in a permanent building and students in a portable, the district has to put the administration in the portable and make classrooms in the former administration building.
• HB 1823 (Cortez, D-San Antonio): Would change a the heading in law relating to the payment of school facilities allotments to more accurately reflect current practice.
• HB 2116 (White et al., R-Hillister): For purposes of a district's provision of compensatory education, intensive, or accelerated services, adds to the definition of “student at risk of dropping out of school:” student who has been incarcerated or has a parent who has been incarcerated.
• HB 2210 (Bell, K. et al., R-Forney): Under this bill, students who receive residential services in a state hospital would not be considered in the accountability of the district or campus that the hospital is located in if their parent does not reside in the district.
• HB 2424 (Ashby, R-Lufkin): Would require SBEC to propose rules to establish and issue micro-credentials for educators, which would be placed on their certificates. The agency would approve Continuing Professional Education (CPE) providers to offer micro-credential courses (which could include school districts).
• HB 2778 (King, T., D-Uvalde): Would change the joint election agreement regarding election expenses so that it applies to a school district that has territory in at least four counties, each with a population of less than 55,000 (rather than 46,100).
• HB 3134 (Middleton, R-Wallisville): Would allow a board of trustees to establish and operate a transportation system outside the county or district if students served by the county system or enrolled in the district reside outside the county or district.

The following bill was on the agenda but was not heard:

HB 1679 (Price, R-Amarillo): Would require the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to provide limited student loan repayment assistance for eligible school counselors who apply and qualify.

The following bills were voted out favorably by the committee, which means they will now move on to the House Calendars Committee and face judgement on whether and when they may come before the entire House of Representatives for a vote: HB 3, HB 55, HB 391, HB 613, HB 663, HB 692, HB 808, HB 811, HB 960, HB 961, HB 1133, HB 1480, and HB 2074. Rep. VanDeaver's HB 1051, which was heard last week and relates to the Goodwill Excel Center, was also voted out after VanDeaver and Rep. Alma Allen (D-Houston) came to an agreement that there would be a floor amendment to address her concerns about the bill.