The opening weeks of the legislative session saw ambitious plans for education reform — expanding pre-kindergarten, overhauling teacher evaluations, creating a private school voucher program and updating the state’s accountability system, to name just a few.

With just over a week left in the 84th Legislature, it’s make-or-break time for bills.   

SB 13 as passed by the Senate, would prohibit the commissioner and the Higher Education Coordinating Board from adopting a rule that would limit the number of dual-credit courses or hours in which a student could enroll while in high school or each semester or academic year. This bill will be debated later this week by the House.

SB 313 was debated by the House on Tuesday and now passes to a third reading. The bill would establish procedures for the SBOE to review and modify the TEKS in the foundation subjects (English language arts, math, science, and social studies) by narrowing the content and scope of the standards and skills for each subject and grade level. 

SB 507 will be debated by the House this week. The bill would require school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to provide equipment, including a video camera, to each school in which a student receiving special education services in a self-contained classroom is enrolled. (Amendments are expected to be made to this bill on the House floor.)

SB 1200 will be debated by the House this week. The bill would establish the Texas Commission on Next Generation Assessments and Accountability to develop and make recommendations for new systems of student assessment and public school accountability.

SB 1241 would allow, with commissioner of education approval, the governing body of an ISD, home-rule school district, or open-enrollment charter school to establish a multiple-campus innovation zone to achieve several objectives: encourage local community-based initiatives to improve education outcomes with minimum state and local requirements; enable collaboration by multiple campuses, programs, and institutions of higher education; and encourage innovation through shared resources and facilities. Campuses would have to have at least an acceptable performance rating to participate in an innovation zone. This bill is in House Calendars Committee.

HB 743 would require that before it is administered, an assessment instrument be determined to be valid and reliable, based on empirical evidence, by an independent entity. Texas Education Agency (TEA) would ensure that an assessment instrument is designed to primarily assess the State Board of Education (SBOE) identified essential knowledge and skills for the subject and grade level for which it is administered. The bill would require that an assessment instrument be designed to be completed within a certain amount of time by 85 percent of students: 120 minutes for students in grades 3-5 and 180 minutes in grades 6-8. The time allowed could not exceed eight hours and could occur on only one day. The bill would also require TEA to study the essential knowledge and skills of the required curriculum and assessment instruments. TEA would develop a comprehensive methodology for auditing and monitoring performance under contracts for services to develop or administer assessment instruments.

HB 1164 would require each school district to evaluate student achievement in writing by assessing students in grades 4 and 7 and at the end of English I and II secondary-level courses in accordance with the writing TEKS. A district could use any method it determines appropriate for assessing students, including portfolio assessment. 

HB 2186 would require that training provided by a school district under the Health and Safety Code specifically address the prevention of youth suicide, and that certain district employees participate in the training at least once annually. The bill would delete the recordkeeping requirement. 

HB 2811  would require the SBOE to review (as specified in the bill) the essential knowledge and skills of the foundation curriculum and narrow the number and scope of student expectations for each subject and grade level to require less time for a demonstration of mastery than the essential knowledge and skills adopted as of January 1, 2015. It would permit the SBOE to issue only proclamations for instructional materials in which the total projected cost of the proclamation does not exceed 75 percent of the total amount used to fund the Instructional Materials Allotment (IMA) for that biennium. It would require the SBOE to consider the cost of all instructional materials and technology requirements for that biennium in determining the disbursement of money to the available school fund and the amount that will be used to fund the IMA. It would change the IMA from an annual to a biennial allotment. It would require the comptroller, in connection with installment transfers of funds from the general revenue fund to the Foundation School Fund, to permit TEA to make temporary transfers from the Foundation School Fund for payment of the IMA. These temporary transfers could impact the timing of transferring installments and the amount. The bill would repeal provisions related to use of instructional materials that are not on the list and changes in subscription-based or electronic instructional materials.

HB 3987 would allow a school district or open-enrollment charter school to establish a school-based savings program to facilitate increased awareness of the importance of saving for higher education and facilitate personal financial literacy instruction. This program could be offered in conjunction with a personal financial literacy course.