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Read our legislative session series to learn what's going on Under the Dome
Read our legislative session series to learn what's going on Under the Dome
One month into the 84th Legislative Session, the House announced the members of the important Article III subcommittee that will develop the funding budget for education. The subcommittee will meet Friday to consider the education budget.

The members are: 
School Accountability and School Finance

The State Board of Education met last week where Commissioner of Education, Michael Williams spoke to members addressing funding and accountability.

The highlights acknowledged an additional $2 billion in public education. TEA has asked for $64 million for reading academies in grades K-8. Senate Bill 2 contains a line item for $110 million for reading and math academies for grades K-3. Commissoner Williams will urge lawmakers to consider expanding the academies to 8th grade. 

TEA asked for $4 million for training and appraising for teacher evaluation system and SB2 contains a grant for $4 million. Commissioner Williams updated the board on the waiver for NCLB, and made it clear that Texas has not been denied the waiver. The waiver was to allow a redesign of the teacher evaluation system. Texas wants the redesign to provide principals and teachers with more feedback about how they are doing, leading to improvement. The federal government believes the evaluation is to make decisions about personnel and compensation. TEA and stakeholders may not be interested in the federal requirements to pursue the waiver.

As publicized, STAAR Math tests were pushed back for three weeks to allow for more orderly instruction of the math TEKS. SBOE members asked Commissioner Williams to consider how the math test results would be treated this year.

Upcoming Committee Hearings:

House Appropriations Article III (Public Hearings)- February 20, 2015 at 7:30 a.m. 

Bill Highlights
Click on each issue to view which bills Texas PTA is monitoring.
Texas PTA #RallyDay2015
We invite you to join us NEXT WEEK, Wednesday, February 25 as we back the future and rally for education! Take this opportunity to travel to Austin and speak to your legislator about issues of concern to your PTA. For tips on how to plan Rally Day trip with members of your PTA, check out website and make sure to listen to our webinar series.
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