THE 3rd CALLED SPECIAL SESSION OF THE 79th LEGISLATURE

May 12 May  -  V-I-C-T-O-R-Y at Last, HB1 Has Passed

We are about to start what could be the most important day of the session It looks like we will accept the Senate amendments on HB1. House Bill 1 was a requirement that a school district to provide employment contracts that allows qualifying employees may receive an incentive payment under a state established awards program.

The bill also contains a provision Representative Delisi and others of us in the House have supported for several years. It authorizes each school district to assign a mentor teacher to a teacher who has less than two years of teaching experience. It funds this program.

One of the more controversial proposals is the establishment of an incentive program for student achievement. As an editorial comment I have supported these proposals for the last several years and certainly support this proposal. We require the Commissioner to establish awards for student achievement program. There is language in the bill that determines campus eligibility for the program for alternative education programs. There is language for certain district level committees to approve campus incentive plans for submission to TEA. There are grants from the program for $98 million in 2006-2007. There is language for incentive payments to teachers that says an eligible campus to use 75% of grant award to provide incentive payments to classroom teachers assigned to the campus. It requires the campus to pay a classroom teacher an incentive payment in an amount of not less than $3000 or more than $10,000. It does require a campus to use 25% of a grant award to provide for certain incentive payments, signing bonuses, stipends, funding and activities.

We establish educator excellence awards programs which the commissioner establishes. The Commissioner adopts program guidelines in accordance with certain rules in the legislation. The amount of this program is the sum of $1000 times the number of teachers in this state. We have the commissioner deposit in Sept 2007 an amount of $840 times the number of classroom teachers into this fund.

There is a local awards plan in the bill which requires certain district level committee for a school district that wants to participate in the local awards program to develop these local plans. This requires a majority of the classroom teachers assigned to a campus selected by the district to approve participation in the local awards program. There are several requirements for this plan on its approval by the local district and campus and by the TEA. There are requirement for evaluation of the awards by TEA.

The Commissioner is to develop rules on all the incentive programs.

The bill also extends and restores the Health Care Supplements for all professional and for non professional staff of the school district. There is the restoration of the $1000 stipend for teachers, counselors, nurses, etc. and it also provides continuation of the non professional stipend.

The bill now contains a college readiness in high school curriculum initiative. This program requires the commissioner of Education and the Higher Education Commissioner to establish vertical teams to ensure students are able to perform college level course work at our institutes of higher learning. We have all believe we spend too much on remedial courses and this is an attempt to get better coordination of courses. There were concerns about this section voiced by our State Board of Education as there were questions about the reducing or elimination of their authority. Amendments were accepted to the bill that addressed those questions and in conversations which were placed in the record Rep Chisum and I clarified the intention of the bill by saying we do not take away the SBOE authority and that they have authority to disagree and reject proposals of the commissioners in full or in part. I did this at the request of board members and while it does not eliminate all concerns it does clarify they do not lose authority over curriculum. In addition one of their original concerns was about textbooks already ordered would not be paid for. This was amended out of the bill in the Senate and all ordered textbooks are to be paid for.

A major piece in HB1 that has not gotten a lot of coverage is the section that says the curriculum requirements for the recommended and advanced high school program will include four courses in each of the subjects in the core curriculum. It also requires one or more courses in the required curriculum to include a research writing component.

The bill authorizes an optional flexible school day program to be set up by a district. This allows flexibility in the number of days a week so that there are options for flexibility in the days of attendance and also allow a student to enroll in less than or more than a full course load. There is also a Texas Governor's School summer residential program. It sets up rules on how the program is to work.

We set up an end of course assessment instrument as a placement instrument to ensure that the high school end of course assessment instrument may be used to determine the appropriate placement of a student in a course of the same subject at an institution of higher education in the state. We will also have recognition of high school completion and success and college readiness programs.

The bill establishes the high school allotment and authorizes a district to use funds on any instructional program in grades 6-12 other than an athletic program. This is an attempt to reduce drop outs, keep kids in school, and improve high school performance.

We have language in the bill to define average daily attendance for districts using the flexible school day.

The bill has a college readiness and success strategic action plan. The bill gives direction on how this is set up. This bill requires the Higher Education coordinating board to implement the college readiness and success strategic action plan and to enhance the success of students. There is also language in the bill to improve student learning and reduce cost of delivery. There are directives in the bill on how and when these projects are to be developed. It requires the SBOE to adopt rules to require that the curriculum requirements for the recommended and advanced high school programs.

A very good provision on pre-kindergarten eligibility guidelines requires these guidelines be set up and provides a child who was eligible does not loose eligibility if the parent leaves the armed forces or is removed from active duty after the child started the pre-kindergarten class.

The bill contains provisions for the Texas School for the Deaf to conduct hearing assessments of students and charge a reasonable fee for the assessment.

The bill prohibits a superintendent's annual salary from exceeding 120 percent of the salary of the highest paid instructional administrator in the school. We also restrict contracts for certain employees at the school for the Deaf and authorizes the school to pay a teacher or employee who provides services on a short term to a salary but not to exceed the salary paid by the Austin ISD to a comparable employee.

We move the sunset of the Texas Education Agency from September 1 2007 to September 1 2012. We have been looking at Education for a substantial number of months and think it is best to give these new ideas time to work.

A very important and somewhat controversial portion of the bill sets the school start date at a date no earlier than the fourth Monday in August. It also says no waivers for any reason on this start date.

One area that has always been of concern is drugs including prescription drugs on campus. The bill amends the Health and Safety Code to allow self-administration of prescription asthma or anaphylaxis medicine by students.

There is an election provision that requires the school board elections be held on the same date as election for the governing board of a city in the district or on the general election date in November. It requires common polling places for these elections and requires the school board to adjust any terms of office required to meet this requirement. It does not go into effect as a requirement until 2008.

There is another good provision that says if one student lives in the same household as a student receiving special education services that any other student at that household can also go to the school the special education student is assigned to.

The last major section of the bill appropriated $3,825,000,000 to TEA. There is other appropriations language in the law. The bill also provides language that the SBOE forego issuance of Proclamation 2006 and beyond at the direction of the legislature.

The applicability of most of the legislation is the 2006-2007 school year and the bill goes into effect 91 days after the adjournment.

The House passed the bill this afternoon and it is on the way to the Governor.


Jerry