The pace of the legislative session picked up substantially in February with both Texas House and Senate committees setting hearings for bills.
The annual budget process is well on its way, with both the Senate Finance and House Appropriations committees holding hearings on their respective chamber’s appropriations bill, SB 1 and HB 1.
In line with the Senate’s proposed investments in teacher compensation, the Education Committee prioritized SB 26, a bill focused on increasing investment to retain effective and experienced educators. The bill not only expands the Teacher Incentive Allotment, which offers districts funding to compensate educators that are designated based on high quality teacher evaluations, it also proposes a new Teacher Retention Allotment to increase salaries for experienced educators. The bill passed both the Committee and the Senate floor unanimously. To learn more about the bill and Good Reason Houston’s testimony, visit our blog.
In the House, the Public Education Committee met this week to discuss HB 2, the chamber’s proposal for funding public education. Overall, the bill represents an around $7.6 billion investment in our schools. In addition to increases to the Basic Allotment, the amount of general per pupil funding districts receive, the bill proposes investments in teacher compensation and retention, special education, college and career advising, and targeted support for economically disadvantaged students.
A high-impact investment opportunity that the House Public Education Committee recommended in their interim report (pg 41) is an expansion for the Early Education Allotment, which provides districts with funds dedicated to supporting early literacy and math proficiency. HB 2 currently does not include additional funding targeted to those early, foundational grades.
Trista Bishop-Watt
Director, Government Relations
Call to Action: Expand Early Education Allotment
As the House Public Education Committee considers adjustments to HB 2 over the next next week, there is a window to provide support for our earliest learners and your input would be meaningful.
Please contact members of the House Public Education Committee to ask that they expand the Early Education Allotment in HB 2, directing critical dollars to early childhood education. The link below includes a draft message to submit your comments directly to Committee members.
Issue Spotlight: Academic Accountability Access and Transparency
Texas has not published A-F academic ratings for two years due to ongoing litigation, affecting student progress, transparency, and school improvement. Both the Legislature, through HB 4 and SB 1962, and the courts continue to grapple with how to ensure the public has consistent access to academic ratings, while school districts receive needed notice and clarity of future changes.
Good Reason Houston and a coalition of Texas leaders representing parents, businesses, and education nonprofits weighed in on the ongoing litigation to provide Texas leaders with necessary context about the impact of delaying this critical public information. We want to ensure we have a clear view of how well student needs are being met by our public school systems to drive effective resource allocation, campus support, and, ultimately, enhance student learning.
POLICY Q&A
Why have A-F accountability ratings been delayed?
Academic ratings for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years have been the subject of two separate lawsuits between school districts and the Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency. School districts have raised concerns about notice and processes for making changes to the accountability system. Currently, there are injunctions in place to prevent the release of accountability ratings while the lawsuit is being considered by the courts, leaving the public without accessible and comparable information about district and campus performance.
How does this impact students?
By law, the purpose of the state’s accountability system is to close achievement gaps and prepare students for postsecondary success. Texas currently ranks in the bottom 25% of states in 4th grade reading, which drops to 12% for 8th grade. The delays caused by the litigation combined with accommodations for the pandemic mean Texas has not issued full accountability ratings for five years, leaving students without a system to drive continuous improvement in public education.
How can the Legislature support both districts and other stakeholders?
This Legislative session offers an opportunity for lawmakers to provide clarity to ensure school districts receive more notice for future accountability changes, process issues no longer lead to delay for the whole state, and academic ratings can be released on an annual basis.
